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What languages ​​to translate your game in 2019



"The game is good, but without a Russian language I put one" - frequent reviews in any store. Learning English, of course, is good, but localization can also help. He translated an article on which languages ​​to navigate, what to translate and the cost of localization.

Immediately key points:
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What to translate?


First, let's talk about the components of the game that can be translated - the budgets for localization depend on this.

In addition to in-game text, you can translate the description, updates and keywords in the App Store, Google Play, Steam or any other platform. Not to mention marketing materials, if you decide to advance your game further.

The localization of the game can be divided into three types:

  1. basic localization (for example, information for application stores, description, keywords, screenshots);
  2. partial localization (in-game text and subsections);
  3. full localization (including audio files).

The simplest thing is to translate the description in the app store. This is what people will decide to buy or download on.

It is important . Most people on the planet do not speak English. On average, 52% of people buy only if the product description is written in their own language. In France and Japan, this figure is 60%.

All text will be in the official language of the store in a particular country (Google and Apple will completely localize their stores), so the translated description will merge with the translation of the store and create a good impression.

Do I need to translate the text in the game itself? Distribution takes place around the world and localization expands the reach and potential to attract a larger audience. If gamers can pass the game in their own language, then this will positively affect their impressions and reviews. Of course, these benefits need to be measured against costs.

How much does localization cost?


Depends on the number of words, target languages ​​and the cost of translation.

The cost of a translation by linguists can vary from € 0.11 to € 0.15 per word or character (for Chinese). Proofreading costs are usually 50% of the translation cost. These are LocalizeDirect rates, but they give an idea of ​​the approximate prices in the market.

Initially, human translation always costs more than machine translation with subsequent editing.


The cost of translation . Price per word, $

Translation of metadata from the app store into more languages ​​than the game supports is a popular approach. The amount of text in the description is limited, so the translation will not come out too expensive.

When it comes to game content, it all depends on how “verbal” your game is. On average, LocalizeDirect clients start with 7–10 foreign languages ​​when translating in-game text.

As for the localization of updates, it depends on how often you plan to release them. It is advisable to work with the same translators - here you need quick interaction and consistency.

Five questions before finding a translator


When choosing markets and languages ​​for localization, ask yourself a few questions:

  1. Is the genre and monetization model freemium, advertising or in-app purchases?
  2. If this is a P2P model, how much do I plan to earn per month? What markets can afford the cost of in-app purchases?
  3. Which languages ​​are most popular on my platforms?
  4. Who are my competitors? Did they translate their games completely or choose partial localization?
  5. How well do they speak English in target markets? Do they use the Latin alphabet or do their languages ​​have nothing to do with it?

This information is needed to understand the potential of the game and how it matches the capabilities of the target markets.

Of great importance are the expectations of some countries. For example, in Poland, localized text and voice acting in English are popular. Gamers expect full VO in France, Italy, Germany, and Spain, especially in big games.

In some countries, players are not against games in English, even if it is not their native language. Especially if the amount of text is minimal or the concept of the game is familiar.

Tip . Check out the language specifications in the T-Index or EF English Proficiency Index. It’s useful to know which countries will not accept a non-localized game at all (with low and very low levels of English proficiency).


Countries by English Proficiency (EF EPI 2018)

Watch the most popular games in various markets to assess the competition and preferences of the players.

Tip . Information on mobile games can be found in App Annie reports. SimilarWeb is another free tool with many features. And Steam publishes in real time data on the 100 best computer games by the number of players and the most popular languages.

The number of downloads and the level of income are some of the key metrics that developers need to look at.

What languages ​​do you want to translate the game into?


As of last year, the top ten countries with maximum revenue from game sales included China, the USA, Japan, South Korea, Germany, the UK, France, Canada, Spain and Italy.

These 10 countries accounted for 80% of global income (almost $ 110 billion). They are followed by Russia, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand and the Netherlands, which together added another 8% ($ 11.5 billion).

The table shows the 20 countries ranked by the estimated income from games for 2018. Data on the playing population was collected in 2017-2018.


Top 20 countries by gaming revenue

Thus, by launching a project in all 20 countries of the world, you will gain access to markets with almost 90% of the global gaming income. The Asia-Pacific region brings about 50%, and North America brings 20% of world income.

If your monetization model is based on advertising, then it is advisable to consider the possibility of localization in countries with the largest user base, such as China, India, Brazil or Russia.

Do I need to translate the game into 20 languages?


Not necessary.

We assume that your source language is English. Otherwise, translating the game into English is the first thing you should do. With it, you enter the North American, Australian, British, part of the Indian and some other Asian markets. You might want to separate the British and American versions. Players may be annoyed by words that are not local or familiar. If they are specific to the game genre, then this is normal, but usually not.

Now let's look at the most popular languages ​​in which we localized the games in 2018, in terms of the number of words.

The pie chart shows the distribution of the most popular languages ​​in LocalizeDirect in terms of word count. In total, the data pool includes 46 languages.


Top 10 languages ​​for localization

The vast majority of localization orders are in four languages, the so-called FIGS: French, Italian, German and Spanish.

Then we moved on to a simplified Chinese, Brazilian version of Portuguese, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Chinese, Portuguese, Japanese.

They are followed by traditional Chinese, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Arabic, Latin American, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish and Indonesian.

Again, the first 10 languages ​​accounted for more than 80% of the total number of words.

7 best languages ​​for localization


The mandatory list includes FIGS + ZH + ZH + PT + RU. And that's why.

French

Along with France, he opens the door to Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco and several African countries. European French is also relevant in Canada (about 20% of the population speaks French), although Canadians may prefer the local version.

What's the difference? Canadian (Quebec) French contains many borrowed English words, local idioms, and phrases. For example, in Quebec, ma blonde means my girlfriend, but French-speaking Europeans will take her literally as my blonde.

If you distribute the game in Canada online, you can leave it in English. But if offline, then bailing out is necessary.

Italian

Italian is the official language in Italy, Switzerland and San Marino. Italy is the 10th largest gaming market in the world. They got used to high-quality localization of games due to the low level of penetration of the English language.

Deutsch

Using the German language, you can reach gamers from Germany and Austria (No. 5 and No. 32 in the world ranking), as well as from Switzerland (No. 24), Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

Spanish

The game market in Spain is quite small - 25 million. But if we consider the Spanish-speaking Internet users, then we are talking about a colossal group of 340 million - the third largest after the English and Chinese. Given the dominant position of the United States in the rankings (and the fact that 18% of the US population is Hispanic), it is not surprising that many developers decided to translate the games into Spanish.

It is important . Latin American Spanish is different from European. However, in South America, playing in any Spanish is more welcome than just the English version.

Simplified Chinese

This is our fifth most popular localization language. But it often requires a culture of the game. Google Play is banned in mainland China and replaced by local stores. If you use Amazon or Tencent, we recommend translating the game into simplified Chinese.

It is important . The game for Hong Kong or Taiwan needs to be translated into traditional Chinese.

In addition, Chinese is the second most popular language on Steam, followed by Russian.


Most popular languages ​​on Steam for February 2019

Brazilian Portuguese

It allows you to cover half of the Latin American continent and one of the most densely populated emerging economies - Brazil. Do not reuse European Portuguese translations.

Russian

Lingua franca in Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus. It's big, especially if the game is released on Steam. According to statistics, Russian gamers more often than others leave negative comments if the game is not translated into Russian. This can ruin the overall rating.

Consider the languages ​​that have shown the greatest growth over the past three years. The chart shows the 10 fastest growing languages ​​in the LocalizeDirect portfolio for three years, from 2016 to 2018. The Taiwanese version of the Chinese language is not included, since it was added to our language pool only in 2018.


The fastest growing languages for localization

Turkish has grown 9 times. Following him are Malaysian (6.5 times), Hindi (5.5 times), simplified Chinese, Thai and Polish (5 times). Growth is likely to continue.

A reliable and 100% option is to translate games into "traditional" European and Asian languages. But access to growing markets may be a reasonable step for the development of the project.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/461499/

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