Dhruin
SasqWatch
A bit of a tangential newsbit but we see quite a few Russian projects here and they rarely reach their potential, so I thought it might be of interest. Cosmos Gaming has an interview with 1C and other Russian game producers on the difficulty of breaking into the western market:
More information.
It's good to see they recognise this as an issue but I'd say they still don't understand just how critical it is. I'd also suggest they take ownership of the issue, because 2nd tier publishers are rarely going to do a good job.Some Russian titles have been criticized for having somewhat poor English translations. What do you feel can be done to improve this aspect in the future, and what comments do you have on this criticism?
1C: It is true. Some of them do, but as Russian developers and publishers gain more experience, I'm sure that the situation will improve. Mutual cooperation with our foreign partners should also help us to improve quality. One of the tasks we are placing on our friends at Atari - is delivering this polishing touch, they will make sure that all games are translated at the highest possible standard.
IT Territory: I think that unfortunately it's true that most of the translations of the Russian titles are quite poor. In my opinion Russian-speaking American translators would be an ideal solution to this problem. The other option is to have American editors not only correct the translations but adapt them in order to make them look (or sound) more natural. I think it's a good idea to work on translations with your American publishing partners because it's a very important issue that has to be discussed when signing an agreement.
Lesta: I can agree with this criticism but the majority of Russian game developers are mending their ways such as our company spending more on professional editing and proofreading. We do speak poor English in our mother Russia (read this sentence with strong Russian accent).
Step Creative Group: Terrible translations to English - this is the problem of communications between Russian interpreters and native speakers. More interaction is a must and it also needs extensive checking and correction from publisher's side too. Therefore, I blame western publishers - language checking should be their part of the job.
More information.