Video game tags
Thread poster: David Jones
David Jones
David Jones  Identity Verified
Taiwan
Local time: 00:25
Chinese to English
+ ...
Jan 15, 2021

Hi folks,

The tags below appeared in a test I have to translate and I'm not sure how to work with them.

[{@0:道具释放者名}]狠狠地踩了[{@1:被释放者名}]一脚,貌似还很得意。

Does the text inside the [{@0:}] need to be translated?

Can anyone recommend any resources for helping to understand video game tags? I will be making my way through the videos on Proz education resources, but if anyone can recommend anything else I'd be very grateful.


 
Elena Feriani
Elena Feriani
Italy
Local time: 17:25
Member
French to Italian
+ ...
Probably not Jan 15, 2021

Hi David,
It looks like the 2 tags will be replaced by 2 names, based on the following (machine) translation:

[{@0:prop releaser name}] stomped hard on [{@1:releasee name}], seemingly smugly.

So, I wouldn't translate them, but you can always ask the client to confirm. There's nothing wrong with it. Different companies use different styles of tags, but in general they stay in the source language.

EDIT: I didn't see this is for a test... If you have a P
... See more
Hi David,
It looks like the 2 tags will be replaced by 2 names, based on the following (machine) translation:

[{@0:prop releaser name}] stomped hard on [{@1:releasee name}], seemingly smugly.

So, I wouldn't translate them, but you can always ask the client to confirm. There's nothing wrong with it. Different companies use different styles of tags, but in general they stay in the source language.

EDIT: I didn't see this is for a test... If you have a PM contact, you can ask them what their preference is. In my experience, this format is not common. I would be confused too.

[Edited at 2021-01-15 08:08 GMT]
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yinnyann
Mihail Mateev
 
Samuel Murray
Samuel Murray  Identity Verified
Netherlands
Local time: 17:25
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
+ ...
@David Jan 15, 2021

David Jones wrote:
The tags ... appeared in a test I have to translate and I'm not sure how to work with them.
Does the text inside the [{@0:}] need to be translated?


I'm not a game translator nor do I speak Chinese, but I share your confusion about these tags -- they look translatable, but they also look like tags, and tags are often untranslatable.

In a real-world job (your case is a test), I would think that whether these tags should be translated would depend on the client's preference, or possibly on the specific type of gaming system that is used in this specific game. If the latter, perhaps the client is trying to test your familiarity with that gaming system.

However, since this is a test, my approach would be to translate it, and add a comment to the client that you are aware that tags are not always translated, depending on the client's specifications. Or: you could ask the client for clarification (and mention in a second sentence that you are aware that tags are typically not translated, but in this case you'd rather make sure).


Elena Feriani
yinnyann
 
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 17:25
English to German
In memoriam
Tags are not standardized Jan 15, 2021

Only the client can tell you the meaning and usage of their tags. While you will see some tag formats in different contexts again and again, there are no standards for these tags, it is quite possible that the programmers of your game made these tags up on the fly for their purposes, often without considering translation issues at this time. Particularly, you need to know if a certain tag is a placeholder or not. It might be that a tag is a placeholder for a certain content (like the name of the... See more
Only the client can tell you the meaning and usage of their tags. While you will see some tag formats in different contexts again and again, there are no standards for these tags, it is quite possible that the programmers of your game made these tags up on the fly for their purposes, often without considering translation issues at this time. Particularly, you need to know if a certain tag is a placeholder or not. It might be that a tag is a placeholder for a certain content (like the name of the player, NPC, item) or simply a formatting tag (start bold text here) or even some sophisticated programmatic action (insert different content here depending on game mode, gender, grammar, whatnot). Your example seems to be some control mechanism but I cannot interpret it, I would always have to ask the client.Collapse


yinnyann
 
David Jones
David Jones  Identity Verified
Taiwan
Local time: 00:25
Chinese to English
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Excellent advice, thanks folks :) Jan 18, 2021

Excellent advice, thanks folks

 


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Video game tags






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