Japanese videogames in English translation: a study of contemporary subtitling practices

Abstract

This article examines the ongoing development of translation norms in the field of Japanese popular culture texts, focusing on the translation of Japanese videogames into English.  In the first part, the article describes particular translation norms that have emerged in the field, before presenting a case study of the translation of the Japanese videogame series Yakuza in order to illustrate how videogame companies have begun to successfully integrate fan-translation norms into commercial products.

Keywords: videogame translation, videogame subtitling, translation into ELF, fan translation