Terri Desborough
York St John University, English Language and Linguistics, Graduate Student
As an interactive media, fanbases of localised games can have a substantial effect on the localisation choices made by each team of translators. Thanks to the advent of the Internet and social media, gamers have the ability to participate... more
As an interactive media, fanbases of localised games can have a substantial effect on the localisation choices made by each team of translators. Thanks to the advent of the Internet and social media, gamers have the ability to participate in online discussions about localisation, often directly with the translators involved in the translation itself, and therefore translators are always very aware of the needs of their intended audience, and make choices about the translation of cultural concepts with these specific fandom expectancy norms in mind. The main questions that this study aims to discuss include: are the target-audience expectancy norms for Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) influenced by fandom culture, and how does this affect the reception of their localisations? Using online discourse and focus groups, this case study explores this in reference to the localisation decisions made in Persona 5, a JRPG with a niche fandom and polarising localisation reception amongst critics and fans alike. Excerpts from the localisation were analysed both functionally and in reference to the perceived expectancy norms and real norms of the participants. The findings indicated that members of the fandom are more critical of Japanese-English translations because of their prior knowledge of the language and culture, though their perceived norms differed from their real expectations when exposed to actual excerpts from the translation.
