Search Unity

  1. Megacity Metro Demo now available. Download now.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Unity support for visionOS is now available. Learn more in our blog post.
    Dismiss Notice

Anyone have any tips on how to localize?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Not_Sure, May 29, 2015.

  1. Not_Sure

    Not_Sure

    Joined:
    Dec 13, 2011
    Posts:
    3,546
    When I have my game ready, I'm of course wanting to localize it to as many other countries as possible. My game is small enough that I should be able to just manually change all the text so I shouldn't need a 3rd party asset, but there are still leagues things I don't know:

    -Where do I find good translators?
    -How do I run quality assurance to make sure the translation is done right?
    -How do I make the game available in the different local markets for google and apple?
    -How do I find different sites to host a web version?
    -How do I set Unity ads to the right language?
    -How do I collect foreign currency for in-app purchases?
    -Do google and apple allow me to exchange currencies through them?
    -If so, how and what do they charge?
    -Should I consider opening localized bank accounts?
    -What tax considerations should I have?
    -Will I be expected to pay local taxes?
    -How can I monitor feed-back from other languages?
    -Should I localize by country and language?

    And mainly:

    -What languages should I look into?
    -Spanish?
    -Portuguese?
    -German?
    -French?
    -Italian?
    -Russian?
    -Japanese?
    -Korean?
    -Cantonese?
    -Mandarin?
    -Hindi?
    -Bengali?
    -Arabic?

    I know that's a million questions, but so far I have not found much helpful reading on it. Any suggestions would be great!
     
  2. TonyLi

    TonyLi

    Joined:
    Apr 10, 2012
    Posts:
    12,670
    Here are some technical and logistical things I've learned after working with a lot of developers that have localized projects in the Dialogue System.

    Test your localization workflow as early as possible. Translators will almost invariably want to work in Excel spreadsheets, or something compatible like CSV. Make sure you can import and export between your project and Excel. Import and export is not a one-time operation. You may need to import and export several times as testers and translators find and fix errors.

    Also ensure that special characters are retained from end to end. You may need to use Unicode or UTF-8 encoding. Make sure your fonts support all the special characters in your target languages.

    With translators, you generally get what you pay for. But if you can find fluent students at your local university, you might be able to get a deal. It helps a lot to get a translator that understands games. Always get a second opinion. It doesn't need to be from another translator, but ideally a native speaker. For example, my Ukranian barber isn't a writer, but I can run a short paragraph by her to make sure it reads correctly to a native speaker.

    Localization is more than just language translation. Make sure you've considered cultural expectations as well. For example, black is a mourning color in the west, white is more common in the east; the number 13 is unlucky in the west, 4 in the east; etc.

    As for languages, a quick Google search indicates that English, Japanese, and Korean account for 75% of all Google Play sales.

    Good luck!
     
    Ryiah, Not_Sure and sluice like this.
  3. Not_Sure

    Not_Sure

    Joined:
    Dec 13, 2011
    Posts:
    3,546
    All good tips! Thank you!

    Still no idea how the currency exchange works, though.
    :/
     
  4. Ostwind

    Ostwind

    Joined:
    Mar 22, 2011
    Posts:
    2,804
    You don't need to care anything about different currencies as the all market platforms will do that for the 30% cut. You will have to fill tax forms and stuff when you register to most of the different markets or dev programs.
     
    iamaurinko and Not_Sure like this.
  5. goat

    goat

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2009
    Posts:
    5,182
    Look into English. Avoid dialogue unless it's factually concise such that translate.google.com could handle it, e.g.

    This is an automobile.
    Run!
    No, drive!
    But the car's not running!
    What?

    Not: There are many ways to create varyingly complex run-on sentences this is not one example.
     
    Not_Sure likes this.
  6. Not_Sure

    Not_Sure

    Joined:
    Dec 13, 2011
    Posts:
    3,546
    My game is simple enough that it shouldn't be that big of an issue, but that is some good advice.