Wrong. An English name sounds more "cool" from our point of view, for games. But depends what kind of application you're talking about: - if it's a medical app or a utility, then it's better to translate the name. - if it's a game, then it's better not to translate it. I worked as a Chinese translators for 9 years and this is very basic. Huojin.
One more thing: I don't want to ruin your party, but I've just checked your App Store descriptions on the Chinese App Store and I don't have any good news for you. I don't want to sound arrogant, but the quality is very low. I'm attaching the App Store description of Flight Deck. Even the link to the developer website is not correct: "游戏截图参考网站：bossentertainment.com" ? I'm surprised how all of you are satisfied by the quality of this service, since you can't read Chinese (I suppose). Send me a pm if you want a (free, of course) quality check of your Chinese App Store description. Have a nice day, Huojin.
Good to know, thanks for that. You sound like you know your stuff, hopefully we can work together on translations in the future.
Dear Huojin, Thank you for your concern regarding the quality of our translation. Without doubt, you have raised some excellent points. We do not claim infallibility. We would, however, like to discuss in detail the merits of the revisions you made to sino.app's translation. Below, we have categorized the (39) changes you made as: 'beneficial,' 'detrimental,' and 'neutral.' --- Beneficial (8): Original: 它已经荣登我第一页的软件中咯！ Changed: 很快就荣登我首页的软件中啦。 Original: 新的附本包括新的舰艇和陆地飞机场。游戏截图参考网站：bossentertainment.com Changed: 全新关卡，包括全新舰艇和陆地机场。访问bossmanentertainment.com 查看游戏截图 *Neglecting part of the URL was a simple, but serious mistake (one which we will not make again). Original: 降落顺序要求(油量不足、强制性降落要求） Changed: 优先级降落机制 （油量不足迫降优先） Original: 损失费用显示 Changed: 纳税人损失费用显示 Original: 更多速度不同、降落要求不同的飞机 Changed: 更多飞机类型，每种类型速度与降落需求各有不同 Original: 经过改进的飞机出现频率 Changed: 改良飞机登场频率，来获得更佳的游戏性能 Original: 优化了航空母舰的尾流 Changed: 变更及改进航空母舰尾流 Original: 加了十个新的降落无线电代码 Changed: 新增10个降落无线电呼叫语音 --- Detrimental (13): Original: 画面超爽 Changed: 画面超赞 Original: 有胆量来挑战世界上最危险、最有压力的工作之一吗？ Changed: *(not translated) Original: 来掌控天空吧，做蓝天的主人！ Changed: 天的主人！ Original: 生死降落（Flight Deck）让你成为海军飞行指挥大将！ Changed: Flight Deck让你成为您海军的指挥官！ Original: 弹射 Changed: 发射 *This is a mistranslation; aircraft carriers use a catapult to project airplanes into the sky; they do not launch like a rocket. Original: 但是，不要指挥错误、使飞机相撞、浪费了纳税人的钱哦！ Changed:不过，不要让飞机相撞而使纳税人损失惨重！ Original:特征 Changed:特性 Original: 航空母舰的现场音效 Changed: 航空母舰的真实音效 Original: 真人无线电对话 Changed: 无线电通话 *This is a mistranslation; it is not possible to communicate via radio in the game. Instead, the player is able to hear recorded radio chatter produced by actual military personnel. Original: 游戏升级计划 Changed: 计划升级内容 Original: 影响飞行和视线的动态天气 Changed: 影响飞行与视线的天气环境 Original: 新的彩色菜单 Changed: 全新炫彩菜单 Original: 及更多画面改善 Changed: 以及更多画面优化 --- Neutral (16) --- We appreciate your diligent and conscientious approach. Several of your suggestions are particularly pertinent, and will aid us in further translation, as the language that is relevant to iPhone OS software draws from a set of established phrases that appear frequently. It is clear that you are an experienced translator with a solid understanding of gaming jargon. However, we also suggest that you re-examine several of the deleterious modifications you made to sino.app's original translation. It is evident upon careful examination of your alterations, that you are not familiar with the 'Flight Deck' application. We believe that empirical knowledge of the target application is a prerequisite to successful translation. The majority of the modifications you suggest are a product of your own personal language preferences and habits. There is nothing inherently wrong with them; likewise they are no more correct or appropriate than the translations which they replace. It seems foolish to suggest that your linguistic proclivities should somehow take priority over those of a team of humanities PhD students at one of China's top three universities (Fudan University). Finally, it is essential that we address the issue of 'title translation'. Indeed, for the Chinese consumer, English text does possess a certain mystique, and would, as you portend, convey a feeling of being "cool". However, this view neglects to take into account the status quo for the Chinese gaming market. Listed below are five of the most established, recognizable, and popular foreign titles enjoyed by Chinese gamers. As you will note, each of these games has a Chinese title, and in Chinese gaming circles, is almost exclusively referred to by this translated name. Command & Conquer 命令与征服 Age of Empires 帝国时代 Starcraft 星际争霸 World of Warcraft 魔兽世界 Counter-Strike 反恐精英 We can similarly observe this tendency outside of the gaming industry: Coca-Cola 可口可乐 Pepsi 百事可乐 Nike 耐克 BMW 宝马 Given this unmissable trend, we recommend providing both an English and Chinese title; reality suggests that this is the prudent, and superior choice. We hope that in the future you will continue to offer your input, as we are always striving to be better. If it was unclear, our services are also, for the time being, offered al gratis. Andrew
Hi Andrew. I appreciate reading your message, but I don't understand what you are talking about. I didn't fix any Flight Deck translation. However, I'm according to most of the changes you've listed before, both the beneficial and detrimental. The new version is much better and professional than before. A wrong URL is a fatal mistake; three years ago I had to fully refund Mercedes for mistyping the brand name of their tyres. Since yours is a free service, I see you don't feel any pressure from that point of view. Please don't provide wrong information. Coca Cola (1892), Pepsi (1903), Nike (1972) and BMW (1917) are old firms. When they came to China, 1 Chinese out of 600.000 knew there was a country named "USA". If I have to sell eye lens in China, I translate their name. If I have to sell technology-oriented products (coming from the West) in China, I DON'T translate their names. This is really very basic. Most of the companies please me NOT to translate their products names now. It's always in their guidelines, that's why I know it. It's not like 40 years ago. This is the Internet era: we don't need to translate "Apple" anymore. Why? While Americans are talking about how cool is "Flight Deck" on Touch Arcade, we are reading it but we can't find this title because someone changed its name. iPhone and iPod touch users are fascinated by technology/games/western culture. A person who can afford an iPhone in China follows Touch Arcade or Pocket Gamer. It's very annoying to read a review of "Counter-Strike" and then find out someone translated it in "反恐精英" (well, 10 years ago). Chinese want cool English names. EA knows it. Nintendo knows it. SONY knows it. Microsoft knows it. Apple knows it. It's not a coincidence if Apple translated the entire UI and native apps names into Chinese, but not the name of their game "Texas Hold 'Em". The reason why I replied to this post (actually the reason why I joined this community) is because all of these people sound very satisfied by your job. I was very surprised by their reactions. How can they judge? Clearly you're trading a free translation for a good review. I don't find it fair. Huojin.
Dear Huojin, I had (mistakenly) assumed it was you that had made the revisions to our translation now available on iTunes. Apologies for the misunderstanding. It is reasonable to make the argument that the China of 2009 is a different beast than the one which saw the introduction of the Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nike, and BMW brands. Indeed, many years have passed (the dates you list refer to the dates those companies were founded and not the dates they entered China, however). This aside, you do not address the fact that even the newest games introduced to the Chinese market somehow manage to also acquire a Chinese name. If these games are going to acquire a Chinese name (and they are, if they ever become popular), then would it not make sense to establish a generally acknowledged translation? Of course, we by no means advocate eliminating the English title; as you can see, we placed the titles side by side in the description. Neither do we recommend altering the graphic artwork in the game. From a certain perspective, it is inconvenient for a game to have multiple names in different languages floating around the internet. However, it is reality. If we as translators do not provide a Chinese name, the consumer will. When people speak of Apple in China, they do not use the English word, they use the Chinese word for apple. One of the more prominent developers in the App Store is working with us, and shared with us the translated name that Apple itself had recommended for his app. Neither the description nor the interface for Texas Hold 'Em has been translated into Chinese; naturally, the title is still in English. At present, seven of the top ten sellers in the Chinese App Store have Chinese language titles. Simple, big-name terms like 'PSP' and 'iPhone' do indeed retain their English names; relatively complicated, obscure terms like iPhone app titles benefit from a translation. It is neither the case that the majority of Mainland Chinese able to afford the iPhone and iPod Touch are readers of western gaming sites. They gravitate toward similar Chinese sites like weiphone.com and iphonecake.com. This occurs not only because of the often significant language barrier, but also because of the fact that different topics are relevant in each locality (iphonecake.com, for example, is devoted almost exclusively to the double pursuit of jailbreaking and unlocking). If, as you suggest, Chinese iPhone owners are not only able, but also eager and willing to consume their information in English, then it seems rather silly to be translating these apps at all. But I suspect you won't make that argument. You will note that the iPhone games mentioned on said sites are in most cases listed with a Chinese translation alongside the original English title. We are always looking to improve the quality of our work, and can say with certainty that we are becoming more experienced and skilled everyday. Our small group formed two weeks ago. We believe strongly in providing our partners with the best quality translations available, and have certainly gained much from this experience. Andrew
both your arguments are moot. In China, if it's digital, it's pirated. You're not going to sell more games in China just because your game's localized for the market. It may get pirated more, however. The majority of iphones sold in China are sold jailbroken and software unlocked from vendors to users with the vendors providing various software support from upgrading to downloading/installing pirated games. Iphone owners in China aren't instructed on how to use the App Store. They're instructed on where and how to download and install pirated apps.
well, China has an higher average of jailbreaked deviced, if this is what you want to hear. Really: the Chinese market is very disappointing. I studied it for a while and it's not even one of the top 8 markets. Pretty disappointing for a 1,2 billion people country.
It sounds amazing that it offers such a quality and rarely find services at free of cost. I would definably get this advantage as early as possible.
