Localization in film: the good examples

Those of you who follow our social media accounts, and maybe have read some of our other blogs, will no doubt be familiar with our #TCFilmFriday posts, where we look at some good and some very bad examples of technical writing and localization in film. Every now and then, we get together some of our favourite examples and discuss what is good or bad about them and what we, as practitioners, can learn from these fictional examples.

This time, we are taking a look at three good examples of localization or localization processes in film and television: what we like about their portrayals of localization processes, why we think they work well and what lessons we can learn from these examples.

Shogun

Shogun is a remake of a 1980 miniseries of the same name, which is also very loosely based on the historical events around the life of William Adams, the first English person to reach Japan in 1600. In the events of Shogun, John Blackthorne is one of a handful of survivors of a Dutch merchant ship that reached the shores of Japan after a long and treacherous voyage.

Blackthorne arrives in a precarious situation. While the Japanese have been trading with the Portuguese for years and are aware of Europeans, the Portuguese are currently at war with England. When brought to the court of Lord Toranaga, Blackthorne, who cannot speak Japanese and has to work through Portuguese interpreters, struggles to communicate with his hosts. Worse still, due to the state of war between Portugal and England, his Portuguese interpreters mistranslate his speech to try to incriminate him as a pirate. While Blackthorne eventually manages to get his message across with some theatrics, it starts him off on a very bad foot in Japan.

Later in the plot, Blackthorne meets Mariko, who has learnt Portuguese after converting to Catholicism. Blackthorne spends most of the series using Mariko to translate what he is saying directly into Japanese, cutting out his Portuguese middlemen. However, Mariko has her own agenda, and sometimes misrepresents or omits certain words and meanings when translating Blackthorne’s messages.

It is only at the end of the series, when Blackthorne has learnt some Japanese, that he is able to effectively converse with his hosts. In one scene, his knowledge of Japanese customs and language helps him save a village from destruction.

What is great about Shogun is that the translation and localization directly affect the plot. Characters will twist and change translations in order to further their own agendas, and the more devious characters will be careful how and what they translate, based on which other characters are in earshot and what languages they can understand. Also, later in the series, when Blackthorne starts speaking Japanese, he occasionally gets himself into trouble because he hasn’t quite grasped the language and the cultural context of some phrases. Some of his sentences, which he directly translates from English, mean something completely different in Japanese – with some dire consequences at various points in the plot.

So, what can we learn from Shogun’s portrayal of translation and localization? Well, firstly, it’s very important to have a translation and localization partner that you can trust, and also one that has a good understanding of the cultural and linguistic idiosyncrasies of the region you are translating into. Many mistakes that Blackthorne makes are a result of just translating the words from English to Japanese, which is a mistake that some inexperienced translators make in real life. Also, Shogun highlights how easy it is to change the meaning of a translation by omitting certain words, or not having a working knowledge of local customs and norms, which again are mistakes that inexperienced translators can make, or minor feudal lords can make on purpose to further their own political agenda. It highlights how important it is to have a trusted translation partner that has knowledge of regional and cultural differences, especially  when dealing with technical translations, or complex ideas, services or products.

Arrival

The 2016 Sci-Fi film Arrival is a treat for anyone who has an interest in translation. The film centres on linguistic professor Louise Banks, who is drafted into a translation team assembled when several alien spacecraft land on Earth. Louise and her team of linguists and scientists race to understand the aliens and what they are doing on Earth, while other teams around the world do the same.

What is great about the film is that it doesn’t shy away from explaining the process of translating a completely new language into English. Using the character of Colonel Webber as a foil, as a military officer with no experience of translation, gives the film an excuse to have Louise explain the processes and techniques used to translate and localize the aliens’ language. It demonstrates that translation is more than just translating the words verbatim – it involves understanding the wider context and how language affects the cultural and social mores of the target language.

There are also some warnings about the dangers of mistranslation. Later in the film, other teams start drawing different conclusions about the aliens’ message, due partly to the different contexts they have used in their translations. This leads to a series of events that put Earth on the path of going to war with the aliens – however, without spoiling too much, there is a very good, if slightly preposterous twist at the end that was probably appreciated by translators and localization engineers alike.

So, what can we learn from this example of localization in film? Well, as with our previous case, the context of translation is essential. When other teams use the board game ‘Go’ as a starting point, because of the competitive nature of the game, the aliens’ messages are perceived as more aggressive – leading to a mistake in the translation. Also, the thoroughness of Louise Bank’s translation methods means that she establishes a base level of knowledge of the cultural and linguistic structure that the aliens use before attempting any translation of complex messages. This means she is able to build up to a more thorough understanding of the aliens’ language, giving her team more accurate results than the other teams working on the project. We cover a similar process in one of our other blogs, ‘When should you turn to a Pivot language’, which demonstrates how stripping back meaning to the fundamentals in a pivot language can help you translate more accurately into your target language.

WindTalkers

The 2002 action film Windtalkers is loosely based on the real-life events around Native American ‘Code Talkers’ (which we have written a detailed blog about here), where, during the Second World War, Native American Code Talkers were employed to help US army units transmit and receive messages in Navajo. Because Navajo was only spoken by the Native American tribes, speakers could easily transmit messages in their native tongue without fear of the messages being deciphered by the Japanese.

We’ve already covered the ingenious methods used by the Code Talkers, such as establishing a glossary of terms for translating specialist military terms, and describing new inventions such as tanks and submarines, as well as their ability to accurately translate messages in very stressful circumstances. What this film portrays very well is the importance of these code talkers to their units and how they were to be protected at all times, as their ability to quickly transmit messages gave the Americans a much needed advantage in the Pacific campaign.

So, what can we learn from this example? Firstly, when dealing with translations that include specific, technical language, it’s important to make sure you prepare properly by having a translation glossary in place. This ensures that your localization team understands the exact meaning of your specialised terminology, and will result in more accurate translations into your target languages. Secondly, a point our localization team will appreciate, it shows you how valuable good translators are! Without the sterling work of the Native American Code Talkers, the US military’s efforts in the Pacific would not have been as effective, and the protection that the Code Talkers received in the film reflects this. Even though we are slightly biased, Good localization partners are valuable and can be the difference between success and failure.

That’s not all folks

We hope you have enjoyed this look at good examples of translation and localization in film. If you would like to read more, we’ll be following up this blog with a look at the bad examples of localization in film. Separately, we’ve recently published other blogs on localization, such as how bad software localization can ruin your products and effective practices for creating localization terminology glossaries.

If you are looking for help with a localization project, or would like to talk to us about your favourite examples of localization processes in films, why not get in contact with us here.