Article published In: Digital Translation
Vol. 11:1 (2024) ► pp.45–72
From screen to game: Translating Iron Man 2 cinematics into Spanish
Published online: 13 June 2024
https://doi.org/10.1075/dt.23002.rod
https://doi.org/10.1075/dt.23002.rod
Abstract
This article presents a descriptive empirical study of the Spanish translation of the video game Iron Man
2 (Iron Man
2 (Sega 2010)) in reference to its 50 cinematic sequences and its
intertextual consistency across other Iron Man and related texts in the Marvel universe of movies and comic
books. We used Rabadán, Rosa. 1991. Equivalencia y traducción: Problemática de la equivalencia translémica
inglés-español. [orig. Equivalence and Translation:
Issues with Translemic Equivalence from English to Spanish]. León, Spain: University of León. translemic analysis model to analyze the translation
while Vázquez Rodríguez, Arturo. 2016. “El error de traducción en la localización de videojuegos: El caso de Breath of Fire: Dragon
Quarter”. [orig. “The Translation Error in Video
Game Localization: The Case of Breath of Fire: Dragon
Quarter]. Sendebar, 271: 267–297. taxonomy was applied to evaluate translation errors
found in the dialogue script. The analysis shows that roughly one in five of the cinematic scenes contains translation errors. In
addition, we have identified intertextual discrepancies of certain key names in Spanish, which, we argue, could disrupt the game’s
enjoyability. Without access to the exact situational contexts we can only assume a breakdown in the work process, involving
translators, dubbing directors, sound engineers, and QA testers. Additionally, our findings suggest the importance of overseeing
the intertextual dimension across the transmedia franchises for coherent storytelling.
Keywords: video game, localization, dubbing, Iron Man, intertextuality, translation error
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Video game localization
- 3.Methodology
- 3.1Data collection
- 3.2Analytical frameworks
- 4.Analysis
- 4.1Script translation analysis
- 4.2Intertextuality
- 5.Conclusion
- Notes
References Gameography
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