Participants with little subject knowledge

many English words that it becomes taxing to read even to a reader who understands the meanings of the English terms.

Local translation strategies

According to translator 3, they were aware that in texts similar to the source text, and in content related e-sports in general, the use of borrowed words is common. This, according to them, made it so that they were not “afraid” to use English terms in the Finnish translation whenever deemed appropriate.

The first example given of micro level translation decisions was the term lane, which the translator left untranslated because it seemed appropriate despite considering Finnish terms like kaista or käytävä. The second example was the decision to use the Finnish spoken form of some of the English terms. The translator gave an example of the term gank, which they turned into gänk, which corresponds to the Finnish pronunciation that the translator notes they have heard their brother use in the context of League of Legends. The translator notes that such decisions were based on the results of their information gathering on forums and parallel texts and how natural the decided word felt. The third example was special language words and terms that the translator could not identify or find information about. They gave examples such as siege fight, Baron(s) and solo laner. The translator resulted in translating the words

“more or less directly” and hopes that they did not give them a wrong meaning.

Identifying and solving translation problems

Translator 3 noted three major problems or difficulties in the translation process. The first of such was the fact that, according to them, there does not exist established Finnish translations for many terms like laner, dive or siege. The translator noted that in casual speech it would be easy to just use the Finnish pronunciation of the English term, but the same strategy does not work in writing. The second major difficulty was the word Baron. The translator notes that the source text mentions Baron in both single and plural but could not find out whether the word referenced the neutral monster Baron Nashor. The translator noted that they had the impression that Baron Nashor could only be killed once and so could not be the reference of the plural Barons but that they were ultimately unsure. The third problem in the translation process noted by the translator was that they had trouble throughout the text identifying what concept or situation in a match of League of Legends was being discussed. The translator notes that they are aware of the core concept of the game but have not played it themselves resulting in them not knowing what happens in a siege or how killing the Baron helps a team

to win the game. They continue that understanding individual words does not help understanding the context or nuance: ”It is like translating without understanding what you are translating”.

The easiest part of the translation process

Translator 3 writes that the easiest part of the translation process was translating the text surrounding the special language content. They noted that they have not read similar texts to the source text much but they seem to be written in a light register or even slightly resembling spoken language. The translator concludes that aside from special language terms the text was pleasant to translate and they felt that there was room for creativity.

Strategic competence analysis based on the translation

The translator’s strategy of domestication with the use of anglicisms is apparent in the translation. Despite noting that they left the term lane untranslated, the translator did translate the word when it was used in solo laner to translate it into soolokaistasankari, which is a working translation but does not correspond to the further use of lane in the translation. The translator’s use of anglicisms throughout the text is apparent, as terms like gank and bottom lane have been translated into gänk and bottilane. The translator’s use of parallel texts and information gathering is apparent in cases like their translation of the term dive, which is the shortened version of the term tower dive, a fact that is not apparent in the source text itself.

The translator used the Finnish translation tornihyökkäys. The translator mentioned creativity, which can be especially seen in the last paragraph of the translation with sports expressions like missteps or got up in their face, which the translator translated with Finnish expressions hutilaukaus and menivät kiinni.

4.1.2.2 Translator 4

Below is a table showing the self-reported information of translator 4 from the translation comment.

Translator number

Translator’s years of studying translation

Translator’s level of

familiarity with League of Legends

Translator’s level of

familiarity with e-sports in general

Time spent on translation

4 5 2 4 ~2h

Strategic competence analysis based on the translation comment

Global translation strategy

According to translator 4, their global translation strategy was to “domesticate as much as possible” as long as it is easy to understand and read. The translator notes that the readership of the translation consists of League of Legends and e-sports fans so complete domestication is not needed. The translator continues that the fans and players of League are used to certain style or terminology and the game has been around for a long time so Finnish readers are unlikely to prefer a translation of bruiser instead of the original term.

Local level translation strategies

Translator 4 gave examples of the translation decisions they made in the translation process.

The first example they gave were special language terms that are established among Finnish players of League of Legends. For example terms like gank and bottom lane are, according to the translator, used in the Finnish spoken language forms of gankki and botti so the translator used those forms. The second decision highlighted by the translator was concerning terms that are common in e-sports but not immediately recognizable as special language terms like draft strategy, ability and lane. The translator decided to domesticate such terms into hahmojenvalintastrategia, isku and linja. They justify this decision by stating that despite Finnish player being accustomed to discussing ability or bottilane such spoken language sounding terms are not necessarily suitable for the target website. Additionally, players are able to recognize these translations even if they were unfamiliar with the term.

Identifying and solving translation problems

Translator 4 noted a few problems or difficulties in the translation process. The first of these, according to them, was the degree of domestication or foreignization. The translator notes that

their information gathering gave them an idea of how often terms like bruiser or gank are used in Finnish League of Legends texts. The translator notes that they did not like the idea of blindly foreignizing or domesticating all of the special language terms, so they made the decision on a case-by-case basis. The second difficulty mentioned by the translator was getting familiar with the game League. They note that, while they follow e-sports in general, they are not familiar with League and have never played the game and so they had to gather information about the structure and nature of the game. They were nonetheless at least fleetingly familiar with the game as they evaluated their level of knowledge as 2 instead of 1.

The easiest part of the translation process

The translator writes that the easiest part of the translation process for them was the whole process of translating special language content. They continue that because they themselves are a gamer, translating an e-sports news article was pleasant and the challenge of getting to know the game League of Legends and translating special language terms was fun. They also note that because the register of e-sports reporting is usually more informal than other special language texts there was an opportunity to use more lively expressions. They conclude that due to also following traditional sports the concept of reporting on a set of games was not unfamiliar.

Strategic competence analysis based on the translation

The translator’s global strategy of domesticating “as far as possible” is apparent from the translation. Aside from a few specific terms most of the special language content is translated to Finnish. There are some originally English terms whose orthography still follows the Finnish pronunciation like bottilinja and gankki. Despite noting that they translated the term lane into linja the translator still used the translation väylä at the beginning of the second paragraph. The translator’s translation problem solution of deciding on special language terms on a case-by-case basis is apparent in cases like ultimate, where the translator decided on a sort of 50/50 solution by leaving the word ultimate untranslated but adding the word isku to create the expression ultimate-isku. The translator’s familiarity of e-sports can also be seen from their translation of, for example, the expression strength in numbers, which they translated into miesylivoima.

4.1.2.3 Translator 8

Below is a table showing the self-reported information of translator 8 from the translation comment. Translator 8 is distinct from the other translators with translation education in the sense that they have the least amount of formal translation education at 3 years, while also having the least familiarity with League of Legends at 1.

Translator number

Translator’s years of studying

translation

Translator’s level of familiarity with League of Legends

Translator’s level of familiarity with e-sports in general

Time spent on translation

8 3 1 1 ~3h

Strategic competence analysis based on the translation comment

Global translation strategy

According to translator 8, they made a multitude of global decision regarding the translation, the first of which was the decision to keep the “casual style of the source text”. The translator notes that they wanted to pursue a lighter register instead of “complete grammatical accuracy”. The translator continues that they tried to make the translation as understandable as possible, which led them to the decision to translate the special language terminology as little as possible. This decision was justified according to the translator due to the fact that the special language vocabulary would be more familiar to the audience than any translation that the translator would come up with. The translator also made the decision to keep the structure of the source text mostly intact.

Local level translation strategies

Translator 8 listed four micro level decisions that they had done in the translation. The first example was the term split, which they translated into turnaus. The translator writes that they are still slightly unsure what the term means but that they think it refers to the set of games being played. The next example listed was the term lane, which was left untranslated. The

translator wrote that the term in its original English form is a special language term that the audience of the translator is expected to understand. Translator 8 wrote that they made the decision to keep “character classes”, which refers to the term bruiser, in the original English, as they believe translating them would only make the translation more confusing. The last example provided by translator 8 was the term Baron, which they left untranslated, as it is a name and other solutions would have been confusing according to the translator.

Identifying and solving translation problems

According to translator 8, the most apparent translation problem in their translation process was the special language terminology in the source text. The translator writes that despite resolving to leave the terms untranslated they felt that they would not fit the text in their original English form. Because of this, they made a case-by-case decision on whether to translate the special language term or not. They continue that while “gamer slang” is quite difficult, there were cases where the expression could be circumvented. They give the example of gank, which they translated to murskatappio, which they feel fulfills the original expression’s semantic content. Another example provided by translator 8 was the term secure, which occurred three times and was a problem every time. The translator believes they handled the term well but felt doubtful about the translated expression Baronien varmistaminen.

The easiest part of the translation process

Translator 8 noted that the easiest part of the translation process was translating the parts of the source text that described the events of the League of Legends match. The translator described these parts of the text “fluent” to work with.

Strategic competence analysis based on the translation

Looking at translation 8 overall, the translator’s decision to leave the special language terminology largely untranslated is clearly visible. The translator’s solution to the problem of the special language content is also clearly visible in the translation. The case-by-case decisions can be seen in the translation of terms like draft strategy into draft-strategia and solo laner into solo lane -hahmo. The translator’s global strategy of trying to preserve the

“casual register” of the source texts does not seem to affect the readability of the translation nor are there apparent translation errors in the translation. A lot of the original English terms or Finnish spoken language versions of the original English terms are visible in the translation, but this is justified by the translator due to the target audience of the translation.