4.1 Strategic competence analysis
4.1.1 Participants with translation education
As can be seen from Table 3, the participants with translation experience can be further separated into two groups based on their subject knowledge. These two groups would be translators 1, 2 and 5 and 3, 4 and 8.
Global translation strategy
Translator 1 writes that they2 used a mixture of domestication and foreignization in their translation. They justified this decision by saying that all of the special language terms in the source text cannot be translated adequately because there are no established equivalents. They further justify it by noting that most Finnish players of League of Legends favor the use of English terms in their communication, so that keeping some terms in English is justifiable for clarity, though they provide no examples at this point.
Local level translation strategies
When asked to name 3 local level translation decisions, translator 1 named the first as the term lane, which they wrote was better to be translated because its common use in the source text would make the translation burdensome to read if left untranslated. They decided on the translation väylä because of what the lanes are like in-game.
The next decision was concerning the term draft strategy the translator decided to use the English term draft because they did not think a Finnish translation would be able to convey the meaning of the original properly.
The third decision concerned the term solo laner, which the translator decided to translate into soolohahmo with the reasoning that having translated lane as väylä, keeping the word väylä in the Finnish translation of laner would not work in the translation.
Identifying and solving translation problems
According to the translation comment, translator 1 identified two major problems. The first problem that was already addressed in the translator’s use of a global translation strategy was the special language terms that are common throughout the text. The translator used a global
2 All of the participants are henceforth referred to a gender-neutral singular pronoun “they”.
strategy of deciding whether to translate terms or to leave them untranslated on a case-by-case basis.
The second problem noted by the translator was the long sentence structure common in English language texts. The translator noted that long sentences with multiple clauses separated by commas were especially hard to translate adequately into Finnish so they had to split them into separate sentences to fit the grammatical conventions of Finnish.
The easiest part of the translation process
In their translation comment, translator 1 named the background work that went into the translation as the easiest part of the translation process. The translator claimed that this was due to the fact that they knew the game League of Legends well enough so that aside from deciding on term translation the rest of the process was easy.
Strategic competence analysis based on the translation
Looking at translation 1 as a whole, the global strategy of deciding whether to translate special language items or to leave them untranslated becomes immediately apparent. The translation is fairly fluent to read despite each paragraph containing English words, which the translator noted as justified owing to the fact that the Finnish League of Legends audience is used to and prefers the use of the original English terms. In accordance to the translator’s strategies, English special language terms were left untranslated whenever appropriate and some were translated for the ease of the reader. The first translation problem was settled owing to the translator’s use of strategies. The second problem was also visibly solved as the complete translation is easy to read by a Finnish-speaking reader and no uncomfortably long sentences remain in the translation.
4.1.1.2 Translator 2
Below is a table showing the self-reported information of translator 2 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
2 5 5 3 ~1,5 h
Strategic competence analysis based on the translation comment
Global translation strategy
Translator 2 used a foreignizing translation strategy in the translation. They justified this decision by stating that the expectation is that the target audience of the translation would be familiar with the original English terms. The translator noted that some specific and
“transparent” terms were domesticated.
Local translation strategies
The translator made the decision to leave some – in their words essential – terms untranslated, as they expected the target audience to be familiar with the original English term. The translator provided example terms that were left untranslated such as: Baron, draft and siege.
They also noted that the term Baron is used as a proper noun and should never be translated.
The translator did translate some terms when they deemed it necessary for readability in Finnish. The translator provided example terms such as: dive, hero and vision, which they translated into sukellus, hahmo and näkyvyys. The translator stated that the translations are clear enough to be understood by the target audience to mean the original English terms but the text reads better with these terms translated.
Identifying and solving translation problems
According to the translation comment, there were no major issues in terms of understanding the text but the translation of some expressions was problematic. Translator 2 gave the expression strength in numbers as an example. The translator decided on the translation
enemmistön voima, which according to them worked well in context despite its political nature.
The translator also mentioned difficulties in dealing with terms related to gameplay mechanics, using terms like vision and solo laners as examples. The translator noted that such terms made it difficult to construct readable sentences in Finnish. The translator also noted that the “bombardment of terms”3 in certain sections of the source text made the text difficult to read, which led the translator to change how things are expressed in some parts of the text.
The translator especially mentioned sentences concerning the terms draftistrategia and neljä bruiseria seemed really difficult.
The easiest part of the translation process
Translator 2 wrote that the easiest part of the translation process was the structure of the source text, which the translator notes was not especially stylized or complicated. The translator says that aside from the special language terms the content of the source text was fairly easy to translate.
Strategic competence analysis based on the translation
Translation 2 clearly shows the translator’s strategy of mostly foreignizing. The translator seems to have used a strategy of a sort of hybrid foreignization, where terms that consist of more than one word, like draft strategy or bottom lane, were half-translated to form unified words that still contain an anglicism like draftistrategia and bottilinja. This type of strategy was not mentioned explicitly by the translator, but it seems to be fairly effective in combining readability in Finnish and the English term use of the Finnish League of Legends community.
The translator’s strategy seems to have adequately solved the translation problems they
3 All direct quotes are picked from the translations or translation comments and translated into English by the author
mentioned, specifically the problems related to terms and “term bombardment”, as the text reads fairly well despite some English words remaining due to the foreignization.
4.1.1.3 Translator 5
Below is a table showing the self-reported information of translator 5 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
5 5 5 4 ~1,5h
Strategic competence analysis based on the translation comment
Global translation strategy
According to their translation comment, translator 5 used a global strategy of using a Finnish equivalent for the special language terms in the source text whenever possible. If no equivalent was found they preferred the use of the original English term. They based this decision on the notion that the Finnish commentary of the game also contains a lot of
“Finglish”.
Local level translation strategies
Translator 5 provided a multitude of examples of the micro level translation decisions they used in the translation. The first such example was the pair terms lane and laner, which the translator decided to leave untranslated. They backed this decision by stating that the possible Finnish translation väylä would not work, as terms like keskiväylä would have a meaning wider than the mid lane of League of Legends. The next example provided by Translator 5 was the term gank, for which the translator could not find an adequate Finnish translation.
They decided on the Finnish pronunciation orthography form of gänkki, which the translator noted is used by Finnish players of League. The next example provided was Baron. The translator writes that they used the Finnish translation paroni as a proper noun Paroni because
it refers to a specifc monster on the League of Legends map. The last examples provided by translator 5 were the terms dive and bruiser, which they decided to leave in the original English form, as they thought that translating the terms to sukellus or tornisukellus and luunmurskaaja or lihaskimppu would not provide any additional clarity to a reader unfamiliar with League.
Identifying and solving translation problems
Translator 5 noted 2 major translation difficulties or problems in the translation process. The first, according to them, was the special language terminology and forming the text in Finnish. The translator notes that they understood the meaning of the text, but it was sometimes hard to express it in the translation. The second problem noted by translator 5 were the long sentences in the source text, which the translator notes they solved by separating the long sentences into smaller parts in the Finnish translation.
The easiest part of the translation process
Translator 5 notes that the easiest part of the translation process was the knowledge they had of the game, which helped them identify the special language terms in the text and which of them to translate or leave untranslated. They note that because of their knowledge they did not have to spend time on, for example, deciding whether to translate the names of the player-controlled characters or champions used in the text due to knowing that the names were indeed proper nouns and not terms.
Strategic competence analysis based on the translation
Looking at translation 5 overall, the global strategy used by translator 5 is immediately apparent. The text contains a lot of terms in what the translator called “finglish” and gave examples of. The translation features the frequent use of Finnish spoken language orthography versions of English special language terms like soololaner for solo laner and bruiseri for bruiser. The translator had noted that they translated terms that did have a Finnish equivalent. These were terms that could be directly translated, like siege into piiritys and ability into kyky. Overall, the translator’s strategy of using a Finnish equivalent whenever possible seems fairly systematic, even though the first paragraph of the translation contains so
many English words that it becomes taxing to read even to a reader who understands the meanings of the English terms.