Translation of game names

[Thomas]

What is the best practice to translate a game name?

If the game name is the same in English and your local language (as the publisher used an international name), it is easy: keep the same name (e.g. "7 Wonders")

If the local game name is the translation of the English game name, I would use the local game name as the translation (e.g. "Settlers of Catan" => "Siedler von Catan").

But what, if the local game name has nothing to do with the English game name? For example, "Lucky Numbers" is the English name and "5 vor 12" is the German name

Would it better, to keep the English name (as we do not show different covers depending on the language)?
i.e. translation would be: "Lucky Numbers" (even so the game is known as "5 vor 12").

Should we translate to the local name (so people will recogize the game by the name they know in their local language)?
i.e. translation would be "5 vor 12" (even so the game cover still shows "Lucky Numbers" logo)

Or should we comibe the English and the local name, so the the English name is first and the local name is added in brackets?
e.g. translation would be "Lucky Numbers (5 vor 12)".

Or should we comibe the English and the local name, so the the local name is first and the English name is added in brackets?
e.g. translation would be "5 vor 12 (Lucky Numbers)".

[cigma]

These are the rules concerning the game name, as you can see in translation headquarter: "Spielname: Bitte verwende den ORIGINALEN Namen des Spiels, außer das Spiel hat in physikalischer Form in deiner Sprache einen anderen Namen.", which means: "Game Name: Please use the ORIGINAL game name unless the game physically has a different name in your language."

The first version ever (2012) was the German version with the name "5 vor 12", as you can see here: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/118 ... s?pageid=1. BUT this game has been on BGA for years, under the name of "Lucky Numbers". And the latest German version (2023) is also called "Lucky Numbers". So I suggest keeping the name "Lucky numbers" in this case as not to confuse anyone. The most I could imagine is to add the old name like this: "Lucky Numbers (5 vor 12)"

[Thomas]

Thanks for your answer.

I didn't want to change a translation that is used about 3 years. I know the rule shown on the translation HQ page and I was just wondering why the German name was not used and if there are any other rules I was not aware of. I did not know that the German publisher changed the name of the game from a German title to the international English title.

[Ledock]

I do have a quite specific question regarding the translations of game names.

Because in Slovakia everyone understands czech language, and Czech Republic is a stronger and bigger market, most of the games published in Slovakia are in czech language (as it is financially not advantageous to print the game just in slovak language). Now - nearly all games have the czech name on the front cover, some few have also the slovak name somewhere on the side of the box, some games come with rules inside the box with both czech and slovak language, on which the name is sometimes translated into slovak. Other games do not even have slovak rules, just the czech.

What is the correct way to translate (or not translate) the game names in this case? Keep the original name, czech translation, slovak translation? I always use the czech name, because it is on the front cover and most people will therefore know the game under this title. And - the slovak boardgame shops also list these games under the czech name, as far as I know.

Recently some translators started to change the names of games into slovak (once again - it was never published here under that name) and i got annoyed to discuss it with them, and change the name back and forth.

So I would like to have a moderator ruling to which I can refer.
Thanks.

[ufm]

Changing the game name into Slovak name for Slovak translation when they actually have one is totally valid.

If not, to avoid confusion the game name should follow the real-life name, not a hypothetically translated name.
In this case the player who changed the translation even after warnings can be reported from their player page as they actively damaged the translation.

[cigma]

So I would like to have a moderator ruling to which I can refer.

The official ruling is: "Game Name: Please use the ORIGINAL game name unless the game physically has a different name in your language." But we don't know why BGA that has given so and thus it is sometimes difficult to find a satisfying solution. In most cases it seems obvious, but in others it is not, as the ones described here.

Does BGA ruling want people to recognize the local name they might already know? Does BGA want to protect the rights of the local publisher? Or anything else?

What if a game isn't published yet in physical form, but is going to be published with a (EDIT: maybe different) local name? I know I have seen one game like this on BGA, but can't recall now which one it was.

If we don't get any official statement to this question I think each local community can decide on their own without this been considered as violating any rules.

[ufm]

The official ruling is: "Game Name: Please use the ORIGINAL game name unless the game physically has a different name in your language." But we don't know why BGA that has given so and thus it is sometimes difficult to find a satisfying solution. In most cases it seems obvious, but in others it is not, as the ones described here.

Does BGA ruling want people to recognize the local name they might already know? Does BGA want to protect the rights of the local publisher? Or anything else?

To prevent exactly these cases, as translating the game name as the translators please can make the game name unrecognizable.

What if a game isn't published yet in physical form, but is going to be published with a different local name? I know I have seen one game like this on BGA, but can't recall now which one it was.

If the game is sure to be released with that name, BGA name also should follow that name in advance.
In fact, I had to change some translations regarding games which were published locally after BGA release, as they used a different name.