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How to localize profanity in films and computer games: three different approaches

In cinema and computer games, a lot of swearing. Especially, in English - there curses have already become part of mass culture and are perceived quite normally.

In the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the word “fuck” was used as many as 569 times — at 3.16 words per minute. If you translate all these "fakie" into Russian directly, then the entire film would consist of mats. We are sure that Russian-speaking viewers would perceive this negatively.

This is where the dilemma for localizers arises: translate films and games by letter and stuff translations with mats or stick to the spirit, smoothing out too coarse expressions? Let's analyze.



Legal features of localization


There are no laws in the United States that prohibit filmmakers or igrodelov from using profanity. Everything is decided by age ratings.

In 1968, the American Film Association adopted a rating system for evaluating films, which eventually transformed into the existing one today.

:
G — General. . , .
PG — Parental guidance suggested. . , , .
PG-13 — Parents strongly cautioned. 13 . , .
R — Restricted. 17 . , , , .
NC-17 — No Children under 17. 17 . , , - , .
But with estimates, everything is complicated. For example, the same “Wolf from Wall Street” received a rating of R, despite the huge number of mats.

With computer games, everything is very similar. Unless the rating system is a little different.

So, sales in the USA depend on rating restrictions. Both in films and in games can be a mate. Even in PG-13. In Russia, the situation is slightly different. Actually, it is through the prism of the Russian Federation that we consider the very two different approaches.

Literary translation without mats


In the Russian Federation there is a law No. 53-FZ “On the state language of the Russian Federation”, which prohibits obscene language in the media and films that are launched for the rental of movie theaters. That is, if filmmakers want to make money, then they will have to localize or make films without mats.

Rude expressions are allowed, but those words and phrases that are recognized as obscene - no.

So it turns out that out of all these “fucks” you have to get out and reinvent the wheel in order to maintain the meaning and mood of the original without swearing.

Take, for example, the same “Wolf from Wall Street.”



He doesn't know, he needs to, he's gotta ask his wife! The fact is it doesn't matter what the fuck he says! If he's already agreed that the stock's going up, then the only real objection he has at this point is he doesn't trust you! And he shouldn't trust you, you're a fucking salesman!

. , , . , . , . ? ? !


“The Wolf from Wall Street” was duplicated for film distribution, so all the mats here were replaced with less crude expressions. The word "fucking" is not included in the list of swear words, so it can be used.

And even if you do not take into account that the law prescribes to remove all mats in the cinema, this has its own logic. Because the Russian-speaking person is not used to swearing in films.

Mats and rude expressions serve to express the depth of your emotions, and not to speak them constantly.

Moreover, the English "fuck", although it refers to rude curses, but it is definitely weaker than the Russian counterparts. And if in the film through each word there will be different "bl ** b", "fuck ** b" and "x * y", then even a good film is unlikely to be watched.

The most common movie dubbing strategy is to completely remove the curses. Leave only emotionally colored speech. And there are several problems with this:

  • Softening expressions changes the perception of the film. It changes the original meaning, conceived by the scriptwriter and director, because some remarks may be important for understanding the characters of the characters, their relationships and perception of the situation.
  • If you overdo it with the mitigation of curses, the film can generally turn out to be boring and unemotional. Some directors, such as Scorsese and Tarantino, are very careful about swearing in their films. They emphasize the characters of their heroes. If you remove it, the heroes may remain unsolved.

Translation of all curses in full


Actually mainly for modern arthouse films that do not work in movie theaters, as well as for old paintings that came out a long time ago, but were localized already strongly after the end of the rental. There is still a separate branch of pirated localization, where mats are most often translated in full.

Take, for example, the legendary localization “Blood and Concrete”, which only the lazy did not hear:


Here all the curses are fully translated. And it sounds, frankly, crooked. Fun, fervent, but crooked. It is difficult to imagine that in Russian a person gives out such a number of various (!) Curses in a row.

Moreover, some curses in the original and in Russian differ in sound and length of phrases. And if in English such combinations sound concise and quite logical, then in Russian with direct translation it is extremely unnatural.

But with proper translator skills, curses sound pretty natural. Take, for example, Scarface with Al Pacino.


Did you try to eat an octopus three times a day? And I already have it, b ** d, creeps out of my ears! And heal in f ** ky Soviet shoes, despite the fact that the legs are already in corns.

I ate octopus three times a day, fucking octopus is coming out my ears, fuckin 'Russian shoes are eating through my feet.
Here localization is done competently. “Fucking” and “Fuck” translate very differently, depending on the context. And the spirit of the phrase is transmitted in the first place, not the letter. With high-quality localization, replicas may not coincide at all, but at the same time carry absolutely identical meaning. This is more difficult than a word-for-word translation, but it will sound much more natural.

Regarding older films, such an approach to localization is possible. But for new films, it is not cost-effective.

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In our opinion, “The Scarface” got pretty close to him. But this is only due to the fact that the film was not at the box office in the Russian-speaking market. If it were localized now, then it would certainly not have been so vibrant and distinctive.

In modern conditions and the restriction of swearing in the media and film distribution, it is impossible to maintain this balance. When softening mats, part of the meaning is inevitably lost.

But if balance is not possible in movie localizations, then it is very possible in computer games.

One of the best localizations of all time and people we consider the legendary "The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt." The translators approached the localization of the game, as they say, with the soul, fully preserving the characters of all the main and secondary characters. Take, for example, the Baron, a character from the main campaign.


Although he is a foul language, curses look very natural. They complement and reveal the character of the character. But if “The Witcher” was translated literary, then the character lost a significant part of his charisma.

The same applies to Geralt himself. He swears quite a bit, but exclusively in the subject.


In most cases, everything is very competent and tasty. But there are some points in which the localizers went too far. For example, Geralt’s poem dedicated to Lambert.

In the original, there was only one phrase, besides not rhyming: “Lambert, Lambert - what a prick”. It is absurd, but funny.

Localizers decided to add even more absurdity. The result is:


In our opinion, this is already overkill. Although such deviations from the original are sometimes permissible, they should not be abused - you can violate the perception of the hero or a particular situation.

To correctly assess when curses need to be translated directly, and when it is worth using literary speech, you need to have a very fine feel for the context.

And in the conditions of the conveyor, which is often the translation of films and games, this is impossible. Indeed, such super-quality translations require several times more time and investment.

Most localizers prefer to produce good material for an average price. But we see that those projects that take on each of these processes in the soul become truly iconic. The Witcher confirms this. And we really look forward to “Cyberpunk 2077” from CD Project Red. And especially - its localization into Russian. We hope that it will be as cool as The Witcher.

And if you do not want to depend on the quality of localizations and translations - watch movies and play games in English. We will help you learn the language.

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