게임 내 비속어 번역전략 양상 연구: 게임 금칙어의 의미ㆍ음운/형태적 변이형을 중심으로

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the translation strategies employed when translating swearing, with a particular emphasis on forbidden words within the context of digital games. Forbidden words in this context refer to vocabulary that game developers prohibit in in-game nicknames or chat. The goal for this study is to establish effective strategies for game translation by comparing and analyzing the approaches taken to address game swearing and variations of forbidden words in the context of both English-Korean and Korean-English translation. For this study, Witcher 3 and Love Delivery were chosen as target texts for the analysis of English-to-Korean and Korean-to-English translations. Findings reveal that, when dealing with swearing, translations based on forbidden words in games and their variations, translators tend to use “alternative” or “additional” translations rather than “omitting” or “deleting” such words, which are methods mainly observed in the translation of movies and dramas. However, to ensure natural translation results for the target text, it was discovered that consideration for phonological and formal aspects, as well as translation strategies for the variations were essential.