7 Gen Blocks Best Practices – Language Translation

With 7 Gen Blocks, you can create your own educational game that can be in both English and a second language. Have a game that you want to translate? Here are some best practices when it comes to language translation in general, but that will also be helpful when translating the text in your game.

Language Translation Best Practices:

  • Do not solely rely on Google Translate. 
  • Google Translate is a good starting point for translation, but blindly relying on it is a mistake. Google Translate is not always accurate when it comes to translation and you could end up with text that does not make sense in the intended language to which you are translating.
  • Avoid idioms as much as possible.
  • Idioms are difficult to translate from English to a second language because idioms are already expressions that mean something different than what is actually expressed. The true meaning of an idiom is something that is learned within the context of the language that it’s in, therefore, making it difficult to translate or understand it in a different language.
  • Keep in mind that cultural references may not translate. 
  • Cultural references may not translate from English into another language. Keep in mind that cultural references may be hard to translate because that reference or expression may be exclusive to the culture from which it originates, therefore, making it hard to translate into a second language.  
  • Be mindful of literal translation.
  • Literal translation, or word-for-word translation, doesn’t always work. Translating text word-for-word from one language to another doesn’t always make sense because words could be out of order or the phrase/reference that you are translating may not exist in the intended language to which you are translating.
  • Always get a second opinion. 
  • It’s always a good idea to get a second opinion to go over any language translations. It ensures any mistakes or improvements can be made in the text for the intended language to which you are translating.