A Study on Translation Strategies for Character Development in Video Games: Taking Stardew Valley as an Example

Abstract

This study takes the independent video game Stardew Valley as an example to explore the strategies and effects of translating the original English character dialogue into Chinese, with a focus on how translation serves to recreate character personalities and localize cultural contexts. Guided by the theories of functional equivalence and pragmatic translation, the study selects five representative characters with distinct styles (Shane, Abigail, George, Emily, and Haley) from the game. Through a dialogue comparison analysis method, the study evaluates aspects such as tone, speech style, emotional expression, and cultural adaptation. The study found that translators retained the original personalities while adopting moderate stylistic adjustments and cultural softening strategies, achieving good functional equivalence. However, the simplification of language style for some characters also led to a dilution of their individuality. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of game character translation practices and provides case references for game localization work.