Problematic particles. A translation analysis of sentence-final particles used in Tales of Vesperia.

Abstract

This thesis will inquire into translation issues surrounding Japanese gender-specific sentencefinal particles used by the main character of the role-playing game Tales of Vesperia. The focal point of the study is the investigation regarding how the translators of the English game converted certain pieces of language tied to gender from Japanese to English in order to adjust the text to the Western audience. Recently, video games have started to move away from prejudice commonly associated with the term, which in turn has led to an increasing acknowledge of them by society as their own form of art. In correspondence to this, research surrounding language frequently encountered within them, among other things, becomes increasingly important, especially considering that studies surrounding translation issues in video games have hitherto been rather scarce.