Audio Description in Video Games: Translation vs. Creation

Speaker: Dr Xiaochun Zhang

Abstract: Video gaming has become a globally popular form of entertainment, yet visually impaired individuals often face challenges in accessing most games. Audio description (AD) offers a solution by translating visual elements into spoken words, making content accessible to those with vision loss.

While recent studies propose translating AD scripts for films and TV as a cost-effective strategy across languages and cultures, AD for video games remains relatively unexplored. The TransAD4games project explores methods of creating and translating audio descriptions for video games to improve game accessibility across languages and cultures by addressing four key research questions. First, it examines whether translation is more cost-effective and time-efficient than creating AD from scratch. Second, it explores the differences between translated AD scripts and those created directly in the target language. Third, it identifies the challenges involved in translating and creating AD for games. Lastly, it investigates the preferences of game players regarding the different AD versions. This presentation will unveil the research findings of the project and explore potential directions for future research.

Speaker bio: Dr Xiaochun Zhang is a Lecturer in Translation Studies at the University College London (UCL), United Kingdom. Her research interests lie primarily in video game localisation and accessibility, fan audiovisual translation, and language technology. She is the principal investigator of the AD4Games and TransAD4Games projects, which investigate the application of audio description in video games to improve accessibility. ORCID: 0000-0001-6334-6525