DRAWING PLAYERS INTO YOUR STORY

An Immersive Experience

A well localized game enhances the player experience; mood and atmosphere are transcribed into dialogues and descriptions. Bringing depth to characters, attentively recreating idioms, ensuring any intended references are culturally relevant… I enjoy playing around with words while challenged by the constraints inherent in video game localization.

Embracing the technical and creative challenges of localization with subtlety

Having been a gamer since my teenage years and an a avid reader for even longer, I feel at ease when it comes to transposing a variety of writing styles into French. Various translation and project management positions within the localization departments of major game companies have enabled me to build up solid experience and know-how in this field.

I am able to work with any standard file formats and use all the main computer assisted translation (CAT) tools on the market: Memsource, MemoQ, Trados, Wordfast.

Characteristics

Linguistic chameleon
Can talk like a delicate teenage boy or a hardened amazon.
Master timekeeper
Ensures no deadline is ever missed, whether in turbo or co-op mode.
Warhorse
Has been on the front line of numerous battles with the RPG, RTS, FPS and 4X regiments. Seasoned old-timer.
Steadfast
seeker
Never wavers in his quest for the perfect word. Leaves no stone unturned.

Skills

Accomplished storyteller
Has a soft spot for anything narrative. Dialogues, descriptions, encyclopaedia entries...
Conversant lingo-ist
Understands how a buff could increase a weapon’s AoE in an FPS and improve your character’s DPS, hopefully boosting your K/D.
Seasoned ranger
Never loses his bearings, even in the most labyrinthine of files, thanks to a mean understanding of the string ID.
Practiced bug-buster
Kills bugs before they are hatched; wised up to the workings of gaming interfaces and programming (length constraints, variables, etc.)

Style Snippets

Here are a few samples of my work – because a good example is always better than a long speech!

Adaptation of a poem in alexandrines for a heroic fantasy mobile game
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Translation of a dialogue between three characters for Electronic Arts' co-op game It Takes Two
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Description of a surfing competition among penguins for Ubisoft’s Surf’s Up
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Happy Customer Testimonials

"I recommend playing in French as the dubbing is really well done, it’s great to have a good-quality French version."
Wild Hearts game review on jeuxvideo.com
"The game is just as great to play in French as it is in Japanese".
Wild Hearts game review on Gamekult.com
"[…] it’s mightily well written considering the genre, and the French translation is really neat. And so is the dubbing."
Wild Hearts game review on Gameblog.fr
"It was a pleasure to work with Raphaël. Very conscientious and detail oriented, he did detailed research to adapt his translations to our project. The quality of his work added to his consistent timely delivery makes him a trustworthy resource that I warmly recommend!"
Frédérique Fourny-Jennings – Senior Localization Project Manager, Ubisoft
"I’ve known Raph since 2013 and he has consistently proven himself to be a highly productive and reliable English to French translator with a great sense of humor. Raph has brought joy to our French customers and translated numerous word-heavy projects for us over the years and delivered his projects in a timely manner. Raph has been quick to communicate relevant and accurate feedback to our in-house team of linguists and game developers. I’d recommend Raph for any English to French translation projects. Raph is a joy to work with!”
Steen Groennebaek – Localization Director, Big Fish Games
"Raphael has been cooperating with us for over a year now on continuous basis, and we always turn to him when we need French translations. The reason for this is that Raphael's professionalism is unmatched - he always delivers on time, in high quality, he often goes beyond the call of duty pointing to potential problems, he gives us hints about the legacy texts to fix even if he does not have to and he always keeps us posted about the project status. I appreciate his problem-solving attitude and the willingness to put everything into his work, to make sure he delivers nothing but quality. He is also friendly and easy to work with. I highly recommend his services!"
Vojtěch Schubert – Localization Producer, Bohemia Interactive (2016)
“And if the game provides ongoing pleasure for the eyes, the same can be said of the ears, that will delight in an excellent quality French translation (only in the form of subtitles, unfortunately)."
It Takes Two game review on jeuxvideo.com
"This was a very good adaptation, combining creative translation and linguistic perfection. Some of the headlines were genuinely funny and no doubt made set this work apart from other very high quality submissions (the delightful "Gloire au Grand Travesti", for example). Any colloquialisms were also extremely well rendered ; the whole text makes for a very fluent read and fully conveys the atmosphere of the game, as well as the irony-impregnated critique of dictatorial regimes. Congratulations!"
Jury for the LocJam translators’ award – The Republia Times (2014 Laureate)
"We have contracted Raphaël for a number of years and continue to be impressed by his professionalism and the quality of his localization services. He consistently delivers impeccable translations while demonstrating an excellence of care and attention with every single one of our projects. We know our translation requests are in good hands with Raphaël, regardless of the word count, whether it is a short marketing bit or the text of our next hit game!"
Nicolas Tchemitcheff – Localization Product Manager, French, at Big Fish Games
"We were extremely happy with Raphaël's service! We contracted Raphaël to translate our game Legends of Solitaire: Curse of the Dragons from English to French after being recommended by Big Fish Games. He was professional and extremely quick in the translation, and produced a great result for us. We plan to use Raphaël again in the near future."
The Revills Games
"Raphaël and I worked together in-house as French translators more than ten years go, and we remained collaborators as freelancers since then. I was impressed from the start by his professionalism, his passion for translation and for video games, and his mastery of the French language. His work ethic is unmatched. Today, Raphaël is the only one I trust with my translation projects when I am unavailable for my clients, and I am confident that he will consistently deliver creative and accurate translations. I admire his inventiveness in creating the perfect names for video games creatures and items, his outstanding style in writing dialogues and stories that really set the scene and draw the player in, and his attention to detail and ability to research the subject extensively."
Sandrine Guyennet – Translator specialized in video games since 2008
"Humour is omnipresent in the game, be it in Elisabeth’s comments, in situations like Romeo and Juliet’s skeletons doing a charleston dance, or in the flamboyant protagonists: the journalist Claire Chacal [inspired by the name of a French TV journalist], Professor Krankenstein, or the old pirate-turned-miller drinking his morning milk while confessing he’s given up on the ladies (“ne court plus la gueuse”)."
Player comment on the Big Fish website (Snark busters : Haute Société)
Ever-present humour, very funny character names, really comical animals and characters.
Other player comment on the Big Fish website (Snark busters : Haute Société)
"Raphaël is an excellent translator and mentor. Working with him has been the most formative experience as he taught me everything there is to know about translation and localization. As a dedicated linguist, he is always looking for the best way to convey meaning and will not give up until he finds it. Tenacious, passionate and hard-working, Raphaël is someone I would trust with any project as I know he will give it his very best."
Sabrina Ducrocq-Poirier – Freelance Translator, English to French
"Nice music and the French localization is not bad at all."
Player review on CanardPC.com forum

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