Today on COG Considers, let's take a look at the differences between translation and localization... and why localization can be pretty awesome.
Genshin Impact Version Luna IV launches January 14 with Columbina, new Lunar reactions, Nod-Krai expansion, and the Lantern Rite.
MiHoYo's version of Roblox was inevitable—Genshin Impact is huge, but it's not Roblox huge. In pursuit of greater horizons to conquer, the anime action game is going to get its own mode where user-created stuff is king.
TAKE THAT! Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is receiving a major update on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC!
Arriving on November 19, 2025, this free title update adds exciting new features like Gallery Mode, Episode Selection, Scene Creator, and Story Mode! The update will also add two additional languages with Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, making it easier than ever to enjoy the world of Ace Attorney.
What a shallow, generalizing take. There's no such thing as something universally good or universally bad.
Good localization is good. Bad localization is bad. The primary example the writer brings is extremely bad localization, basically making the whole article crash and burn.
As someone who worked in localization for 5 years, a localization professional need to be aware that they are not authors. Their localization is exclusively at the service of conveying the message and feelings the author wants to convey. Too many localization professionals nowadays believe they're authors or even better than the authors, and their personal message should be conveyed instead. This is an extremely bad way of doing localization, and quite obviously the writer of this article has no idea of what they're talking about.
PS: if you have to put "actually" in an article headline, you likely already know you're wrong and just being contrarian.
Ok?
Localization means translation of software to another language. The words localization and translation are not mutually exclusive, and localization does not mean domesticated translation/adaptation of text and game elements. It just means translation of software, including text and game elements.
Just like there is the domestication paradigm and the foreignization paradigm within literal translation, these also exist within localization. Persona 5 is as much a localization as Phoenix Wright, even if Persona 5 has more direct and foreignized translations (maintaining as many source text elements in translation as possible). On the opposite side of the scale, Phoenix Wright's localization is heavily domesticated, as the article points out, meaning names, locations and cultural references are adapted to the target culture.
Therefore, saying that localization is good is a moot point, because it's the same as saying that translation of games is good. Of course it's good. How else would we get to enjoy foreign games? :)
Semantics aside, I agree that domesticated localizations are good and necessary, contrary to the hegemonic discourse, though there is a limit to everything. Localizations need to have well-functioning and correct English, unlike in Persona 5 where the localizers make a lot of direct translations from Japanese, which just do not work, but over-domestication can lead to spoken Japanese lines being very very long, with the subtitles being maybe one or two words long while being completely unrelated to what's being said, which happens often in Final Fantasy XIV, which I'm playing a lot these days.
I ultimately prefer the FFXIV style of translation over that in Persona 5, cause well-functioning, fluid English is preferable to nonsense, but the ideal is to seek as perfect a balance between domestication and foreignization as possible in my opinion. Maintain foreign words when it makes sense, don't ham-fist them in, but don't change the meaning to the point that the source text message is no longer present in the target text.
As long as there isn't any censorship in the localization and translation, and the dialogue makes sense, I'm usually okay with it.