Translating Board Games: Towards the Translation of Apples to Apples®
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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English-language Translation Mgr. Gabriela Tomková Translating Board Games: Towards the Translation of Apples to Apples® Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Mgr. Renata Kamenická, Ph. D. 2014 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, Mgr. Renata Kamenická, Ph.D., for bearing with my often unusual requests, and surviving the amount of text I overburdened her with. I am very grateful for her supportive attitude during the whole process and her invaluable comments. Without her encouragement, this topic would have never seen the light of day. Last but not least, I would very much like to thank Pavel Prachař, Michal Široký and Michal Šmíd for sharing their valuable thoughts with me and patiently answering all my questions; and to cauly, who made it possible. Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION TO BOARD GAMES ....................................................................................... 7 1.1. DEFINITION OF GAMES ............................................................................................................... 9 1.2. DEFINITION OF BOARD GAMES .................................................................................................. 11 1.3. CHARACTERISTICS OF BOARD GAMES .......................................................................................... 12 1.4. WHY PEOPLE PLAY GAMES ....................................................................................................... 17 1.4.1. What Makes Board Games Attractive ...................................................................... 19 1.5. DEMOGRAPHY OF PLAYERS OF BOARD GAMES .............................................................................. 21 1.6. EVOLUTION OF BOARD GAMES .................................................................................................. 25 1.7. TYPOLOGY OF BOARD GAMES .................................................................................................... 29 2. TRANSLATION OF GAME RULES ........................................................................................... 35 2.1. GAME RULES AS A TEXT TYPE .................................................................................................... 35 2.1.1. Instructions Written in English .................................................................................. 36 2.1.2. Instructions Written in Czech .................................................................................... 39 2.2. TRANSLATING TECHNICAL TEXTS ................................................................................................. 40 2.3. GAME RULES AND THEIR TRANSLATION ....................................................................................... 43 2.4. THE RULES OF APPLES TO APPLES® ............................................................................................. 45 2.4.1. Translating the Rules of Apples to Apples® ............................................................... 46 3. TRANSLATING BOARD GAMES ............................................................................................. 50 3.1. OFFICIAL BOARD GAME TRANSLATION ........................................................................................ 52 3.2. FAN TRANSLATIONS ................................................................................................................. 58 3.3. ISSUES IN TRANSLATION OF BOARD GAMES .................................................................................. 61 4. TRANSLATION THEORY AND BOARD GAMES ....................................................................... 64 4.1. THEORY OF EQUIVALENCE ......................................................................................................... 64 4.2. MÄNTTÄRI’S TRANSLATORIAL ACTION ......................................................................................... 66 4.3. SKOPOS THEORY ..................................................................................................................... 68 5. TRANSLATING CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS ............................................................................. 73 5.1. TRANSLATION PROBLEMS IN GENERAL ......................................................................................... 73 5.2. PROBLEMS OF CULTURAL PHENOMENA ....................................................................................... 74 5.3. CULTURE – DEFINITION OF THE TERM.......................................................................................... 77 5.3.1. Cultural Translation .................................................................................................. 78 5.4. DEFINITION OF CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS ..................................................................................... 79 5.5. TYPES OF CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS ............................................................................................. 83 5.6. TRANSLATION OF CULTURE-SPECIFIC ITEMS .................................................................................. 84 5.7. POSSIBLE STRATEGIES OF DEALING WITH CSIS ............................................................................... 87 5.7.1. The Choice of Strategies for Dealing with CSIs ......................................................... 91 6. ISSUES IN TRANSLATION OF SPECIFIC BOARD GAMES .......................................................... 96 6.1. TEXTUAL ISSUES IN TRANSLATION OF BOARD GAMES ..................................................................... 96 6.1.1. Activity® .................................................................................................................... 97 6.1.2. Cards Against Humanity® ....................................................................................... 103 6.1.3. Time’s Up!® ............................................................................................................. 105 6.2. NON-TEXTUAL ISSUES IN TRANSLATION OF BOARD GAMES ............................................................ 108 6.2.1. Lewis & Clark® ........................................................................................................ 108 6.2.2. 1989: Dawn of Freedom® ....................................................................................... 109 6.2.3. Fungi® ..................................................................................................................... 111 7. APPLES TO APPLES® .......................................................................................................... 113 7.1. ISSUES IN TRANSLATION OF APPLES TO APPLES® ......................................................................... 117 7.2. TRANSLATION OF CARDS ......................................................................................................... 119 8. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 129 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. 131 10. SUMMARY .................................................................................................................... 138 11. RESUMÉ ........................................................................................................................ 139 12. APPENDIX A: ENGLISH RULES OF APPLES TO APPLES® .................................................... 140 13. APPENDIX B: CZECH RULES OF APPLES TO APPLES® ........................................................ 144 We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing. – George Bernard Shaw 1. Introduction to Board Games Games have been a part of human society since its very beginnings. Once humans achieved the level of communication abilities necessary for conveying thoughts and intentions, as well as managed to reserve some leisure time not occupied by struggling for survival, then there came the perfect time for games to emerge. The fact that playing games has become a part of human nature is reflected in activities of the smallest babies and their parents, since games are played from the first months of the babies‘ lives, slowly working the way up towards games such as hide-and-seek once the child learns to walk. The key success of games seems to lie in the fact that they represent an educational tool, while being fun at the same time. Their importance for people in general is undoubtedly great, although the reasons behind playing games remain unclear, as was observed in the Journal of Natural History: ―Both the individuals and society suffer where games are suppressed. Where games are supported, everybody benefits. We cannot say exactly why, but games are of extreme importance for humans…‖ (Journal of Natural History; cited in Zapletal 65). The possibility of playing games is thus of crucial importance for a healthy society and its individuals. With this importance ascribed to games in general, the question remains why they have received only very little academic attention (Aarseth et al. 2003; Evans 2013; Holbrook et al. 1984). While there have been numerous studies published on computer games and consumers‘ appreciation of video games and similar products (to name just few: Aarseth 2001, Wolf and Perron 2003, Bogost 2006, Mäyrä