Arabic Localization of Video Games “Tomb Raider™ (2013)”: A Start or A Failure

Abstract

Abstract Video games have been a new and attractive type of entertainment in the Arab world ever since the emergence of computers, and they are still of interest to young Arabs today. Video game localization movements have set out to translate, and sometimes adopt, video games into several languages and settings. Nevertheless, localization into Arabic is still very recent. In this paper, an analysis of translation activities of video game Tomb Raider ™ (2013) is made in order to investigate the extent to which the translation of some selected linguistic assets in the aforementioned video game can be considered to incorporate what the notion of localization truly suggests. Moreover, this study attempts to define and evaluate the use of some deferent-perspective translation strategies as tools for assessing the scope of the translation and its target.