A tradução de expressões idiomáticas em games: explorando o jogo Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Abstract

This research aims to analyze the translation of idioms in the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 (2024), focusing on adequacy and coherence of translation choices in the Brazilian Portuguese version. Mona Baker (1992) proposes four strategies for translating idioms: (1) similar form and meaning; (2) similar meaning but different form; (3) paraphrase; and (4) omission. The analysis added a fifth category, namely, expressions that differ both in form and meaning. The methodology is descriptive and qualitative, consisting of the collection of ten excerpts from the Campaign mode of the game containing idiomatic expressions, followed by a comparison between the English and Portuguese versions and classification according to the proposed categories. As a result, a significant portion of the translations relied on cultural equivalence to make the expressions sound more natural to the Brazilian audience, although in some cases this choice resulted in incoherence within the game’s narrative context. The results reveal that 30% of the analyzed expressions fall into the category of similar form and meaning; 10% into similar meaning but different form; 10% were translated through paraphrase; and 50% corresponded to the newly proposed category, in which the translation was rendered through an expression distinct in both form and meaning. This research thus demonstrates that the translation of idioms in video games is a complex process that requires not only linguistic attention but also cultural and contextual sensitivity.