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Chinese Localization

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rinrin1513 edited this page Aug 20, 2025 · 2 revisions

Chinese is a term that can be applied to a group of languages, which include the two most known languages of Mandarin and Cantonese. What is usually known as the Chinese language is the standardized Mandarin language. Therefore, in this section of the guidelines, we will refer to Chinese as a synonym of Mandarin.

You can write Chinese in:

  • Hanzi: ideograms, the main writing system of Chinese.
  • Traditional spelling conventions
  • Simplified spelling conventions
  • Romanization: on IGDB, we use the standardized “Pinyin” romanization, with other romanizations such as Jyutping (Cantonese), Wade-Giles and Zhuyin as alternative spellings.

Similar to Japanese, since IGDB’s main page is in English, we focus on giving all Chinese titles a romanized version, with the titles in hanzi under Alternative Titles, correctly separated between Chinese title (Traditional) and Chinese title (Simplified). This makes it easier for non-Chinese speakers to find these games.

Romanized Chinese titles should follow IGDB guidelines (see Titles for more information) and specific Stylized titles should be added as Alternative Titles.

Titles for localized data in Chinese should be in Hanzi (either Traditional or Simplified), with stylization (such as ☆ and ～ ) excluded and romanization (Pinyin) added as an alternative title. Click here for more information on localization guidelines.

Pinyin

Sometimes Chinese video games end up in the West with another title, often in English. The English name should always be the main title in this case.

The standard Pinyin rules apply with the exception of some differences applied by us to make it easier to read and type, as follows:

  • If a company has an English version of their name, go by that no matter the Chinese spelling.
  • When it comes to Chinese gaming titles it is best to follow the exact spelling of each word.
  • Separate the words clearly, word spacing should be inclusive of words made up of multiple characters.

Example: Hànzì – correct; Hàn zì – incorrect

  • Particles should be separate.

Example: ma 【吗／嗎】、de 【的】、 zhī 【之】、le【了】、ne【呢】etc.

  • Foreign names will be written as the original name, the title with the Pinyin spelt name can be put as an alternative name.

Example: Zelda chuánshuō – 塞尔达传说／塞爾達傳説 (sāiěrdá chuánshuō)

This way of spelling will ultimately be a mix of official rules and our own judgement as we feel that it's better to make the spelling easier rather than complicated. This will help users when it comes to search, for example. It's always good to have some kind of knowledge when adding romanization for a Chinese game. If you know little to no Chinese, always get in contact with someone who has knowledge of the language.

Symbols and Roman Letters in Chinese Original Titles

Chinese Pinyin should always be spelt with their tone markers to make it easier identifying the words used. The 5 tones are:

  • Macron ⟨ ˉ ⟩
  • Acute accent ⟨ ˊ ⟩
  • Caron ⟨ ˇ ⟩
  • Grave accent ⟨ ˋ ⟩
  • Neutral (no marker)

Chinese titles may be seen with the usage of symbols, numbers and roman letters to the same width of their hanzi characters (aka. full-width). Thus, while writing on the computer there’s often the option to go with “full-width” or “half-width”, as well as the option to switch between simplified and traditional character sets. Examples:

  • 拼音　１２３！ ー Full-width hanzi with full-width numbers and symbols.
  • 拼音 123! ー Half-width hanzi with half-width number and symbols.
  • Ｐｉｎｙｉｎ１２３！ ー Full-width roman letters with full-width numbers and symbols.
  • Pinyin 123! ー Half-width roman with half-width numbers and symbols.

At IGDB we have decided to go with the following rules regarding full/half-width letters, numbers, symbols as well as space. Roman letters, numbers and space in Chinese titles should always be half-width. Hanzi should always be full-width. If symbols are following the Chinese hanzi, please use the full-width style.

Example: 汉字／漢字 〜！

If symbols are following roman letters/numbers in the Chinese title, please use half-width style.

Example: 汉字／漢字 is hard ~!

Title examples:

笑傲江湖之日月神教

  • Xiào Ào Jiānghú Zhī Rìyuè Shén Jiào ー Correct
  • Xiao Ao Jianghu Zhi Riyue Shen Jiao ー Incorrect

塞尔达传说旷野之息

  • Zelda Chuánshuō: Kuàngyě zhī xī ー Correct
  • Sāiěrdá Chuánshuō: Kuàngyě zhī xīー Incorrect

These rules apply to "Chinese - Simplified/Traditional” under "Alternative Titles" for any Japanese game. However, for the top title for the game, please refer to IGDB's Title guidelines. Regarding spaces before/after tildes (or other symbols) in romanized titles, please mimic the original title.

Chinese Editions

Editions limited to China (i.e. Editions and Collections that don't reach the West), should have their edition name romanized as per our guidelines. If the game has received an official westernized title, you should use that first and foremost.

Examples:

If a game has a title with symbols in it, such as ♡/★/△/ etc. put that name under “Stylized Title” under alternative titles. This goes for most unique Japanese symbols that aren’t used in game titles elsewhere, such as ～ and ー.

Example:

A last note on Romanized titles

Has a game been released internationally with a title that goes against our guidelines, we will make an exception for that game. However, unless the title has been officially released as a game, developers/publishers’ romanizations will be put as alternative titles would they be different from IGDB’s guidelines.

This is to keep IGDB as consistent as possible, as Japanese romanization has a tendency to differ from company to company, and in certain cases even from release to release even though the company might stay the same.

  • How should the spelling be for series and franchises?

The spelling/romanization should adhere to the same standards as our current Chinese spelling guidelines.

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