Localization Linguist (ZH→EN) (Singapore)
Responsibilities
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ZH→EN Transcreation & Quality Assurance: Rewrite storylines, character dialogue, event and quest copy, and UI text from Simplified Chinese into natural, idiomatic English, faithfully recreating tone, emotion, humor, pacing, and character voice.
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Linguistic Asset Management: Build and maintain terminology databases, style guides, character voice profiles, naming conventions, and translation memories to ensure consistent style across versions and chapters.
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Review & Standardization: Review output from internal and external translators, provide specific and actionable revision suggestions, and distill individual judgment into reusable team standards.
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LQA & Delivery Assurance: Organize in-game language quality assurance across development and live-operation builds; identify, classify, track, and verify issue resolution to closure, delivering on schedule in sync with release cadence.
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Cross-functional Collaboration: Work with design, narrative, art, publishing, and other teams to proactively flag cultural sensitivities from the target-market perspective, ensuring cultural adaptation is addressed at early stages.
Qualifications
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Native or near-native English speaker with a solid foundation in writing, editing, and proofreading; fluent in reading and writing Chinese, able to directly comprehend and interpret nuances in the Chinese source text.
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3+ years of experience in game localization or a related field; must have been involved end-to-end in the launch and ongoing live-ops updates of at least one long-term operated title.
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Familiarity with the full localization workflow and tooling: CAT/TMS, terminology management, translation memory, LQA processes, and defect management.
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Strong cultural sensitivity and editorial judgment — not satisfied with literal translation; able to propose better idiomatic rewrites and articulate the rationale.
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Excellent communication and scheduling skills; comfortable working in cross-cultural team environments.
Bonus Points
- Familiarity with casual games or female-oriented content expression.
- Experience building a localization system from scratch or managing external vendors.
- Knowledge of automated QA tooling or AI-assisted translation tools.