Simplified Chinese Localization is Cringe
The Simplified Chinese localization in Apex Legends has been a problem for a long time. Players in the Chinese community have been frustrated with the translation quality, but for various reasons, these issues haven’t been fully addressed. It feels like the localization team focused more on getting top-notch Chinese voice actors while ignoring the actual translation quality. As a native Simplified Chinese-speaking Apex player, here are just a few issues that immediately come to mind—and there are plenty more where these came from.
Some of these translation issues have persisted across multiple seasons. For instance, the "Deep Pocket" perk for the gold backpack, which allows players to carry more healing items, is oddly translated as "财大气粗," meaning "wealthy and arrogant." The "EVO harvester" is translated as "进化收割机," which is more accurately "EVO reaper" in English. "Heat Shield" has been translated as "隔热板," which literally means "heat insulation plate," and the inclusion of "板" (plate) makes no sense in this context. The "Ultimate Accelerator" is translated as "绝招加速剂," where "剂" (agent) is a term typically used for medicinal or chemical substances, yet the item in the game is clearly a mechanical digital device.
Mirage's tactical ability "Psyche Out" is inexplicably translated as "疯猫," meaning "crazy cat," and when his decoy is destroyed, the game displays "摧毁诱饵数" ("number of decoys destroyed"), which I suspect should have originally been something like "Decoy Destroyed." When players mark an opened supply bin, some characters say "打开这里的补给箱" ("Open the supply bin here"), instead of the original "Open supply bin over here."
In the Lockdown mode, the term “incoming,” which refers to an approaching capture point, is translated as “火力来袭” (“incoming fire”), rather than “capture point incoming.” The term “held”should be translated as “被占领,” but instead, it’s translated as “守住” (“defend this”), which lacks the passive voice and causes confusion when it displays “defend this” while another team is holding the point. “Last stand,” which functions similarly to “overtime,” is translated as “背水一战,” a term that means “desperate struggle” or “fight to the death.” It isn’t horrible, but it still feels off.
There were also issues in past seasons, some of which have been resolved. For instance, in the season when Ballistic was introduced, upon entering the firing range, there was a monologue where Ballistic complained about his "lines" (referring to lines in the script). This was translated as “光线," meaning "light rays." Another example is the 30-30 Repeater, which was translated as “中继器,” referring to an electronic component that has nothing to do with guns. Mad Maggie's tactical skill had a distance marker labeled "depth," which was bizarrely translated as "深渊" ("abyss"). Although this was eventually corrected to "深度" ("depth"), the same mistake reappeared when the character Alter was introduced. I’m not sure how long that issue persisted, but it was eventually corrected.
There are a few possible explanations for these issues: the Chinese localization team might not have played the game, or they may not have had access to the context in which the in-game text is used, or perhaps machine translation was involved.
Like most Simplified Chinese players, I initially adopted a "whatever, as long as the game is playable" attitude, since we can always switch to the Traditional Chinese version or simply just play in English. But what really pushed me to write this post is just how awkward Alter’s Cantonese voice lines are in the Simplified Chinese version. They just don’t sound right and are far less natural compared to the original English voice acting.
