Getting to know Andrés Sánchez Cubero

June 19, 2023

Hi everyone!

I’m Andrés Sánchez, and I’m one part of the incredible team of project managers working with Native Prime Spain taking care of all the different aspects of preparing a game’s localization for the world to enjoy! 🤗

My current journey has been full of learning experiences since I started studying audiovisual translation 4 years ago, both personal and professional. I have been surrounded by a great environment of professionals during these past few years after taking my first steps into the video game localization industry as a project manager, and I’m always grateful for all the opportunities I have had, and that I’m experiencing at the moment, as they are key to my personal development as a part of the video game industry.

My passion for video games goes back a long way. Since my first console, the Nintendo SP, I have been playing since then to many different video game franchises. As a kid, I remember that some of the games I played were in English, and thus I got curious and wanted to learn and improve my English to understand these games that weren’t translated into Spanish yet. And something similar happened with my interest in the Japanese language. As some of the games I played talked about Japanese culture, I got really interested in both its culture and its language. Once I started learning Japanese, first by myself using some books I found in the public library of my neighborhood, and later at university and during my time as an exchange student at Kobe University 🇯🇵, I got myself more immersed in my interest in Japan, its cultural and social situation, and its language. One of the things I love about the Japanese language it’s that when you start better understanding the language and how it works, it turns into a kind of puzzle where you have to put together the correct pieces within the correct places to use the language correctly. I have also been able to study and understand better the relationship between the Japanese language and its influence on Japanese society.

One of my dreams would be to be able to work as a translator from Japanese to Spanish. Thus, being able to work within the video game localization industry has been the best opportunity to reach this enormous goal, and I look forward to being able to improve my Japanese to reach it. 

If you are a game-developing company that is considering localizing its game, these are the tips I would give you:

  • Localization is the best way for your project to reach different audiences around the world, and it is always a great investment when creating a video game, as usually the localization of any audiovisual product always provides profitable revenue against the usual costs of localization. Also, as a player, it is always great to know a game I like is available in my mother tongue.
  • Take into account internationalization best practices when creating their game, as they are a key component of the localization workflow. A game that follows these best practises will be able to handle other languages in the original interface of the product, thus making life easier for everyone managing the localization of that product and the devs creating the game.
  • Always provide their localization teams with as many references as possible. Usually, providing keys for the game is the best way to go, as the linguists and teams working on the localization can play the game, get familiar with the content to be translated, and avoid making questions that could be solved by playing the game. If a build of the game is not available yet, you can always share documentation relevant to the content to be translated, as well as screenshots or short videos. As a last resource, query logs are the foundation of video game localization. It is always a good idea to review query logs that have been created for the localization of your game from time to time, so you are able to provide feedback on concrete questions from the linguists translating your game.

That aside, the video game industry amazes me. 😍 Currently, I’m really hyped by the release of the new Zelda video game, and also for the port that was announced for Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. I have always been a fan of investigation/puzzles games, such as the Phoenix Wright, or Professor Layton franchise. But I also have a place in my heart for JRPG such as Final Fantasy VI or Persona sagas. My least favorite games are horror games, as I’m terrible with them, and I always end up screaming too much!

It was a pleasure connecting with you, but it’s time to say goodbye! Be sure to read the other “Getting to know”. 👋


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