GAME TRANSLATION THAT MAKES VIETNAMESE PLAYERS LOCK IN.
I'm Dao Huy (Lucas), a native Vietnamese translator and a gamer. I localize UI, story, dialogue and quests, keeping the right character voice, the right character limits and the exact vibe that keeps players in the match.
Dao Huy "Lucas"
Every type of in-game content has its own "champion".
From a single HUD button to an entire story universe, each content type is a unit with its own difficulty and play style. Pick your comp.
UI & HUD
Menus, buttons, selection screens, notifications. Tight translations, within character limits, no overflow.
Story & dialogue
Keep each character's voice, the rhythm of conversation and the emotion. The hardest and most fun unit to play.
Quests & tutorials
Quests, tutorials, hints. Players need to know exactly what to do right away, no ambiguity.
Items, skills & lore
Skill names, item descriptions, world lore. Accurate and it has to sound "badass".
LQA & linguistic testing
Playing the game for real to catch text overflow, wrong context and broken display variables.
Marketing & store page
Store descriptions, Vietnamese ASO, trailer subtitles, update newsletters.
From MOBA to visual novel, I know every map.
Each genre has its own pace, terminology and writing style. These are the genres I localize most often.
Literal translation loses the round. Transcreation wins it.
A line translated word-by-word can be grammatically correct but sound like a bot. Game localization is about keeping the feeling, not just the words.
Wordplay, idioms, skill names, character voice, button character limits. I balance them all at once, because I'm both the translator and the player.
Four stages, from build handoff to the update patch.
Build & lockit intake
Language files, context, screenshots, glossary. Sign the NDA before viewing unreleased content.
Translation & transcreation
Keep character voice, respect character limits and the variables inside strings.
In-game LQA
Play for real, catch text overflow, wrong context and untranslated strings, report bugs with screenshots.
Handoff & updates
Deliver in the correct format, support patches and additional release content down the line.
Throughput 4,000 WORDS/DAY · supporting RUSH <24H (surcharge +25-50%).
Active language traits.
Vietnamese is the core trait, already "maxed". The other branches are synergies that get your game to the right Vietnamese players.
Studios and partners I've collaborated with.
Names shown as text; to be replaced with official logos when permitted. Some are LSP partners, some are in the works.
Everyone who hires me hands over the MVP title.
The Vietnamese translation reads as naturally as if the game were made for the Vietnamese market, with zero machine-translation feel.
Across 81 reviews on Upwork
TOP-RATED PLUSFast responses, understands games, even caught text-overflow bugs the team hadn't spotted. Will hire again for the update.
Pick a rank, get a quote in 10 minutes.
Rate is USD/word, including terminology review and one round of revisions. LQA can be billed hourly. All rates are negotiable for high-volume games.
Queue Up
⚡ RESPONSE < 10 MINUTESLocked In!
I'll take a look and send a detailed quote within 10 minutes (working hours).
Frequently asked questions.
Mobile games, PC and console games, indie games, RPGs, visual novels, puzzle and casual games. I translate UI, story, dialogue, quests, items and marketing content.
It's creative translation: instead of translating word for word, I recreate lines, skill names or jokes so Vietnamese players feel exactly what the original players do, including wordplay and idioms.
Yes. I test the translation right inside the game to catch text overflow, wrong context, broken display variables and untranslated strings, then report bugs with screenshots.
Common formats like Unity and Unreal strings, JSON, XML, PO, XLIFF, CSV; CAT tools like memoQ, Trados, Smartcat plus the Crowdin and Lokalise platforms.
In-depth game localization is $0.06-0.09/word; LQA and testing $0.08-0.12/word or billed hourly; general content $0.04-0.06/word. Rush jobs under 24 hours add 25-50%.
I translate within each string's exact character limit, favor short phrasing for buttons and the HUD, and double-check in-game so text doesn't overflow or get cut off.
English → Vietnamese (my deepest specialty), Chinese → Vietnamese, French → Vietnamese and Vietnamese → English. Vietnamese is my native language; English IELTS 7.0, Chinese HSK 5.
Game localization glossary.
- LOCALIZATION (L10N)
- Adapting a game to fit the language and culture of a market.
- INTERNATIONALIZATION (I18N)
- Preparing the code so a game is easy to translate into many languages.
- TRANSCREATION
- Creative translation that recreates content to keep the emotion and intent rather than translating literally.
- LQA
- Linguistic QA: testing the language right inside the game to catch display and context bugs.
- STRING
- A text string in the game, usually paired with a key and a character limit.
- PLACEHOLDER / VARIABLE
- Tokens like %s or {name} get replaced with real values at runtime; they must be left intact.
- TRUNCATION
- Overflow or cut-off text when a translation is longer than the UI frame.
- LOCKIT
- The localization kit: strings, context, screenshots, glossary.
- HARDCODED TEXT
- Text baked into the code, hard to translate because it isn't pulled into a language file.
- CONTEXT
- The context of a string; without it, the same word can be translated completely wrong.
Send over your game. Let's get it to Vietnamese players.
From a tiny indie build to an entire RPG universe, I localize so Vietnamese players feel like the game was made just for them. Response within 10 minutes.