Cygames Localization Team Reveals How Uma Musume Reproduced Dialects in English
The lecture demonstrates that for a game without English voice acting, Cygames treated text-based localization as a creative process of reconstructing character identity rather than a direct translation task, and built team systems to keep that approach consistent across a large cast.
Key Facts
- The lecture was given at CEDEC 2026 on July 24 at Pacifico Yokohama North.
- The English version of "Uma Musume Pretty Derby" launched in 2025 without English voice acting.
- For Tamamo Cross, the team rejected the conventional mapping of Kansai dialect to a Southern US accent because the game already has a character, Taiki Shuttle, who speaks with that accent.
- For Yukino Bijin, the team used English expressions and slang from the 1930s to 1960s to convey simplicity.
- The coinage "Umazing" was born from a Slack channel where team members shared non-work-related ideas.
Reporting from 2 sources: GAME Watch (Impress), Denfaminicogamer.
At CEDEC 2026, Cygames localization staff Allison Cottrell and Ryuhei Morita presented a lecture on how the English version of "Uma Musume Pretty Derby" handled character dialects and speech patterns without English voice acting. The team avoided conventional methods such as mapping Kansai dialect to a Southern US accent because the game already had a character, Taiki Shuttle, who speaks with that accent. Instead, they analyzed the rhythm and speed of Japanese dialects and reproduced them through English spelling and line delivery. For Yukino Bijin, who speaks Tohoku dialect, the team used older English expressions and slang from the 1930s to 1960s to convey simplicity. Agnes Digital's otaku speech was localized using expressions from English-speaking otaku communities, while Daitaku Helios's gyaru slang was reimagined as Gen Z social media language. The team also established a system of character-specific speech pattern guidelines, Slack channels for idea sharing, and assigned translators with relevant cultural knowledge to maintain consistency across the project.
- Allison Cottrell and Ryuhei Morita delivered the lecture on July 24 at CEDEC 2026, held at Pacifico Yokohama North and online.
- Morita opened with a thought experiment: a line like "You are excellent. This is a gift" conveys no character identity, while "Ho ho ho, you've been a good child. Here's a present from me!" immediately suggests Santa Claus, illustrating what he called the "silhouette of speech."
- The English version of Uma Musume Pretty Derby launched in 2025 without English voice acting, forcing the team to convey personality entirely through written text.
- For Tamamo Cross (Kansai dialect), the team rejected the common mapping to a Southern US accent because Taiki Shuttle already speaks that way; instead they used English spelling to visually represent the dialect's rhythm and speed, and delivered the English lines aloud matching the Japanese tempo.
- Yukino Bijin's Tohoku dialect was rendered with older English expressions and slang from the 1930s-1960s, an idea drawn from Cottrell's own rural upbringing; she later said she received feedback that the language felt "a bit old for a young character," but the team kept the approach to convey simplicity.
- For Agnes Digital's otaku speech, the team researched actual English-speaking otaku communities and used expressions from those communities rather than simply translating with high energy.
- Daitaku Helios's gyaru slang, which is difficult even for Japanese players to parse, was reimagined as Gen Z social media language, with the team also making the text visually hard to read to reproduce the confusion she causes other characters.
- The team assigned translators with relevant cultural knowledge to each character's initial rough translation, created character-specific speech pattern guidelines reviewed by quality assurance, and used a Slack channel for non-work idea sharing; the now-viral coinage "Umazing" was born from that channel.
- At the end of 2025, the English version won Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2025.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.
Sources
- GAME Watch (Impress) Umazing！ 「ウマ娘」英語版では方言や口調をいかに再現したか。従来と異なるアプローチのローカライゼーションとは【CEDEC2026】
- Denfaminicogamer 英語版『ウマ娘』が挑んだローカライズの舞台裏。関西弁、東北弁、オタク、ギャル──海外に“通じない個性”を、Cygamesはどう表現したのか【CEDEC2026】