31 réponses à ce sujet

[cap and gown]

I am curious if some folk are familiar with any of the non-English versions of ME. The english version has top notch voice acting. The script also relies heavily on word play, idiomatic expression, double entendre, and American cultural references. I wonder how all of that translates into, say, Spanish or French. Do they have as large a cast? Are their actors any good? Does the word play just get lost? Are cultural references reworked at all? What about the lip synching?

My only experience with translations are with some novels translated into German, such as Lord of the Rings (translation is quite good, btw) and 2010. Not the same as a video game obviously.

[Forst1999]

Some german voice actors are great, almost as good as their counterparts. Some aren't. Some cases feel like the VA only got one take for the line. The cast is a bit smaller, I noticed the small NPCs occasionally share VAs. Worst case with bigger roles: In ME2, Anderson and TIM had the same voice.
Between ME1 and 2 almost all voice actors were changed. Of the bigger characters, only Femshep, Garrus and Joker kept their voices.
I don't think that the script relies that much on american cultural references. At least I didn't notce any loss. With word play and double entendres, there is always some loss. ME does it ok, but sometimes it's annoying.
Another problem of the german dub is pronounciation. In ME1, most names were spoken in german, in 2&3 they get an english pronounciation.
the worst translation error is that ME2 mixes up AI and VI.
All-in-all the german dub is bearable most of the time, with some really great voice actors. But it has problems you can't help but notice.

[AlexMBrennan]

It's probably atrocious - every dub automatically sounds terrible to the extent that I cant' watch anything in German anymore - just watched the Spectre scene ("Der Sender hat uns der Roehere einen Schritt naeher gebracht", which is probably the worst translation that is technically a correct literal translation)

I noticed the small NPCs occasionally share VAs

You mean like every female NPC on Ilium sharing a VA with that lady from Novaria?

The script also relies heavily on word play, idiomatic expression, double entendre

Sorry, but ME is not Shakespeare

Modifié par AlexMBrennan, 06 octobre 2013 - 04:11 .

[N7puscN7]

Italian is not a language for sci-fi games

[Forst1999]

AlexMBrennan wrote...


You mean like every female NPC on Ilium sharing a VA with that lady from Novaria?

Approximatily 75% of female NPCs are voiced by two people.

Modifié par Forst1999, 06 octobre 2013 - 07:12 .

[Demonique]

AlexMBrennan wrote...

It's probably atrocious - every dub automatically sounds terrible to the extent that I cant' watch anything in German anymore - just watched the Spectre scene ("Der Sender hat uns der Roehere einen Schritt naeher gebracht", which is probably the worst translation that is technically a correct literal translation)

That's awful, how come Saren has the flanging effect but Sparatus does not?


In Japan they didn't dub the games, they got the English version with Japanese subtitles

[JamesFaith]

I participate on Czech translation - no dub, just subtitles.

And I can tell you that playing with words and cultural references (X-Files, Bladerunner, Hyperion) are carefully treated. Many idioms are not purely American, but had local variations. Cultural references are connected with so much known movies and books that there is already official translation you can use.

And sometimes we are creating our own equivoques and Easter eggs. For example Red sand user "sand-tripper" in Citadel we translated as "pískomil" - complex word from "písek/sand" and "milovník/lover" ,which is also Czech name of rodent gerbil.

Or in Codex entry about Space hamster we situated his temporary prison to Minsk.

[adyconker]

In general the french version is good except the translation of you in tu/vous.

[JamesFaith]

adyconker wrote...

In general the french version is good except the translation of you in tu/vous.

Oh yes, translation of you in ty/vy was real pain in the ass.

We had to make huge chart of all main characters and decide which one will be used in every pair of them.

[Morlanwen]

You find that french translation is good ? o_O  For me, it's pretty bad.  Although it could have been worse VA are  just a disaster: they read their text, nothing more
Here's the same vid but this time, in french.

[adyconker]

Morlanwen wrote...

You find that french translation is good ? o_O  For me, it's pretty bad.  Although it could have been worse VA are  just a disaster: they read their text, nothing more
Here's the same vid but this time, in french.

Of course it's not perfect ( I still remember the femshep's "une petite ou une GRANDE") but like you said it could of been worse.

[Reever]

I didn't like the German dub much. Think I changed to English after one German playthrough of ME.

[Fredvdp]

Forst1999 wrote...

AlexMBrennan wrote...


You mean like every female NPC on Ilium sharing a VA with that lady from Novaria?

Approximatily 75% of female NPCs are voiced by two people.

Those figures are better than the English version of Oblivion.

[AlexMBrennan]

Those figures are better than the English version of Oblivion.

Actually, no. Oblivion has more VAs for NPCs... they just change mid-conversation

[shodiswe]

I prefer the orginal voice acting in most media, if im terrible or totaly ignorant wheb it comnes to a certain langage then I prefer texting to autrocious dubbing.
Few things puzzle me as much as the gernan and french preference to dubb everything. I guess there can be acceptable dubbing of things like cartoons but most moves that are dubbed just makes me want to switch channel if it's on TV.

[Zehealingman]

In German, some VAs are very good, no doubt. But some ... well yeah.

[Demonique]

Mark Alarton wrote...

In German, some VAs are very good, no doubt. But some ... well yeah.

In Germany don't Kermit the Frog and David Hasselhoff share the same voice actor?

[tanisha__unknown]

It's been a while, since I played it in German, but I recall that femshep was pretty decent, but not as good as Hale. I prefer the German Joker over the original is Joker. Seth Green is good, but Hubertus von Lerchenfeld was more brash, if that is even possible.

Otherwise, well, there is a reason why people here go to some length to get stuff in the original version.

[Kaczkenstein]

I have played ME1 in Polish. The quality of voice acting seems to be inversely proportional to the character significance. Both male and female Shepard sounds terrible (some voice synthesizers are more emotional). Squad members are decent, but nonetheless, I prefer their English counterparts. On the other hand there are characters such as Joker, Dr Michel or Council members who sound much better in Polish IMHO.
Changes in dialogues are so significant that there are two different sets of subtitles: for original dubbing and localized one. Wrex, for example, uses extremely bad language and he's more of a stereotypical krogan - reckless and savage. Joker is even more easy-going (when forced to drop Mako on Ilos instead of repeating "I can do it!" with grave expression on his face, he says something like "Chill out." and "Okey-dokey.") and his jokes, while still bad, are recognizable as jokes at least.

[tanisha__unknown]

Kaczkenstein wrote...

Joker is even more easy-going (when forced to drop Mako on Ilos instead of repeating "I can do it!" with grave expression on his face, he says something like "Chill out." and "Okey-dokey.")

He doesn't say something like 'chill out' in the german version, but in german, 'I can do it' sounds like that rather than his grim and decided way in the original.

Funny, I wonder how such translations are done, that in both languages they are distinct from the original, but similar to each other.

Modifié par Jinx1720, 13 octobre 2013 - 09:15 .

[Kaczkenstein]

Jinx1720 wrote...

Funny, I wonder how such translations are done, that in both languages they are distinct from the original, but similar to each other.

It seems to me that the English version of this line is somewhat out of character, presumably many translators have the same impression.

[KR96]

I don't really see the need for all those voice-overs some countries have. In the Netherlands the only translation that's done on foreign series or movies are subtitles (except for cartoons, which is understandable as some of the kids watching cartoons can't even read yet). Moreover, I can't think of a single game that has Dutch voice actors instead of English ones. I've always felt that a movie, or a game in this case, should have its original language/(voice)actors as audio base. Saves a hell of a lot of trouble and makes the experience far more enjoyable in my opinion.

By the way, I don't feel that the 'I can do it' is that much out of character. Joker is quite a serious guy and feels that there's a lot riding on his actions. Answering with 'chill out, I got this' during a high-risk drop which seems almost impossible according to Pressly doesn't make that much sense. 

Modifié par killerrabbit1996, 13 octobre 2013 - 10:05 .

[cap and gown]

The market for Dutch dubs would be too small to justify the cost, especially since most Dutch (from my experience) seem to be multi-lingual.

[KR96]

Well, understanding English has never been that hard for us Dutchies, in no small part due to the fact that most of our tv-programmes are in English, but when it comes to speaking... I daresay that we might have the worst accent in the world... Plus, Dutch is a horrible language for action-style movies. It would become more of a comedy rather than an action movie, it's not an intimidating language at all.

[Kaczkenstein]

killerrabbit1996 wrote...

I don't really see the need for all those voice-overs some countries have.

Me neither. ME history in Poland is the best argument to that. When ME2 was published without the option to choose language (Polish was default), players were so dissapointed, they found a way to restore original audio by renaming some game files. ME3 was published without Polish dubbing and not a single complaint was made.

killerrabbit1996 wrote...

Joker is quite a serious guy and feels that there's a lot riding on his actions.

You can call Joker anything but serious. Just take a look at the video below, isn't the situation similar?