210 réponses à ce sujet

[Isabelle]

I seriously think that if EA saw a benefit to a spanish translation they would have done it. Companies like EA, flawed as they are, have all sorts of data that they use to determine what languages they translate into, what systems to develop a game for, and so on. If there's no spanish translation, then chances are that they don't get enough sales to warrant the cost to translate.

 

I think it is not because the cost, Skyrim in my language the size of the subtitles file reaches 3Mb, and the archives are made for fans.

I believe it is as you said, sales in certain countries may be smaller (so maybe).

[JCFR]

I seriously think that if EA saw a benefit to a spanish translation they would have done it. Companies like EA, flawed as they are, have all sorts of data that they use to determine what languages they translate into, what systems to develop a game for, and so on. If there's no spanish translation, then chances are that they don't get enough sales to warrant the cost to translate.

Well i m not sure if it's just a matter of sales. It may not be a false guess but only a  part of the full truth. That's something an intern would have to answer.

But it's true that "localisation" is a cost-factor.

I'm german and i would miss not being able to play a game in my language - even though i would be able to manage english. So i can understand this matter... although sometimes the voice-overs are just uninspired anjust plain gruesome. Examples for such cases: Baldur's Gate or Starlancer... aaaand almost everything from Japan. 

 

Nevertheless i can sympathise with this request.

[snackrat]

Considering that Bioware is Canadian, having French as a language is a no-brainer (for Quebec). As for German, it is both more commonly spoken, and Germany is an active gaming market.

I'm not sure about Spanish VO since it will rocket localisation costs, but I'll admit I see no reason there can't be a Spanish Subforum.

[Kitsune]

There's also forum in Polish but not in Russian... But I think Russians are just too lazy to read official forum (with exceptions who speak English, ofc) x)

[giveamanafish...]

In the US, which is probably the biggest market for games, the Latino population is growing fast. I think about 1/4 of children or young adults (can't remember which or if both) are Latino. I guess some would have come from Brazil, which is Portugese speaking. Many Mexican Americans. For gaming, most would be comfatable with English, but for the Forums, it would make sense from a marketing perspective / goodwill for Bioware to set up a Spanish language forum.

 

2nd Gen Mexican Americans: (emily is the lead singer's wife)

[slimgrin]

I'm surprised if they don't localize their games in Spanish yet. Far smaller studios do this.

[themageguy]

I don't agree with the word ' hates' in the topic title.

[Statare]

In the US, which is probably the biggest market for games, the Latino population is growing fast. I think about 1/4 of children or young adults (can't remember which or if both) are Latino. 

 

 

Yes. There are are like 37 million spanish speakers in the United States, compared to about 10 million French speakers in Canada. It is the largest language spoken outside of English in the United States. Considering the first European language spoken in the States was Spanish, and many parts of the country spoke Spanish long before English and continue to speak Spanish primarily, it is a bit mind boggling that games don't tap into the market. Add to that that some of the fastest developing markets in the world are Central and South American....

 

Anyways. I'd love DA games to be in Spanish. I have Chican@ relatives and Mexican relatives, and most of my family is polyglot speaking both spanish and english about equally.

[dutch_gamer]

Yes. There are are like 37 million spanish speakers in the United States, compared to about 10 million French speakers in Canada. It is the largest language spoken outside of English in the United States. Considering the first European language spoken in the States was Spanish, and many parts of the country spoke Spanish long before English and continue to speak Spanish primarily, it is a bit mind boggling that games don't tap into the market. Add to that that some of the fastest developing markets in the world are Central and South American....

 

Anyways. I'd love DA games to be in Spanish. I have Chican@ relatives and Mexican relatives, and most of my family is polyglot speaking both spanish and english about equally.

And how many of those 37 million who speak Spanish only speak Spanish and not English?

 

And since your relatives speak both why is there a need for them to have a Spanish version of the game? Sorry but I am of the mind that if you live in the USA and you have been taught how to speak English you really have no need for a whatever different language version of the game. I already think it is kind of mind boggling the USA doesn't even have an official language. Where I live we have an official language and it is mandatory for anyone who wants to live here to learn our language in school.

 

I much rather have Bioware determine if a language is worth supporting over anyone else telling them it is worth it without any true evidence it will actually make them any money or if it is actually wanted. German and French are generally supported because both countries are rather protectionist towards their own language. If you want to serve the European market both those languages are needed or sales will suffer for the entire European market. I don't think this is remotely true for the North American market concerning Spanish. I highly doubt most of those Latin Americans only speak Spanish and aren't even taught how to speak English. 

[Kage]

Well, I am spanish and I hope they dont localise the game... I dont care about subs because usually they give you the option to select the language (please do). But if the game voices are in spanish, usually that will mean it will not be in english, due to the amount of space consumed.

 

I hated that of Skyrim. The spanish voice acting was terrible. Imagine, while english version had 50 voice actors (just inventing numbers), the spanish version had 8 voice actors (again inventing numbers). Everyone sounded the same, it really broke the inmersion of the game.

 

I do not think they should use spanish voice acting, it will not be enough benefit for their investment. Every person I know (I am from Spain) that plays videogames do speaks english and has no problem at all with english videogames. And some of them (myself included) will prefer the english version of the game over a translation.

Translations are always half-done, are never as good as the original.

 

So if Bioware invests in using spanish voices, 50% of my circle of friends would simply not care at all, and 50% would look for an english version elsewhere.

 

However, I can understand about south america. A LOT OF PEOPLE there, even if they do not have much % of roleplaying gamers. So maybe that would be a good enough reason. But for Spain alone? Hell no...

[Kantr]

Off topic :

 

I'm not sure what the term is actually called, however the problem could be there are few  VO's (of a particular language) so no-one will hire them, the reason there are so few is because there is not much work.

[Gabdube]

And how many of those 37 million who speak Spanish only speak Spanish and not English?

 

And since your relatives speak both why is there a need for them to have a Spanish version of the game? Sorry but I am of the mind that if you live in the USA and you have been taught how to speak English you really have no need for a whatever different language version of the game. I already think it is kind of mind boggling the USA doesn't even have an official language. Where I live we have an official language and it is mandatory for anyone who wants to live here to learn our language in school.

 

I much rather have Bioware determine if a language is worth supporting over anyone else telling them it is worth it without any true evidence it will actually make them any money or if it is actually wanted. German and French are generally supported because both countries are rather protectionist towards their own language. If you want to serve the European market both those languages are needed or sales will suffer for the entire European market. I don't think this is remotely true for the North American market concerning Spanish. I highly doubt most of those Latin Americans only speak Spanish and aren't even taught how to speak English. 

You don't seem to understand that the roblem here isn't only that some gamers would not understand the game if it was only in English. Most gamers, even casual ones, end up learning functional english before playing story-oriented games. Video games are actually a pretty good way of learning a second or third language.

The issue is mostly a cultural one. If all the media you are exposed to is in a foreign language, the cultural relevance of your own native language doesn't seem as important from a subjective perspective. Hence the ever-present need for translation in the 21st century, even though English is common worldwide.

For example, in Québec, most people who would be buying video games also understand English well enough to play it in English. Still, video games, as a cultural medium, are either dubbed or subbed in French. It's mostly for the principle of it, because it has cultural and social relevance.

Honestly, the main reason why I mostly play games and watch movies in Engligh is because there are fewer and fewer movies or games dubbed in Québec French, and I can't stand european French. Companies somehow think that there is no need for different French translations, even though English sentences are often much easier to understand for a quebecer than european french sentences because of differences in the tone and regional vocabulary.

Sometimes, this is taken to ridiculous levels : In France French, "gosses" means "kids". The same word has a VERY different meaning in Québec French... Such as, if you were to translate "How are your kids doing?" into "Comment vont tes gosses?", it would first be understood as "How are your balls doing?", and afterwards it would be understood as a hillarious failure on the editor's/publisher's part. And much worse has been done in family-friendly titles.

[PsychoBlonde]

Over 350 million people speak Spanish in the world.

 

Just 100 million speak German, 55 million speak Italian and little more than 40 million speak Italian.

 

Despite this no game in the series Dragon Age or Mass Effect has been folded (VO) but this does not matter much what you really do not understand is that no Spanish forum.

 

Sorry if my English was not very good.

 

Cause people who speak Spanish are so awesome they can be relied-upon to speak another language, whereas Europe's gone a bit xenophobic lately?

[PsychoBlonde]

I hated that of Skyrim. The spanish voice acting was terrible. 

 

It's a Bethesda game.  ALL the voice acting is terrible.  Quantity doesn't help as much as you might think.

[Gtdef]

Except that it's harder to find talent that can deliver, don't forget that the languages are different in structure and form, so the result will be different as well. When they made Greek voice acting for League of Legends I couldn't use it. It was funny and silly cause the language doesn't work that way. It's fine to yell PENTAKILL in English, but translate this in Greek and it sounds extremely silly. All the superheroes like Batman, Superman, translated in Greek sound something like a 3 year old would say.

 

Try translating English jokes to your language. Some of them work, some don't. It requires a lot of rephrasing to explain the joke, and you can't really capture it's soul.

 

Of course I'd support forums for foreign communities and in game subtitles. But voice acting? I can't see that working without diminishing the quality of the game.

[robertthebard]

In the US, which is probably the biggest market for games, the Latino population is growing fast. I think about 1/4 of children or young adults (can't remember which or if both) are Latino. I guess some would have come from Brazil, which is Portugese speaking. Many Mexican Americans. For gaming, most would be comfatable with English, but for the Forums, it would make sense from a marketing perspective / goodwill for Bioware to set up a Spanish language forum.
 
2nd Gen Mexican Americans: (emily is the lead singer's wife)

It would make more sense for them to learn English, living in the US. Kind of a pet peeve of mine, since if I were to move to a foreign country, I would have the respect to at least try to learn the language, instead of complaining how they're trying to stifle my culture just because I chose to live there. I'm not exactly sure what culture it is that revolves around video games, but I'm pretty sure that Geek and Nerd speak Math, which is a foreign language to just about everybody.

[javeart]

It would make more sense for them to learn English, living in the US. Kind of a pet peeve of mine, since if I were to move to a foreign country, I would have the respect to at least try to learn the language, instead of complaining how they're trying to stifle my culture just because I chose to live there. I'm not exactly sure what culture it is that revolves around video games, but I'm pretty sure that Geek and Nerd speak Math, which is a foreign language to just about everybody.

 

The fact that migrants may enjoy talking in their native languages doesn't mean they can't speak the language of the country they're currently living in. Would you never talk in english again just because you moved to another country?

[robertthebard]

The fact that migrants may enjoy talking in their native languages doesn't mean they can't speak the language of the country they're currently living in. Would you never talk in english again just because you moved to another country?

I'm sure I would, in appropriate context; in my home, amongst English speaking friends, etc. I would not, however, go to get my Driver's License and rage because it's not in English. I also wouldn't try to play the "hate" card if something wasn't in my language, or if I couldn't get a job because they didn't speak my language. It's my responsibility to adapt to my new environment, not my new environment's responsibility to adapt to me.

[javeart]

I'm sure I would, in appropriate context; in my home, amongst English speaking friends, etc. I would not, however, go to get my Driver's License and rage because it's not in English. I also wouldn't try to play the "hate" card if something wasn't in my language, or if I couldn't get a job because they didn't speak my language. It's my responsibility to adapt to my new environment, not my new environment's responsibility to adapt to me.

 

Well,  I don't think the request of this topic could be equated with  the driver's license or the job examples, specially the forum part. It seems reasonable wanting a place to communicate with other people in a language that you feel more comfortable with, regardless of where are you living, and the forum in fact it's not attached to any specific territory (it doesn't mean that BW doesn't have their own perfectly reasonable motives not to do it, but one can ask, no?  )

 

As for the OP (who it's the only one I can think of as showing any sign of rage in this thread), I think she/he is from Spain and the complaint it's more along the lines of being one the few "big" countries in Europe who doesn't get the game dubbed, specially considering that Spain is not exactly the only place where spanish is spoken 

[turuzzusapatuttu]

But prioritize German, Italian or Polish languages

And why thy shouldn't? Every company examines the amount of potential buyers and in all probability they assumed that spending money for a Spanish version was useless or even counterproductive 

 

If you ever listened to those dubs, you'd be glad your language didn't suffer the same raping.

 

The Italian dubbing for Mass Effect was good, I'm not saying it was perfect, but saying "raping" seems to me a bit exaggerated... I must assume you are Italian or Polish from the moment you criticize those languages?

[turuzzusapatuttu]

I also prefer the English game but is a bit macabre that Mass Effect has dubbing into Italian or Polish before the Spanish

Well, it's also macabre hearing someone complaining because a game was dubbed or not in a language...  

[robertthebard]

Well,  I don't think the request of this topic could be equated with  the driver's license or the job examples, specially the forum part. It seems reasonable wanting a place to communicate with other people in a language that you feel more comfortable with, regardless of where are you living, and the forum in fact it's not attached to any specific territory (it doesn't mean that BW doesn't have their own perfectly reasonable motives not to do it, but one can ask, no?  )
 
As for the OP (who it's the only one I can think of as showing any sign of rage in this thread), I think she/he is from Spain and the complaint it's more along the lines of being one the few "big" countries in Europe who doesn't get the game dubbed, specially considering that Spain is not exactly the only place where spanish is spoken 

Admittedly, my original post was a bit of a tangent from the OP, but was in direct response to "x% of the population of the US speaks Spanish, and should be catered to". Note that that is a very rough paraphrase. I'm sure there's a reason there's no Spanish forum, although I have absolutely no idea what it is. If I were to venture a guess, however, it would be that I have seen exactly one post asking for one.

[TheWhitefire]

Considering that Bioware is Canadian, having French as a language is a no-brainer (for Quebec). As for German, it is both more commonly spoken, and Germany is an active gaming market.

I'm not sure about Spanish VO since it will rocket localisation costs, but I'll admit I see no reason there can't be a Spanish Subforum.

 

 

It's also legally required, if I'm not mistaken, that they at least provide subtitles. Bioware actually has a studio in Montreal specifically for translating their games into French (I think they typically use Parisian, because it's more broadly marketable than Quebecois).

 

Yes. There are are like 37 million spanish speakers in the United States, compared to about 10 million French speakers in Canada.

 

And Canada also has less than half the population of America, but Bioware is nonetheless required to provide a product that has a French Language option in some form (at least subtitles, usually) if they want to sell it in Quebec at all. Heck, even here in the most Anglo of the Anglo provinces, where Bioware's main studio is located, there are enitre communities (although isolated ones) that speak French as a first language.

[Star fury]

There's also forum in Polish but not in Russian... But I think Russians are just too lazy to read official forum (with exceptions who speak English, ofc) x)

Russians prefer to write in Russian in English forum(well, some of them do).

[noquar7er]

As a spaniard, I prefer no dubbing for my games. Unfortunately we spanish-speakers are too used to everything being dubbed for us since spanish dubbing industry used to be a big deal. I think dubbing makes for a lesser experience than full original products.

 

But, I also have to say that, usually, translated subtitles are very bad and plain. I've been slowly noticing that as I began to understand English. They leave out things like sarcasm, jokes, or if the character is speaking slang... this should be reflected in a good translation. Sometimes is obvious the translator didn't play or even know what the game was about. I'm glad I can play games totally in English now because bad subtitles cut a lot of information out from the player.