Maybe this is because of the historically poor quality of Polish game translations (and the fact that Polish is notoriously difficult to translate into, when you do not translate whole sentences but individual words, as in Polish adjectives have different feminine, masculine and neutral forms for example), but I always games in the original English language. This is why I am constantly being puzzled by e.g. complaints of people on Paradox forums, about the quality of German, French or Spanish translations of Paradox games.
So my question to people from non-English-speaking countries is - what language version do you play - English or (when available) your native language version?
English, unless the original game is in German (Anno series, Sacred, Gothic, Patrician . . . ).
Not sure of the general quality of German translations these days, though from what I've seen Bioware seems to do them very professionally but the German voices for CoD4-MW were atrocious. Bad action movie dubbing at its worst. In the past Longest Journey had a very well known dubbing cast, and the old LucasArts adventures had an ingenious translation staff - though I still prefer the English originals in those cases. But there were also MANY horrible translations.
Yeah, don't get me started on voice dubbing. It seems that in Poland there is a very small number of voice actors who are used interchangeably for cartoons/computer games, so it makes Dragon Age sound like Winnie the Pooh. :yuk:
Germany has a high standard of dubbing (well, as high as you can in such an annoying practice), and popular actors usually have their "usual" voice in (almost) all their movies, and quite a few of those voices "bleed over" into video games. The trend these days is to use voices that sound close to the original, whereas in the past voices could often be "matched to the character" which may or may not work better than the original voice. E.g. Robert De Niro has a very distinct German dubbing voice that is nothing like his real voice (but supposedly fits his gruff looks better) . . . but it got handpicked by Martin Scorsese for Taxi Driver. These days, people hear the voice and think, "Robert De Niro".
However, it can create potential problems - e.g. Stallone and Schwarzenegger have the same dubbing voice. Not sure how they handled their scenes together in Expandables (haven't seen the movie in German).
English only. Same with books and movies, always take the original version if you can understand it.
English. To their credit french versions have gotten much better over the years but I am annoyed by all the Franceisation of it.
English. Swedish is not a common gaming language but I can't see myself choosing my native tongue over english even if the game had a flawless translation.
All swedes has a love for english. If it's english it's good, if it's german it's often technical, if it's french it's probably about wine or cheese. :P
Most books I read are in english, the films in the cinema and shows on tv are in english, most of what I read on the net is in english, even the fliers on my car says FINAL SALE not SLUTREA. At my old job english and swedish was spoken in a sort of mix.
The added perk to using an english version of a game is of course if you need help. Like at my former job the jargon is in english. How would I know what a CB or a DoW is?
English, since my early days of gaming. Usually italian translations are decently done, but I still prefer the original.
When Planescape: Torment was released, I played it in english, then I was involved in a collaborative attempt to create an homebrew italian translation of it, but I don't know how the project ended.
L.
Quote from: Grey Fox on January 11, 2013, 06:53:02 AM
English. To their credit french versions have gotten much better over the years but I am annoyed by all the Franceisation of it.
Latin American people are always whining about how the Hispanic (as in Spain and Portugal) dialects are used. I am not sure what a difference this makes for Brazilians but the differences between the Spanish spoken over here and that spoken in Spain is pretty profound it seems.
Quote from: Martinus on January 11, 2013, 06:11:42 AM
Maybe this is because of the historically poor quality of Polish game translations (and the fact that Polish is notoriously difficult to translate into, when you do not translate whole sentences but individual words, as in Polish adjectives have different feminine, masculine and neutral forms for example), but I always games in the original English language. This is why I am constantly being puzzled by e.g. complaints of people on Paradox forums, about the quality of German, French or Spanish translations of Paradox games.
So my question to people from non-English-speaking countries is - what language version do you play - English or (when available) your native language version?
English games. Aside some web browser games, all games are made in english, even those made in Quebec, and later translated, often in France and not in Quebec, so that's as much a foreign language to me as American english.
Quote from: Martinus on January 11, 2013, 06:38:19 AM
Yeah, don't get me started on voice dubbing. It seems that in Poland there is a very small number of voice actors who are used interchangeably for cartoons/computer games, so it makes Dragon Age sound like Winnie the Pooh. :yuk:
I can not remember how Winnie the Pooh sounds. If you do, you are either very young, or you should move on to more adult shows :P
English of course. There were some attempts at Swedish versions of computer games in the mid-90s. They sucked ass and the business ditched the idea.
There aren't any Finnish translations so English. Finns use subtitles for most movies, even.
I wouldn't get too upset about bad dubbing. Its only fairly recently that English dubbing has tended towards the tolerable.
Interesting on the upset over other side of the atlantic versions of your language. Overly Americanised dubs piss me off too. Really wish there was more of a British dubbing industry out there. Sounds more natural.
Also annoying is the way games often take months to be released in Britain after having been released in the UK....and they change nothing during that time, leaving American spelling and terminology intact.
Which British accent should they use?
Quote from: Valmy on January 11, 2013, 09:37:37 AM
Latin American people are always whining about how the Hispanic (as in Spain and Portugal) dialects are used. I am not sure what a difference this makes for Brazilians but the differences between the Spanish spoken over here and that spoken in Spain is pretty profound it seems.
My impression is the difference between Portugal and Brazil is far, far greater. Spanish is more like English - so they're like Brits moaning about Americanisations or vice versa :P
Quote from: Tyr on January 11, 2013, 11:56:17 PMgames often take months to be released in Britain after having been released in the UK
:unsure:
QuoteWhich British accent should they use?
Whichever is most appropriate to the characters.
Quote from: Syt on January 12, 2013, 02:09:15 AM
Quote from: Tyr on January 11, 2013, 11:56:17 PMgames often take months to be released in Britain after having been released in the UK
:unsure:
UK=US. Woops.
Anyways, those long delays are more the exception than the rule these days.
Quote from: Sheilbh on January 12, 2013, 01:18:02 AM
Quote from: Valmy on January 11, 2013, 09:37:37 AM
Latin American people are always whining about how the Hispanic (as in Spain and Portugal) dialects are used. I am not sure what a difference this makes for Brazilians but the differences between the Spanish spoken over here and that spoken in Spain is pretty profound it seems.
My impression is the difference between Portugal and Brazil is far, far greater. Spanish is more like English - so they're like Brits moaning about Americanisations or vice versa :P
Every Simpsons' clip in youtube devolves into an intercontinental flamewar over the choice of Spanish used. Personally, I simply can't stand most Latinamerican accents (Argentinian is ok). I'ts like nails on a blackboard thing. Just wrong.
On the original topic, always English versions, except certain cases (German in Silent Hunter for example).
Same goes for movies and shows. Exceptions being Simpsons or Futurama, which are extremely well dubbed and which I started watching long before I had access to the Web.
I don't really care. English and German are both fine.
The only game I remember that had a Danish translation was EU1, and that wasn't very good and covered only about 80%.
So English it is, although I once in a while I set games to French to brush up on it.
English.
Quote from: Tyr on January 12, 2013, 02:27:47 AM
QuoteWhich British accent should they use?
Whichever is most appropriate to the characters.
Quote from: Syt on January 12, 2013, 02:09:15 AM
Quote from: Tyr on January 11, 2013, 11:56:17 PMgames often take months to be released in Britain after having been released in the UK
:unsure:
UK=US. Woops.
How do you deem which is appropriate?
"This character is a hideous space monster, so we'll make him Welsh. This character is a Roman solider so we'll give him Midlands accent, and this character is the Emperor of Japan so we'll give him a Cockney accent."
Singe Portugal doesn't have a great tradition in translating games, I often try to get the version that is closer to the original. Which is English in 90% of the cases. A few French games are the exception.
That said, we've recently had games released here translated in Castillian (like X-Com) and some attempts at portuguese translation (usually games for little kids). As expected, those are mostly left unsold (and made me buy X-Com on gamersgate to get the English version. No way was I going to play that in Castillian*).
The odd exceptions are in console games, where several titles are Japanese. I change them to Japanese ASAP, as English voices for the characters just sound plain wrong.
*: Sometimes dubs can be strange. In X-Com's first mission, for example, Dr. Vählen is supposed to try to speak to a German soldier that has been mind-controlled, and the German accent of the English voice actress is positively atrocious. In the German dub, on the other hand, we get the impression that a German-speaking commander needs to ask the doctor to talk to a German soldier. Just weird :wacko:
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2013, 02:53:44 AM
Quote from: Tyr on January 12, 2013, 02:27:47 AM
QuoteWhich British accent should they use?
Whichever is most appropriate to the characters.
Quote from: Syt on January 12, 2013, 02:09:15 AM
Quote from: Tyr on January 11, 2013, 11:56:17 PMgames often take months to be released in Britain after having been released in the UK
:unsure:
UK=US. Woops.
How do you deem which is appropriate?
"This character is a hideous space monster, so we'll make him Welsh. This character is a Roman solider so we'll give him Midlands accent, and this character is the Emperor of Japan so we'll give him a Cockney accent."
"All your base are belong to us."
Ah, Geordie.
Quote from: Ed Anger on January 13, 2013, 06:07:28 PM
Ah, Geordie.
Well when he said British accents I assumed they would be in English.
Ænglisc
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2013, 02:53:44 AM
How do you deem which is appropriate?
"This character is a hideous space monster, so we'll make him Welsh. This character is a Roman solider so we'll give him Midlands accent, and this character is the Emperor of Japan so we'll give him a Cockney accent."
The same way its normally decided which actors are right for which roles. Its not exactly radical stuff.
Quote from: Tyr on January 14, 2013, 08:02:10 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2013, 02:53:44 AM
How do you deem which is appropriate?
"This character is a hideous space monster, so we'll make him Welsh. This character is a Roman solider so we'll give him Midlands accent, and this character is the Emperor of Japan so we'll give him a Cockney accent."
The same way its normally decided which actors are right for which roles. Its not exactly radical stuff.
Okay, you pick the ones that appeal to the largest percent of the audience. So you have Americans do it.
Quote from: Razgovory on January 14, 2013, 08:37:19 AM
Quote from: Tyr on January 14, 2013, 08:02:10 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2013, 02:53:44 AM
How do you deem which is appropriate?
"This character is a hideous space monster, so we'll make him Welsh. This character is a Roman solider so we'll give him Midlands accent, and this character is the Emperor of Japan so we'll give him a Cockney accent."
The same way its normally decided which actors are right for which roles. Its not exactly radical stuff.
Okay, you pick the ones that appeal to the largest percent of the audience. So you have Americans do it.
I never said the way of things wasn't logical. America is a larger audience, Americans are less willing to accept foreigness, the way of things is set, etc....
It does however rankle.
English.
They really don't do enough game translations in Nahua.
English
Quote from: Tyr on January 15, 2013, 12:19:18 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 14, 2013, 08:37:19 AM
Quote from: Tyr on January 14, 2013, 08:02:10 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 13, 2013, 02:53:44 AM
How do you deem which is appropriate?
"This character is a hideous space monster, so we'll make him Welsh. This character is a Roman solider so we'll give him Midlands accent, and this character is the Emperor of Japan so we'll give him a Cockney accent."
The same way its normally decided which actors are right for which roles. Its not exactly radical stuff.
Okay, you pick the ones that appeal to the largest percent of the audience. So you have Americans do it.
I never said the way of things wasn't logical. America is a larger audience, Americans are less willing to accept foreigness, the way of things is set, etc....
It does however rankle.
Less willing to accept foreignness? You were the one bitching!
Quote from: Razgovory on January 15, 2013, 04:24:28 PM
Less willing to accept foreignness? You were the one bitching!
Being mildly annoyed at something on the internet != not accepting it.
And I'm hardly representative of the entire British market.
Just look to the way many American shows are so popular in the UK but the US always feels the need to completely remake British shows before releasing them over there. Often with terrible results.
Incidentally I just started playing Little Big Planet 2. Alway lovely to come across a game which does have British voicework. The Fable games are probally some of the best voiced games out there.
Quote from: Tyr on January 15, 2013, 07:14:50 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 15, 2013, 04:24:28 PM
Less willing to accept foreignness? You were the one bitching!
Being mildly annoyed at something on the internet != not accepting it.
And I'm hardly representative of the entire British market.
Just look to the way many American shows are so popular in the UK but the US always feels the need to completely remake British shows before releasing them over there. Often with terrible results.
Incidentally I just started playing Little Big Planet 2. Alway lovely to come across a game which does have British voicework. The Fable games are probally some of the best voiced games out there.
Yeah, this is resentment is common amongst Brits. See it all the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_television_series_based_on_American_television_series
Seems that the US isn't the only one who does this.
Law and Order UK is just awful
Well the UK isn't really a great to begin with.
Quote from: Razgovory on January 15, 2013, 07:57:46 PM
Yeah, this is resentment is common amongst Brits. See it all the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_television_series_based_on_American_television_series
Seems that the US isn't the only one who does this.
Largely game show formats. i.e. cheap ,easy and popular ways to fill up the schedules.
Totally different situation to the many American remakes of British programmes of merit. Much fewer in number overall too.
Quote from: Razgovory on January 15, 2013, 11:46:20 PM
Well the UK isn't really a great to begin with.
Is there any foreign country that compares to the glories of Missouri? :hmm: You seem pretty down on all of them.
Quote from: Tyr on January 15, 2013, 11:54:55 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 15, 2013, 07:57:46 PM
Yeah, this is resentment is common amongst Brits. See it all the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_television_series_based_on_American_television_series
Seems that the US isn't the only one who does this.
Largely game show formats. i.e. cheap ,easy and popular ways to fill up the schedules.
Totally different situation to the many American remakes of British programmes of merit. Much fewer in number overall too.
So tell me, how is Law and Order:UK a totally different situation? You do realize that there is much, much, much more television in the US. So there is naturally going to be more of everything, even copies of Brit programs.
Quote from: Valmy on January 16, 2013, 12:02:17 AM
Quote from: Razgovory on January 15, 2013, 11:46:20 PM
Well the UK isn't really a great to begin with.
Is there any foreign country that compares to the glories of Missouri? :hmm: You seem pretty down on all of them.
Sure. I find the passive-aggressive resentment from limeys to be annoying though.
In France, one of the first console RPG games to be translated and released there and the first one I got was Secret of Mana. Still pretty expensive nowadays unlike Germany where more SNES RPGs got released back in the day. Only place where one can find Terranigma for a decent price (this one not even released in the US).
As for Portugal, the first games to be translated were football games such as PES or FIFA. Sony has been translating AND dubbing games for a while sometimes with good results (Little Big Planet PSP) or not so good (Uncharted). Spanish translations and dubs for games have been more and more of a plague and are generally crappy, as for movies, à la German.
So I go for the original versions most of the times, so this may mean Japanese if available, not necessarily English because sometimes it feels like cheap US anime dubs.
Sampled X-COM dubbed in French and it was mediocre "scanning" becoming "Je scanne" (what? only used for documents in this context in French). No lip-sync as well, same goes for Heavy Rain (only the English dub is lip-synced).
Lucasarts games, such as Full Throttle, were very well dubbed, cartoon-style as mentioned by Syt.
Quote from: Martinus on January 11, 2013, 06:11:42 AM
Maybe this is because of the historically poor quality of Polish game translations (and the fact that Polish is notoriously difficult to translate into, when you do not translate whole sentences but individual words, as in Polish adjectives have different feminine, masculine and neutral forms for example), but I always games in the original English language. This is why I am constantly being puzzled by e.g. complaints of people on Paradox forums, about the quality of German, French or Spanish translations of Paradox games.
So my question to people from non-English-speaking countries is - what language version do you play - English or (when available) your native language version?
English. A lot of game companies don't bother translating their games into Chinese. But even if the Chinese version is available, I go for the English version. I hate reading the translated names of western characters, and I often suspect that the Chinese translation does not accurately reflect the meaning/jokes/puns of the original English version. In addition, most online material like strategies and guides are in English. I don't want to read a walkthrough in English but play the game in Chinese.
Another problem is technical. Because there are two versions of Chinese characters, traditional and simplified, there are many display issues involved. My computer uses traditional Chinese characters. The mainland market (which uses simplified) is much larger than the Taiwan and HK markets. So game companies usually go for the simplified version. I hate reading simplified Chinese letters and sometimes my computer displays similar emotion.
I also have to admit that there is an ego issue involved. I can play the English version just fine. That's something that I am proud of. Yes, it is silly and childish, but there you go :blush:
Do you ever play Japanese originals mono?
Much of it would be readable on at least a basic meaning level right?
QuoteSo I go for the original versions most of the times, so this may mean Japanese if available, not necessarily English because sometimes it feels like cheap US anime dubs.
Sampled X-COM dubbed in French and it was mediocre "scanning" becoming "Je scanne" (what? documents). No lip-sync as well, same goes for Heavy Rain (only the English dub is lip-synced).
Lucasarts game such as Full Throttle, were very well dubbed, cartoon-style as mentioned by Syt.
Wait...you speak Japanese?
Quote from: Razgovory on January 16, 2013, 01:29:44 AM
So tell me, how is Law and Order:UK a totally different situation? You do realize that there is much, much, much more television in the US. So there is naturally going to be more of everything, even copies of Brit programs.
'Largely' != 'They are all'.
There are a few examples on that list of proper remakes. Generally complete failures wheras the originals did OK in the UK, I've never heard of most of them.
Isn't Law and Order the one that has franchises in a bazillion American cities? Having a UK version doesn't seem such a big deal there. Just a continuation of its own established pattern.
Quote from: Duque de BragançaSo I go for the original versions most of the times, so this may mean Japanese if available, not necessarily English because sometimes it feels like cheap US anime dubs.
Sampled X-COM dubbed in French and it was mediocre "scanning" becoming "Je scanne" (what? documents). No lip-sync as well, same goes for Heavy Rain (only the English dub is lip-synced).
Lucasarts game such as Full Throttle, were very well dubbed, cartoon-style as mentioned by Syt.
Quote
Wait...you speak Japanese?
Nope, I just choose the Japanese dub over the US English if given the choice for Japanese stuff, with subtitles to support it.
Quote from: Tyr on January 16, 2013, 04:41:12 AM
Isn't Law and Order the one that has franchises in a bazillion American cities? Having a UK version doesn't seem such a big deal there. Just a continuation of its own established pattern.
Nope.
Quote from: Tyr on January 16, 2013, 04:41:12 AM
Isn't Law and Order the one that has franchises in a bazillion American cities? Having a UK version doesn't seem such a big deal there. Just a continuation of its own established pattern.
No, Law and Order is the one where the spin-off series utilise other departments of the New York police force/criminal justice system; CSI is the one that goes city-hopping with its' spinoffs.
Law and Order UK is the most pathetic excuse for an import I've ever seen; importing an ensemble show concept and then making only six episodes a year is a joke.
Although having just seen that there was a pilot made of an American version of Dad's Army (thanks Raz, you got me browsing both the lists) I can't say it's the most pointless transatlantic movement of television ideas I've ever seen. :huh: :lmfao:
Yea as far as I know only L&O:Los Angeles took place outside of New York and it tanked hard.
L&O:UK's first season...series was just a collection of somewhat re-worked "best of" episodes from the US.
Consulting wiki - CSI only had two city spinoffs - seemed like there were a million. :D
NCIS does the multiple cities bit as well.
Quote from: Tyr on January 16, 2013, 04:41:12 AM
Do you ever play Japanese originals mono?
Much of it would be readable on at least a basic meaning level right?
Yes, I've played a few games in Japanese. It really depends on the type of game. For KOEI strategy games, it was okish, because as you know the Japanese use a lot of kanji. I can read most of the people's names, geographic names, a lot of commands, and I could look up the Japanese dictionary on some of the terms.
But it is definitely not ok for RPG type games. I could sorta hack and slash, but I had absolutely no idea about what was going on story-wise.