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Why can't I just have English language option in my games?

C

Canis lupus

Member
I just wanna play my games in English. I have seen so many games release that have only the local language. It becomes an even more pain in the ass when you're living in a bilingual country!

Some examples:

inFamous was Dutch only, we got the English language track thanks to a patch.
I got Fifa Football for the Vita, not knowing the only language on it was French.
I got Halo Reach from Xbox Live(thanks to bGanci), I started playing it, everything is English, even the multiplayer, I start the story and all the voices are French! No option to change the language!

I got Deus Ex Human Revolution from PS+, I was so happy! But Square Enix decided to put the French version of this game on the Store. Thanks to complaints they changed it to the English version, wich was surprisingly a 3GB smaller download.

And today, I am thinking of buying a 3DS XL with Professor Layton, I heard this game is only playable in Dutch...

I miss the older times, when every PS2 game would tell you wich language to choose at start.
 
Yep, the worst are publishers like Activision and Bethesda. Instead of putting the English tracks on the discs here in Germany you get French. WTF?

These publishers ar also always so proud of their full localization so they put it on the box and then it is garbage anyway.


And even if you have the English track on the disc, most of the time you still have to change the language of your console. why isn't selecting the language always in the options?
 
most games that even have mutli languages don't ask you which language you want, they use the default system setting. it works like that in most games both ps3 and 360. Halo Reach localized versions only had 1 voice track though I think, but a game like Alan Wake has 6 different audio tracks in all regions including Japanese even. Most of Sony games have like half a dozen of languages on disc, but it checks the system language and use just that mostly.

in most cases, like on Vita, could be a space issue for game not to have multi languages. I think pubs prefer to have a single master image to distribute everywhere if they could instead of different localized versions.
 
Currygan said:
import them from the UK. They might even be cheaper
Click to expand...

I live in Austria and since the German voices are usually a pain to listen to I order nearly all of my games from the UK for about 2 years now. I may have to wait a day or two longer but I get the original VO and pay less in most of the cases.
 
Really nice to live in Finland, with under 6 million people translating/dubbing games is not worth it... All games here are in English by default.
Umm. How many people in the Netherlands?

I've noticed that many GAFers complain about non-English voicing, i assume this is due to non-English voicing quality beinh bad?

EDIT BTW, games nowadays can't have many, if any alternate VOs due to space concerns. Not an issue on PS3, i'd imagine.
 
I'd love to be able to play all my games in spanish, sadly not all games got spanish option. :_( (Is just awesome play my games in my native language, thanks all Sony games, and great for RE6 to make this possible).
I miss multi-5 games.
PS: you have a good option, as people said, import them from UK.
 
I didn't know they translated games to Dutch. I thought it was only languages in the countries who is dubbing (lol) movies. Like French, German, Spanish and Italian.
 
Same here, I flatly refuse to play my games in my native language for the good reason that dubbing really sucks where I live.

English or burst.
 
when DD hits its stride you won't have an option to import unless it's a collector's edition.

this would suck.
 
Yeah, it can be really annoying.
It really bothered me with Arkham City, as I was forced to tweak a file to play in English and it kept going back to Italian every single time I changed any other option (forcing me to manually edit that file again).
 
Woorloog said:
Really nice to live in Finland, with under 6 million people translating/dubbing games is not worth it... All games here are in English by default.
Umm. How many people in the Netherlands?

I've noticed that many GAFers complain about non-English voicing, i assume this is due to non-English voicing quality beinh bad?

EDIT BTW, games nowadays can't have many, if any alternate VOs due to space concerns. Not an issue on PS3, i'd imagine.
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Yes. Even a lot of huge games have terrible German localizations. One of the worst offenders is the Halo series.

And you would think hat it's not a problem on PS3 but like I said Publishers like Bethesda and Activision don't give a shit and don#t put English on the disc.

And btw guys importing is not always a good options. If you want hassle free DLC you pretty much have to go with your local game on PS3.
 
I feel your pain OP. I live in Japan and it's a crapshoot in getting multi-lingual releases here. I can play in full Japanese as my reading and listening levels are useable for most games but I prefer stuff in my native language unless the game was originally intended for a Japanese market. While some dubs are atrocious, I really don't mind them all too much as I can understand Japanese so hearing it just isn't that special and can be at times just as corny. I just prefer sitting back and shutting off my brain for a while.
 
I've listened to a few Microsoft titles running on xbox that are fully localized with Latin American Spanish voiceovers. They were all horrendous, anime-dub level crud. The fact that they actually bother to redo some the in-game text and assets in Spanish is very nice, though.

In videogames, cinema, other audiovisual media, it's the original audio track with subtitles or bust. No respectable man picks otherwise, ever.

Okay, some movies actually do get nice dubs, but I digress.
 
I've noticed that many GAFers complain about non-English voicing, i assume this is due to non-English voicing quality beinh bad?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily bad, I just want the source material, just like I don't watch my anime dubbed.

We watch our tv shows, movies in English, listen to our songs in English but somehow in gaming the regional language is forced on us. Some games do it good, like Uncharted, it has just all the languages.


Its annoying the hell outta me. Belgium is the most globalized country in the world.
 
TurkishEmperor said:
That is what I'm doing most of the time, but you can't import digital games. Why is my Halo Reach in French? The francophones are not the majority in this country.



Official state visit.
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can't you change your country of origin in settings, download the game in proper English and roll back? It's possible on the 3DS, not sure about the 'Box
 
Never had that issue in Scandinavia. It's all in English, and if it by an off-chance isn't (some EA, Ubisoft and Sony games), there's always an option to play it in English.
 
Origin gave me a German version of Crysis. I didn't even know games did that, I thought European releases just had all the languages on them.
 
Ingoring your username and based on the fact that you're talking about Dutch and French, I assume you're in Belgium, too? Never had that problem, myself, honestly, except for the new Xbox dashboard. I can choose between part english, part dutch, or completely dutch.
 
Woorloog said:
Really nice to live in Finland, with under 6 million people translating/dubbing games is not worth it... All games here are in English by default.
Umm. How many people in the Netherlands?
Click to expand...
Hey at least Resistance 2 had finnish dub. Perhaps the biggest mindfuck ever. I dunno who came up with that since having M rated game or a game of this type dubbed over here is absolutely unheard of.
 
Xater said:
Yep, the worst are publishers like Activision and Bethesda. Instead of putting the English tracks on the discs here in Germany you get French. WTF?
Click to expand...
Not only in Germany. I don't get why Bethesda makes this strange split to release one version with French, German, Italian and Spanish and one version English only for Europe.
The only answer I got was to combat the grey market.
But if you live in one of the "FIGS"-countries and prefer to play your games in English a split like this only encourages to import the game from the UK where it normally costs noticeable less.
Not that I'm complaining being encouraged to pay less for games, but I would really know what they are thinking why it's a good idea to remove English language from some of the European versions. Doesn't make any sense in my eyes. It's not like there's a grey market where people import the much more expensive version from France, Germany etc that needs to be blocked by removing the English language.
Fortunately most games from other publishers are EFIGS here. It's just annoying to always check before buying if you get the language you want. For example Eidos/SE did the same for Deus Ex.
 
Blue Ninja said:
Ingoring your username and based on the fact that you're talking about Dutch and French, I assume you're in Belgium, too? Never had that problem, myself, honestly, except for the new Xbox dashboard. I can choose between part english, part dutch, or completely dutch.
Click to expand...

That annoys me too. I picked English to be my dashboard language, not some mix between Dutch and English. As for the digital issue, a friend of mine was really pissed when he accidentally bought a French version of Dragon Age on the marketplace. Apart from that one of my friends on Facebook is currently complaining that the Xbox Music service is also in French for him now, possibly because he lives, somewhat but not very, close to the language barrier.

DidntKnowJack said:
I just walk away from this thread impressed with how many people here are bilingual.
Click to expand...

Sounds like

You didn't know Jack.

tumblr_lqny9rAjKq1qlv7x6.gif
 
I hate this also. Recently I downloaded an iOS game that didn't have an in-game option for changing the language. I had to set my iPhone to English to play in English and I really don't want to change my phone's language setting.

It's easier for consoles but as others said you have to import the game from the UK if you want to be certain it includes the English localization.

Sucks to be in the minority with this "issue". Most people just want their local language and complain if there's no localization for it :/
 
That annoys me too. I picked English to be my dashboard language, not some mix between Dutch and English. As for the digital issue, a friend of mine was really pissed when he accidentally bought a French version of Dragon Age on the marketplace. Apart from that one of my friends on Facebook is currently complaining that the Xbox Music service is also in French for him now, possibly because he lives, somewhat but not very, close to the language barrier.
Click to expand...

Space-wise, probably because of file size on the 360 disc?

But if that's the case what's the excuse for blu-ray having all that space on the PS3?
 
CopyCat said:
Not only in Germany. I don't get why Bethesda makes this strange split to release one version with French, German, Italian and Spanish and one version English only for Europe.
The only answer I got was to combat the grey market.
But if you live in one of the "FIGS"-countries and prefer to play your games in English a split like this only encourages to import the game from the UK where it normally costs noticeable less.
Not that I'm complaining being encouraged to pay less for games, but I would really know what they are thinking why it's a good idea to remove English language from some of the European versions. Doesn't make any sense in my eyes. It's not like there's a grey market where people import the much more expensive version from France, Germany etc that needs to be blocked by removing the English language.
Fortunately most games from other publishers are EFIGS here. It's just annoying to always check before buying if you get the language you want. For example Eidos/SE did the same for Deus Ex.
Click to expand...

That sounds like the dumbest excuse ever. Like you said, who the fuck imports the more expensive European versions?
 
LonelyGreyWolf said:
Everyone in Sweden who is aged 15 or over speaks at least three languages, two of which very well. I can't imagine speaking only one language, it'd make the world so difficult.
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Yeah its much more common in other countries to be multilingual. I was blown away when I was traveling to Africa through Brussels as soon as the foreign crew took over they all spoke at least 3 languages. My fiancé speaks 3 and understands at lest 4.
 
Woorloog said:
Really nice to live in Finland, with under 6 million people translating/dubbing games is not worth it... All games here are in English by default.
Umm. How many people in the Netherlands?

I've noticed that many GAFers complain about non-English voicing, i assume this is due to non-English voicing quality beinh bad?

EDIT BTW, games nowadays can't have many, if any alternate VOs due to space concerns. Not an issue on PS3, i'd imagine.
Click to expand...

Czech Republic only has 10 million people, yet for many companies it seems to be profitable to localise the games for some reason. I guess it's similar to the situation with movies - many people won't watch anything that is not dubbed into czech.

EA Czech has been localising NHL for years, using a local popular sports commentator as the voice actor. They even did that for some console versions of the game (PS2), and their other games at least have a czech packaging and manual (no English though, which might suck if the translation is rubbish).

When you buy a gaming magazine, usually you get a free game with it, or three. Or you can get popular games at places that sell newspapers for really cheap, and many of these games only have czech language option. It's the only way some companies will allow this kind of distribution, because that way you can't sell the games on eBay for profit.

Of course, it's not all this bad. Many games sold at retail have english as an option or as the only language. Console games, mostly, because console market is still really small in here. But most of the time they are so expensive that I can just import from UK and still get much better prices with shipping included. The last games I bought locally were some bundles on Wii (Xeno - LS - Pandora trinity and Skyward Sword) because their prices were actually very similar to the ones I'd get by importing. And they were the UK versions anyway.
 
Upsidedown Fuji said:
I feel your pain OP. I live in Japan and it's a crapshoot in getting multi-lingual releases here. I can play in full Japanese as my reading and listening levels are useable for most games but I prefer stuff in my native language unless the game was originally intended for a Japanese market. While some dubs are atrocious, I really don't mind them all too much as I can understand Japanese so hearing it just isn't that special and can be at times just as corny. I just prefer sitting back and shutting off my brain for a while.
Click to expand...

Are there bad Japanese voice acted games? Since I don't speak Japanese whenever I hear games/anime/movies in Japanese it all sounds the same to me I don't know if it's bad or cheesy like in some games here in the US when you know they spent as little as possible with the voice acting.
 
test_account said:
What is the 3rd language?
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The third language is a so-called "modern language": German, French or Spanish (some schools also offer Italian although it's somewhat rare). I disagree that these are modern languages; if anything Chinese is by far the most modern language right now. A person who speaks Chinese have a lot of opportunities. Of course, learning an Asian language is hard as nails, whereas the European languages I listed are similar in more than one regard. Students who are in the Swedish Gymnasium (usually ages 15-18) are free to study as many modern languages as they please, and some schools also offer Japanese and body language. Most chose only one modern language though, as it's some much work to learn a new language. The most common modern language is Spanish. I chose German though; a far more useful language to learn. It is, after all, Europe's biggest language and Germany is a huge industrial country.
 
Shin Kojima said:
Dubs should be banned world wide.
If everything from my childhood would have been dubbed I wouldn't be speaking English now.
Click to expand...

Had dubs been banned I would never be the anime fan I am now.

Pineconn said:
I can speak Spanish, thanks.

A number of Americans are multilingual, we just don't learn another language until high school, typically.
Click to expand...

And I suck at that. Can't grasp Spanish or German for the life of me.
 
Shin Kojima said:
Dubs should be banned world wide.
If everything from my childhood would have been dubbed I wouldn't be speaking English now.
Click to expand...
If Dubs were banned we'd have never gotten the amazing work in stuff like Cowboy Bebop.

However, I definitely feel like multiple language tracks should be treated as the standard rather than the exception, whether it's English, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, whatever. Especially when it's already on the disc, for fuck's sake is it that hard to put the option in? Even if it's "useless" for native English games on an American/English system they might want to hear the German dub out of morbid fascination.
 
Shin Kojima said:
Or perhaps you would have spoken Japanese!
I personally don't like dubs on Japanese stuff either.
I want to hear the original emotions. I can read just fine.
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The Japanese voice acting is soooo good. English dubs on anime is painfully bad. The Japanese voice actors have such passion O_o
 
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