If anything they should translate it into Spanish first. It's the second most spoken language worldwide. Make it happen, SE!
If anything they should translate it into Spanish first. It's the second most spoken language worldwide. Make it happen, SE!
Last edited by Klefth; 08-13-2012 at 01:18 AM.
You should Qualify that statement. Spanish is the second most spoken natively, after Mandarin, but it's not second in overall number of speakers (non-native speakers count as well; I play in English, although it's not my native language). There's discrepancy in the count, but in the overall number of speakers, Spanish figures as either 3rd, 4th, or even 5th, depending on the list and its criteria. Spanish is also third in the number of countries where the language is significantly spoken, after English and French. Undeniably one of the world's most widely spread languages.
Having said that, I don't think for a second the raw number of speakers are the first consideration for a game's localization: The economy of the language's population (including the median budget for non-essential items and activities), the availability of computers to that population, and its internet connectivity, are all more important factors for localization than raw numbers of either native or overall speakers.
Korean and French do not figure among the 10 most overall spoken languages. However those two language blocks would be logical, prime localization targets, because of the economic and technological factors listed above. South Korea, however, is a very good example of how numbers are not all: Because it has a large number of non-native English Speakers, and one of the strongest MMO development environments in the world, it does not usually get the blessing of foreign MMO localizations. North Korea, on the other hand, which speaks the same language, does not meet the basic economic and technological requirements. The combination of all this boils down to the fact that very few American, European, Japanese and even Chinese games are ever localized to Hangugeo.
Last edited by Rutelor; 08-13-2012 at 03:50 AM.
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