Formal request for Spanish as a new language for ARR.

[Dannythm]

Most people that speak Spanish and are a fan of the series already speak English or another compatible language. It's just not a core market language like French or German.

Well my girlfriend loves the Final Fantasy series and dsen't know either Japanese, english, french or german, and she ould ahve loved to be able to play FFXI, she looked at me with jelousy while I played XIV and she is hyped about ARR but depressed because no announcement has been told about the inclusion of the spanish language. And like her I have a few more friends.

What is more strange, is that almost every other major FF game except XI has been released in Spanish, with a serious increase in the quality of the translations over the years, so not translating this into Spanish may be a way for SE to be missing at least 20-30k players at least, and I'm going for the lower end.

[Abriael]

And probably a yet better way to do it is by speaking, living and relationing with real people.
Now, getting back to the topic, there are thousands of players which have to get burn their retina trying to read the prosaic game dialogue at a reasonable speed so they can enjoy the game like everyone else.

Which they would do without a problem, if they made an effort to learn the language instead of hampering such effort by demanding a localization.

Mind you, what do you mean by "everyone else"? You do know that English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish aren't the only languages in the world, right?

[Wilan]

Hmmm but if they do it in Spanish, then they should make an Italian version too, no? ENG FRA GER ITA SPA are the five main european languages (the famous "multi-5"). I'm okay (not even that much) with the game having opened up to two more languages, but opening to 4 leaving one out.. dunno, I have no problem whatsoever with english (and would most likely keep the game in english even if it were translated in italian) but just feels unfair. We can't talk of "justice" like this.

And it's not a matter of playing population, because back in XI both of italian and spanish community was almost all comfortly fit in Ragnarok, not to speak of all those who would be interested but find the language to be a daunting obstacle.

[Dannythm]

Which they would do without a problem, if they made an effort to learn the language instead of hampering such effort by demanding a localization.

Mind you, what do you mean by "everyone else"? You do know that English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish aren't the only languages in the world, right?

You have that opinion because you have no problem understanding the game, not everyone is so lucky that can have the time or money to learn a language, even less with the objective of enjoying an entertainment product.

Why should SE translate it to english so you can enjoy it and not to Spanish (or korean, chinese, italian, portugesse, etc...) so others can too? SE resources would be better placed if they just made their games in their native language, right?

Hmmm but if they do it in Spanish, then they should make an Italian version too, no? ENG FRA GER ITA SPA are the five main european languages (the famous "multi-5"). I'm okay (not even that much) with the game having opened up to two more languages, but opening to 4 leaving one out.. dunno, I have no problem whatsoever with english (and would most likely keep the game in english even if it were translated in italian) but just feels unfair. We can't talk of "justice" like this.

And it's not a matter of playing population, because back in XI both of italian and spanish community was almost all comfortly fit in Ragnarok, not to speak of all those who would be interested but find the language to be a daunting obstacle.

I'm spanish but I play in Ridill, but I'll fully support the localization of the game in as much languages as possible, so there are more people that can enjoy the game, SE get their bucks and we all can get a win-win situation.

[Abriael]

You have that opinion because you have no problem understanding the game, not everyone is so lucky that can have the time or money to learn a language, even less with the objective of enjoying an entertainment product.

Learning languages isn't a matter of luck. It's a matter of effort.

I didn't learn English because I spent money on it. I started learning it by playing games in English when localizations didn't even exist, and then improved it by making an effort. Maybe you should too. Gaming isn't definitely the only experience that would be improved by that effort.

Why should SE translate it to english so you can enjoy it and not to Spanish (or korean, chinese, italian, portugesse, etc...) so others can too? SE resources would be better placed if they just made their games in their native language, right?

No, they would be better placed in making the game better, bigger, and with a wider/stronger marketing.

PS: I'm Italian, and as an Italian I am, and I will always be against localizations in my language. Having worked on localization (for Anime) in the past, I know all too well that latin languages are not fit to be localization targets from Japanese or from English. Too much is lost, effectively hampering the enjoyment of the original script.

[Dannythm]

Learning languages isn't a matter of luck. It's a matter of effort.

I didn't learn English because I spent money on it. I started learning it by playing games in English when localizations didn't even exist, and then improved it by making an effort. Maybe you should too. Gaming isn't definitely the only experience that would be improved by that effort.



No, they would be better placed in making the game better, bigger, and with a wider/stronger marketing.

PS: I'm Italian, and as an Italian I am, and I will always be against localizations in my language. Having worked on localization (for Anime) in the past, I know all too well that latin languages are not fit to be localization targets from Japanese or from English. Too much is lost, effectively hampering the enjoyment of the original script.

I'm not going to bother arguing with you anymore, because your close minded posts on this matter reek of narcissism and egoism.

[Abriael]

I'm not going to bother arguing with you anymore, because your close minded posts on this matter reek of narcissism and egoism.

Of course disagreeing with you automatically means to be close-minded, narcissistic and egoistic.

That must be how it works.

[Vilhem]

Learning languages isn't a matter of luck. It's a matter of effort.

I didn't learn English because I spent money on it. I started learning it by playing games in English when localizations didn't even exist, and then improved it by making an effort. Maybe you should too. Gaming isn't definitely the only experience that would be improved by that effort.



No, they would be better placed in making the game better, bigger, and with a wider/stronger marketing.

PS: I'm Italian, and as an Italian I am, and I will always be against localizations in my language. Having worked on localization (for Anime) in the past, I know all too well that latin languages are not fit to be localization targets from Japanese or from English. Too much is lost, effectively hampering the enjoyment of the original script.

Props for you for being able to pick up the English language without much difficulty. However, don't assume its just as easy for everyone else. The older you get, the harder it is to retain a new language. How old were you when you started playing games in English? Pre-teen maybe? That is the ideal time to pick up languages and sounds.

For many, learning a language will take a lot more than just video games. Their lives may be too hectic, with work, kids, etc. Many just want to relax and enjoy a form of entertainment, much like they do when they watch a movie or listen to music. And the same goes with movies: without subtitles or dub overs, how much of the movie can they really expect to enjoy?

And you are incorrect about Latin-based languages not carrying over well from English (I can't comment about Japanese since I am not fluent). I work as a translator (and tutored ESL, which was an uphill battle for the older people who WERE trying to learn) and I can tell you it is very much possible to convey the same meanings. It's all about wordplay. It's the same from JP to English on here: Fluff words are added to the English text that may not accurately reflect what the original Japanese text. If you want a good example, look at all the theories that came out regarding the "Commemorative Coin" based on the English description wording that did not read the same in Japanese, or even French for that matter.

Again I am not putting you down for your opinion on not wanting a localized version, but you cannot hold the masses to the same standard you experienced.

[Abriael]

Props for you for being able to pick up the English language without much difficulty. However, don't assume its just as easy for everyone else. The older you get, the harder it is to retain a new language. How old were you when you started playing games in English? Pre-teen maybe? That is the ideal time to pick up languages and sounds.

Sure, but it's not the last language I learned. Learning languages is not a matter of luck. It's just a matter of effort, especially when study material is so abundant as it is for English.

In this day and age people simply use localizations as a crutch, and as an excuse not to learn English, which is well within anyone's possibilities.

For many, learning a language will take a lot more than just video games. Their lives may be too hectic, with work, kids, etc. Many just want to relax and enjoy a form of entertainment, much like they do when they watch a movie or listen to music. And the same goes with movies: without subtitles or dub overs, how much of the movie can they really expect to enjoy?

Sorry but those sound like excuses to me. Learning languages can be easily done as part of one's entertainment, and it's useful too.

And you are incorrect about Latin-based languages not carrying over well from English (I can't comment about Japanese since I am not fluent). I work as a translator (and tutored ESL, which was an uphill battle for the older people who WERE trying to learn) and I can tell you it is very much possible to convey the same meanings. It's all about wordplay. It's the same from JP to English on here: Fluff words are added to the English text that may not accurately reflect what the original Japanese text. If you want a good example, look at all the theories that came out regarding the "Commemorative Coin" based on the English description wording that did not read the same in Japanese, or even French for that matter.

Sorry, but you're the first i meet that works in localization that doesn't admit that a part of the original is always lost with a localization. There's simply wordplay that cannot be translated, and has to be replaced with the nearest possible approximation. The job can be done better or worse, but there's no "perfection" to be reached.

Add to that the fact that video games don't even have an adaptation phase, but just a translation phase. That means that instead of having a two-men team working on the same part of the script, one native in the original language and one in the target language, like you have for film or (good) anime. This almost invariably means that the localization will have a degree of awkwardness (especially for a latin language) or it won't be as precise as it should be.

It's not the same as from Japanese to English, unfortunately, as in the gaming industry (and unless they changed it very recently, Square Enix isn't an exception), translations aren't done from Japanese to all target languages. They're made from Japanese to English, and from English to all the target languages for reasons of budget and convenience. While a translation loses a certain percentage of its meaning, a translation of a translation is way worse.

[Eiz]

Thank you for your opinions, of all kinds. But please, don't start a flame here, there is no need for that. I'd rather this thread fall into the depths.


Like other people said, there are many successful MMORPGs widely localized, I don't see any reason why one of the largest companies like Square-Enix couldn't do that. I don't think that's a good point.

I would like to see it translated to Italian too, why not? There are plenty of Italian people playing this game and there was a great community in XI as well.
But when i talk about Spanish i don't mean so much to cover the top-five EU languages, but also to keep in mind that half America speak Spanish. Millions of people that are always feeding from what arives to USA in gaming refers.

What i don't understand is how market reasons can be placed in front of the number of potential customers who may play in a ratio of... what, 5/1? with respect to German or French.