Matter of Language

by Matthew Scribner

In the world at large, there is enormous debate about the new problems created by a smaller, more connected world. As the English language muscles into more and more areas of everyday life, those struggling to protect their individual cultures argue that anglophones should do more to make the various media under their control more accessible. Video games are becoming widely acceptable as a mainstream medium, and they have considerable market pull. Story-centered games, such as RPGs, should be aware of the considerations of multicultural societies. RPGs released in North America and Europe should have multiple language options in the same copy, in recognition of the fact that many languages are spoken in these regions.

The North American RPG community has always been very patient as they wait for Japanese games to be translated into English. However, translating them into French and Spanish as well need not take more time. Translators could easily work at the same time. In fact, having more linguistic experts on a project makes it that much easier, as they could pool their expertise to find the best translation. A concept that doesn't appear the English language might be well-known among Spanish linguists. I truly do not think it would be that much more expensive, either.

Perhaps a more realistic concern would be disc space. For games with many voiceovers, adding another soundtrack could be prohibitive of other features the game might need space for. However, gamers have been able to manage without voices in the past, so this is not a high priority. As long as non-English gamers can read the text in their own language, then they will have a better understanding of the game, and feel more welcome playing it. Those who have cared to gauge public interest in the matter have found that many players care surprisingly little about the language of the voices anyway.

I live in the officially bilingual city of Ottawa, yet it isn't always easy to find materials and entertainment in French, in those rare occasions when I need them. I can only imagine how aggravated francophones must get when they have to make a special order to get video games in their own language. Sure, most of them understand English anyway, but as importers can certainly attest, it isn't quite the same. I'm sure they would be very receptive to game companies that provided them with the same service anglophones receive. It would also be more convenient for those of us who lack the discipline to practice our second language through conventional means.

Technical manuals, professional web sites, and other media are normally found in more then one language. RPGamers shouldn't be excepted from this service that is being provided to other kinds of consumers. It won't kill Québec separatism (or any other problem associated with minority languages) in itself, but it would be a nice gesture game companies could make, and one that would win over many potential customers.