Do you prefer English or localized games?

[celery 8]

Games are usually localized to the languages of their biggest audiences and Arma 2 is no exception. Do you prefer playing games in English or your own language? Naturally this doesn't apply to native English speakers unless you want to say your piece about Arma 2's language options.

The reason I ask is because in addition to those who bought the game from a different region, many Germans, Russians and such want to switch Arma 2's language to English but it's not possible without modding the game.

Edited November 20, 2009 by Celery

[sic-disaster 311]

I like English because Dutch in games always sounds lame.

They always hire retards to do the voice-acting, and it never comes off right.

[irR4tiOn4L 10]

I want to clarify my view. I was born in the Czech Republic and fluently speak the language. Since age 6 i have lived in Australia (18 years), making English more of my 'native' language.

I applaud BIS for the voice casting in this game - speaking two of the three languages in the game i greatly appreciate the accurate voices and accents of the game. I do NOT want voices to be either All-English or All-localized.

However, i DO think subtitles and menu language should have an 'all-english' option. I use the Czech version of the game and do not feel localization adds much beyond subtitles and menus in Czech. The ability to change the menu language would be greatly appreciated

[AndresCL 10]

I usually prefer English because translations to my language are lame

[MJK-Ranger 0]

I prefer English :)

[My Fing ID 0]

I prefer English menus because it's all I know, but I'd rather subtitles than a translation with an accent. So Russians speak Russian but with English subtitles and such. I just want to be able to navigate the menus and such, but I don't want people speaking another language to just speak in English with an accent, kinda ruins the immersion.

[dunedain 48]

I prefer English not only cause localization in French usually sucks but also cause I really want to improve my English. :)

[Raptor13270 0]

Depends on the game really. If its an English game, I would play it in English, because Thai translated menus look very odd. We do have some Japanese games in our market, so I usually play those with English menus, but original voice track - because similar to dubbed movies, I believe dubbing voices in another language makes it lose its original tone.

[That guy 10]

Native English speaker, but i prefer games voice work to be in its intended language (subbed) or at least accented English so it still has that "not American" vibe

For example, I really wish i could play the game cryostasis in its native Russian, but unfortunately there is not Russian dialogue option. luckily though the accented voice work is very well done and still gives the vibe of being Russian. If the dialogue had not been accented the atmosphere of that game would have be severely hampered

the same applies to the STALKER games. The game definitely would not feel the same if every one was speaking mid western english

[jw custom 56]

I voted i prefere english. Same goes with Windows XP it's also in english though it's not my native language.

[-GCA- Salah ad Din 10]

The voice overs should be in whatever language that character is speaking. But subtitles should be in the language of the player's choosing (client language or English).

AND (big and fat and underlined "and") in multiplayer, the subtitles should be in the language used by the local machine, NOT the language of the sending machine.

It's just a huge mess, when you receive ingame comms from Czech, French, Russian, German, English players. It's just wrong. Why the heck would the subtitles of the guy crying out that he is wounded (in English, if playing USMC) be subtitled in Russian or Czech? Doesn't make sense.

[Deadfast 43]

I'm a Czech, I own the Czech version and I wish I'd had an English one ;)

I don't like the localization in ARMA 2 for the same reason I don't like it in any other game. The translation is horrid, done by someone who had no knowledge of the context.

The only games that ever did the Czech localization correctly were Mafia and Vietcong. The original Flashpoint wasn't bad either, but it was too "soft", didn't have the war atmosphere. I believe all versions had this problem though.

Edited November 21, 2009 by Deadfast

[NoRailgunner 0]

Good and proper translation need time, money and good voice actors.

The option to switch between native and english language should be in all games - at least for all subtitles, menus and editor stuff.

[De_little_Bubi 1]

Salah ad Din;1494504']AND (big and fat and underlined "and") in multiplayer' date=' the subtitles should be in the language used by the local machine, NOT the language of the sending machine.

It's just a huge mess, when you receive ingame comms from Czech, French, Russian, German, English players. It's just wrong. Why the heck would the subtitles of the guy crying out that he is wounded (in English, if playing USMC) be subtitled in Russian or Czech? Doesn't make sense.[/quote']

full acc!

if you get orders in kyrillic letters (and you don't know a little bit about them) you couldn't even guess what your squadleader whant from you^^

[fantsu 10]

I prefer my own language, but sadly it isn't in ArmA2.

:p

And to clarify, I want my own language only to menus and in text format, not in voice acting.

[cole 0]

Omg Celery, I love you for this thread.

Even though I'm Czech and I own a Czech copy, I prefer English in most of my games for the same reasons that Deadfast said a few posts up.

The translation is horrid, done by someone who had no knowledge of the context.

The only games that ever did the Czech localization correctly were Mafia and Vietcong. The original Flashpoint wasn't bad either, but it was too "soft", didn't have the war atmosphere. I believe all versions had this problem though

Right now, I'm forced to use a language fix mod that forces english on my copy :|

[Uglyboy 10]

Salah ad Din;1494504']

AND (big and fat and underlined "and") in multiplayer' date=' the subtitles should be in the language used by the local machine, NOT the language of the sending machine..[/quote']

I prefer english and this is one of the main reason :)

[NeMeSiS 11]

Unless something is written in Dutch form the start it doesnt sound right, English->Dutch translations always sound really lame. Therefore i prefer English.

But, i really, deeply like that Russians speak Russian and Chernarussians speak Czech in this game. Adds a lot to the atmosphere.

EDIT: Also, people who are likely to vote for the first option are unlikely to visit this forum. ;)

[wamingo 1]

I don't like localization, but as long as there are subtitles I do tend to prefer games and movies in the original language - regardless of whether I understand it or not.

Danish localization is usually horrible. I wanted to kick myself for buying a starcraft copy with a danish box and manual... Thankfully the game was in english but still.

I personally hope that localization of media outside of books and childrens media and such is a dying tradition. In my opinion it has hampered europeans ability to learn english which is a real shame. The ability to communicate outweighs the potential cultural losses. Of course if you use a different alphabet you're disadvantaged... There's just no easy answer.

but er, sorry OT.

As for not being able to switch, I suppose it might be because of the extra disc space needed. Just a guess though.

[celery 8]

As for not being able to switch, I suppose it might be because of the extra disc space needed. Just a guess though.

In the age of DVDs that's not likely. Adding stringtables for another language takes a few megabytes at most.

[wamingo 1]

sorry I thought you meant audio - ie BLUFOR only spoke russian or so.

[celery 8]

sorry I thought you meant audio - ie BLUFOR only spoke russian or so.

Nah, the game's audio is the same for everyone (English, Czech and Russian voices for different factions), as it should be. It's the lack of language options for ingame text that bothers many people.

[EricM 0]

I'm all for good localized text and original voices (Russian, English, Czech...)

[Pyronick 21]

I like localization, but I hate localized voice acting. It just doesn't sound right.

Especially when you see a big Afro-American talk Dutch, German, French when he has a USMC patch...

Subtitles, captions and localized UI elements are enough localization for me.

[RaXz 0]

I never seen a good localized version in Dutch, mostly it sounds really stupid. Anno 1503 en Black and White comes to mind, horrible.