The Primary Source: Why Video Games Need Language Options

It’s fair to say that many works of art or literature can only be fully understood in their original language.  Translations are important--vital--for reaching a wider audience, and can in rare cases reach levels equal or surpassing the original work, but if you are writing say, a scholarly paper, as much as possible you would want to reference the original language with all its untranslatable nuances and obscure cultural idioms. Even for more causal audiences some of the most useful-and desirable-books have a translation on one side followed by the passage in the original language.

In the US Anime was one of the earliest forms of popular art to catch up to this. Some streaming have multiple language options, from an English dub, to subtitles, to the original Japanese sans translation. This has the benefit of satisfying everyone from casual fans to the hard core; each can watch their show in as “pure” a form as they desire. Fans often take to the internet to compare and argue over things like Japanese vs English voice acting in a particular series; something easily possible because they have heard both versions. 

So why don’t we think this way about video games?

 

The first game I ever played with duel audio was .Hack//INFECTION. I was already into anime at the time so playing a video game voice acted in Japanese was present for me. Ever since then I have always regretted that more games, especially those with than anime like vibe to them, did not have duel audio. When I got .Hack//G.U. and found out it did not have duel audio, I was outraged at the lapse. When I look back on my reaction it was actually kind of humorous how much of an overreaction it was. Then again I was young, and in my experience young people tend to overreact. But it was mistake in my opinion. I would have preferred the Japanese voice track over an English one.

.Hack was like Sword Art Online, only it was made ten years prior and was better in  almost every conceivable  way. If you have not seen the first anime or played the games do yourself a favor and check them out.

Of course a lot has changed since 2002. Anime is much bigger now than it was then, and many of us grew up watching Japanese anime and playing Japanese video games. Now increasingly games come out with duel audio options and systems tend to be region free. 

There are a slew of games out and coming out with this option, even for Nintendo which is famous for being behind the curb. I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that many Pokémon games now let you switch language, though it would be nice if you could do it during your campaign rather than only at the beginning. And by hears breathed a sigh of relief when I switched the voice acting from English to Japanese in Breath of the Wild.  And of course many are holding their breath hoping Fire Emblem three Kingdoms will be duel audio.

Of all the series to take such an important step I would not have expected Pokemon, a series notorious for its heavy localization to take such a big step forward. Good for you, Pikachu.

If there is any industry trend that should continue it is the move towards internationalism. As I have written about for Censored Gaming, there was a time when localizers could pretty much gut a game of its art and story when they brought it to a new country, and then do whatever they wanted with its vitiated corpse. It is now very hard for a game company to do this without being called out on it. Yet the industry is still plagued with horrible translations and art edits, done either for the sake of ratings, public outcry, or just good ole’ incompetence. Along with the outdated notion that a product--in this case a piece of art--should be retailored for every new market it is brought to. 

 

Dual audio, and even better: the option to switch voice and text, allow not only for a tailored gaming experience, but for easy access to the original writing and voice acting. This serves a purpose other than calling people out for bad translations. Voice acting quality can vary, some people want as authentic an experience as their language abilities allow, others don’t want to focus on that stuff and prefer everything translated. multi-language options satisfy both camps. 

 

The only downsides are corporate. Sometimes companies have to jump through hoops to get text and voice acting in other languages due to licensing issues, It also adds to the game’s data, and of course it does make it harder to censor scripts, as the uncensored parts would still be available in their original language, not that the lack of such options ever stopped the internet and 3rd parties from finding translation problems. 

If game developers and localization houses choose to prioritize fans they will make this the universal standard, and it certainly feels to me like it is heading in that direction. I know I intend to support games that take that extra bit of effort and I hope you will too. 

-Gedaemon

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