253: Pardon My French

[dex-dex]

this is a fantastic article.

unfortunately i am not like everyone else here saying they learned English through games
i lived in Toronto as a child and everything was in English (other than the French translation of products like cheetoes and whatnot) i was taking French from grade one until grade eight and i had some god awful teachers and they taught us France French (yeah how useful is that? ) i only have the ability to read french and get the main idea of a sentence but man there are so many verbs!
the article was still very interesting to read and

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

An enjoyable article. I grew up in Western Canada so the games seemed normal to me; it is interesting to see the games I loved through the eyes of a guy from Quebec. I suppose the language barrier would make the games seem more intellectually stimulating then they really are.

 

[Bloodstain]

Interesting article.

I'm glad that video games helped you learn English.

Personally, I got so used to playing games in English that I think I miss something when playing them in German.

 

[paragon1]

French verb conjugations really are a nightmare. And I don't mean nightmare as in "difficult", I mean nightmare as in "sometimes I wake up screaming".

RE French link: The hat can stay, but the mustache has got to go.

 

[AWDMANOUT]

I actually really enjoyed reading this, after several people yelling at me to get out the door because we were in a hurry, and striving to read the last page yesterday. I'm afraid I strictly speak English though, and can't really know what it is you mean.

But I get the gist of what you mean to say.

 

[Pinkros]

I did a similar thing back in the day. I had my dad sitting next to me, translating Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis for me. (I was about maybe 4 or 5 at the time, and he liked the game too, so it was okay.)

Needless to say, my first to english words were "push" and "pull".

 

[Aptspire]

J'suis de la ville de Québec, pis j'suis ben d'accord!
As a young boy, I had a Game Gear, as well as a subscription to Sega magazine. Its often large images helped me focus enough to try and understand the text.
Later on, I got a N64, and kept reinforcing my language skills, thanks to it.
After a few years, I was quite able to read English and I am now studying in translation classes in University (French to English)
I know, however, that my love for, and skill with, the English language would not be what it is today if it wasn't for my purely english games and magazines

 

[standokan]

I learned english through games like pokemon but mostly by watching sitcoms, anyhow i always try to get the english version of the game, just like how i don't watch 4kids dubs.

 

[VondeVon]

I'm the same way, but for Audio.

You often hear anime fangirls disparage the English dubs of their beloved shows.. well, I'm that person for gaming. Maybe it's because I understand most of what they say (in Japanese, although my reading skills are poor) but because I am not familiar with the language it gains a sense of exotic excellence.. or at least competence. These people made the game, they knew what voices they were looking for.

Then you have games like FFXIII, where the description for Vanille MUST have gotten lost in translation, because to a native speaker of English, she sounds exactly like the adult badly-faking 'cute' that she is.

 

[veloper]

Same here.
So used to English being the language of sci-fi, fantasy and other fiction that I cannot stand any dubs, even the parts that are translated well.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I prefer watching things with subtitles than having them dubbed, I'd rather put in a little extra effort than have something taken away and redone for my convenience, possibly ruining the experience.
I might even learn a new word or two.

 

[Ed.]

Realy intresting article.

I'm a uni lingual English speaker but i agree about dubbing i prefer a subbed version of foreign media it's tricky to explain but emotion still works in a language I don't understand but it doesn't work in an English dub.

This thread makes me feel even more guilty we really are terrible with languages herein the Uk. I know English is the de facto international language but it means we spoilt as most media is produced in English or in the case of Japanese stuff has massive translation budgets there is no obvious reason to learn anything els

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

Being a Quebecois myself, I can really identify with this article.

I think the Splinter Cell series had the best localization for us. The voice acting in french kept the serious tone, and was overall very good. Maybe it's because the games were developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

 

[timmytom1]

I can kinda relate as when i was a kid i moved over to France when i was about 8 , about 6 ,months into my stay the pokemon games came out ,and they didn`t have more than one language on a cartridge back then , most of it made perfect sense , except for the odd turn of phrase like "tomber dans les pommes" which NPC`s kept saying , had to go ask a freind about that.

 

[Outright Villainy]

I found that very interesting, it's hard for me to understand wanting to play something in a language that's not your mother tongue. When watching anime for example, I'd prefer to watch a dub over a sub. Dubbed films however, are horrible.
I'm terrible at learning languages in general, the only one I was ever good with was Irish, and no one speaks that. I'm envious of people who can teach themselves a language without being immersed in it, to me that'd be impossible (and the reason I can converse in Irish, yet can't even ask for directions in German.)

 

[forgetme4ever]

I am from Switzerland and also totally relate with Remi's feelings and thoughts.
Regarding this issue, my approach was even more radical. I quit playing games in French or English and went to the source of all evil: original Japanese versions.
It unfortunately turned out that, too often, localization is not the only factor to blame for the level of the content... The Japanese originals can be really, really cheesy.
Bright side of the story, after teaching myself Japanese with a dictionary (done a lot of that!!), I majored in Japanese studies and have been living and working in Japan for almost 7 years.

 

[Abedeus]

Why is it such a big deal - kid learns a language thanks to/because of games.

Thanks to gaming (SNES, later Game Boys and PC obviously) now I'm probably the best person in my class when it comes to English. Next year I'm going to pass the Certificate in Advanced English exam, which will guarantee a carrier as an English teacher in, let's say, Spain. Since I already know Spanish well and I have no problems sharing my knowledge to other people...

However:

Dubbed movies are pretty bad too. My wife and I watch French movies every now at then. A couple years ago we watched Banlieu-13, and I translated (generally) for her during the movie. It was fun, silly and action packed. We recently watched B-13: Ultimatum (sequel) and it was dubbed in English. It was almost painful to watch. We also watched Angel-A (dubbed and undubbed) and had the same experience.

I feel your pain. Sometimes when I'm bored/lazy, I watch House M.D. but with subs instead of listening to it. God, they are horrible sometimes - people don't know basic expressions, proverbs... It's a pain to read, much less to resist changing those subtitles myself.

 

[rddj623]

Very intriguing article! I imagine this is likely along the same reasons why I prefer foreign films and anime to be subtitled rather then dubbed.