Something that bothered me in ME

[Jaeke]

In all 3 games of the Mass Effect trilogy, one thing that alawys bother me was: Why/How does every single species speak English?

I'm sure there is some piece of lore or codex that might explain this but it is a question that does bother me a bit. I mean, I'm willing to let some minor things slide just for the sake of entertainment but I think this deserves a fair explanation.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Everyone has a translator.

Sure it's a bit of a cop out, considering everyone seems to lip-sync to their dialogue and you never hear their native tongue, but it's enough to keep the suspension of disbelief.

 

[Hal10k]

There's also an offhand mention of a standardized language system.

 

[DustyDrB]

They have translators.

When Liara says she's to spend the night with you, she's really saying, "Gruhl uck myesheli papapapapapapapapapapapapapapapa"

 

[Fleetfiend]

Everyone has a translator.

Sure it's a bit of a cop out, considering everyone seems to lip-sync to their dialogue and you never hear their native tongue, but it's enough to keep the suspension of disbelief.

There are some native words that leak through that don't have simple translations, mainly with the Quarians (Keelah Se'Lai, boshtet, etc). But that's really the only example in the game, and that's a little unrealistic. The lip syncing is a good point though; never though about that.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Everyone has a translator.

Sure it's a bit of a cop out, considering everyone seems to lip-sync to their dialogue and you never hear their native tongue, but it's enough to keep the suspension of disbelief.

There are some native words that leak through that don't have simple translations, mainly with the Quarians (Keelah Se'Lai, boshtet, etc). But that's really the only example in the game, and that's a little unrealistic. The lip syncing is a good point though; never though about that.

To me, the whole translator thing seemed like an afterthought.

I don't recall there being a codex entry in the first game, so when the second game rolled around, the devs must have been like 'Shit! Why do they all speak english?'.

 

[Tono Makt]

In all 3 games of the Mass Effect trilogy, one thing that alawys bother me was: Why/How does every single species speak English?

I'm sure there is some piece of lore or codex that might explain this but it is a question that does bother me a bit. I mean, I'm willing to let some minor things slide just for the sake of entertainment but I think this deserves a fair explanation.

This is an issue I'm willing to suspend disbelief over. I don't think it was really explained anywhere (though it might have been a secondary codex entry that I didn't read), but from an out of game perspective, I'm quite willing to go with it as creating new languages for alien species is far beyond what I expect from any video game. It's also beyond what I expect from a movie, or a book, since it is extremely time consuming and it is unlikely that fans will appreciate it.

In a few of the stories I've written for myself (because I'm a terrible procrastinator and haven't finished them yet, so I've never even made the attempt to get them published) or for role playing games I've been a GM/Storyteller for, I've experimented with creating new languages and found myself entirely side tracked for days on end before giving up on it. Friends of mine who have been published (well, okay, local magazines and online publications which no longer exist, and a friend who writes romance novels from a gay perspective now but started with sci-fi and fantasy back in the day) have put far more effort into it than I could hope to and come up with the same results. These experiences give me an absolute respect for anyone who can actually do this.

When it is done, I do appreciate it. District 9 and Avatar are two which I appreciated that the natives had their own language, but I don't expect this of every entertainment source which deals with aliens.

 

[DustyDrB]

Everyone has a translator.

Sure it's a bit of a cop out, considering everyone seems to lip-sync to their dialogue and you never hear their native tongue, but it's enough to keep the suspension of disbelief.

There are some native words that leak through that don't have simple translations, mainly with the Quarians (Keelah Se'Lai, boshtet, etc). But that's really the only example in the game, and that's a little unrealistic. The lip syncing is a good point though; never though about that.

Yeah, it's a hand-wave. I glad they speak English, though. Alien languages are intriguing at first, but get annoying soon. See: Twileks in KotOR I and II.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

If my memory serves me right, when Thane calls FemShep "Siha" she thinks that her translator jammed. So yeah, translators.

As aformentioned by the kind people above, it's a bit of a stretch with the lip syncing and all, but with all the jazz buzzing around ME right now, I think this ain't a real problem.

 

[Wayneguard]

"Kanawanawah muleerah. Chiis pa ching bes. Kanawah muleerah..........."

yeah... I think I prefer english >_>

 

[Fr]anc[is]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AcceptableBreaksFromReality

Very first one on the list. It's because it's a game, that's it. It's much better than subtitles where you are forced to look at the bottom of the screen the whole time praying they give you enough time to read.

 

[Rawne1980]

Because if the didn't you wouldn't have a fething idea what they were blathering on about.

Someone asks you *blehs hyurt iasjdnt dmddi* and you back slowly out of the room nodding and smiling.

What they really want is for you to rescue their pet cat Tiddles that the Reapers took hostage and threatened to turn into a Kebab unless he/she hands over enough milk bottle tops to please the lord god Magpie.

 

[DoPo]

Hmm, I thought there was a standard galactic language. I have no clue how I got that impression but that was my assumption until now.