Discussion: Japanese Language in Games
Japanese language has come to videogames to stay. Ever since they began to make games in Japan we have felt somewhat excluded. Before we get to play the games, the Western world has had to wait for translations from a language completely different from ours. Those who visit Japan or perhaps download illegal copies from the Internet may get the games once they are released in their native land, but they are let down because the games don't have roman alphabet everywhere. Yes, I know many games do have some commands and such in English in the Japanese versions as well, but for instance most RPGs require a knowledge of Japanese if you want to play the original versions.
With animes, movies and other stuff boosting the growing interest on Japanese language and culture also videogames have followed the suit. Nowadays they speak Japanese even in European or US versions of games. In Dead or Alive series for instance, you may choose between English and Japanese and even the characters who are supposed to be native Europeans or such speak fluent Japanese. I played Tekken 5 today and noticed this Chinese girl Ling Xiaoyu speaks Japanese so quickly that subtitles are a must. We also see Japanese characters in walls, logos etc. in games, as in the Shinra company logo decorating Midgar in Final Fantasy VII (shinra = the net of gods).
Even in games of western origin like GTA2 we hear Japanese!
So what do we TPMers think of the usage of Japanese language in video- or perhaps computer games? What are your experiences in this? Have you ever played a game in Japanese?
As for myself, I started studying Japanese back in 1999 the reason being a videogame. It was originally because I wanted to play a pirate import of Final Fantasy VIII. I soon got a legal English version of the game, but I kept on studying. Next game I played in Japanese was probably Pokemon Green on emulator. I intended to play it through before trying the European versions, but gave up because I always checked the unfamiliar words from dictionaries and it took really long to play the game. I have also either played some other games in Japanese or helped friends of mine to play them. Of course, in games where you choose the speech language like Dead or Alive 2 I mentioned I always pick Japanese.
I think it's good that games have Japanese language these days. It brings good diversity in my opinion. Sometimes it's annoying because I see strange characters in walls or the persons speak too quickly but you can always learn something new. We Finns have a language quite different from English as well so Japanese in games must help you understand how we feel when we play English games. What's your opinion?
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Oslo
I have no problems with that. So the masses playing the games probably don't know what he's saying, but he's a character from a game which hasn't been hugely Americanised in the way that the Mario characters have so it's ok with them keeping tradtional voices.