When you will translate the game in Spanish

dark8beto · September 2016

Warning: Sorry for my english, maybe it's not the best but, i hope you understand me

Hello everyone. I am Spanish and, as such, makes me angry to see that there are so many Spanish and Latin players in this game, and that to be the Spanish one of the most spoken languages in the world, is the only one that is not translated the game . It is an injustice.

I love to please, that you consider very seriously translate. It is not fair that is translated into other languages less spoken as Portuguese or Turkish, and that our language is one of the 3 most spoken in the world, does not exist in the game.

lewstelamon01 · September 2016

"Most spoken" doesn't necessarily translate to "economically feasible". In many countries where Spanish is spoken, the infrastructure doesn't exist to support internet gaming (for example, high-speed broadband internet connections). The vast majority of Latin American countries are still considered developing in economic terms. Therefore, it doesn't make economic sense to localize a game into a language that has many speakers but not enough potential players to make it worth the company's time and resources (and they're not going to accept a volunteer or outside effort to ensure that the game remains to their standards, sorry.)

FWIW, a lot of major MMORPGs don't have Spanish localizations.

darthpotater · September 2016

lewstelamon01 said:
"Most spoken" doesn't necessarily translate to "economically feasible". In many countries where Spanish is spoken, the infrastructure doesn't exist to support internet gaming (for example, high-speed broadband internet connections). The vast majority of Latin American countries are still considered developing in economic terms. Therefore, it doesn't make economic sense to localize a game into a language that has many speakers but not enough potential players to make it worth the company's time and resources (and they're not going to accept a volunteer or outside effort to ensure that the game remains to their standards, sorry.)

This is a poor argumentation, because Latin American players ARE ALREADY playing the game. And spanish players too. The connection is not a problem. Maybe people in this countries doesnt spend a lot of money? Then tell the truth.

lewstelamon01 said:
FWIW, a lot of major MMORPGs don't have Spanish localizations.

Yes but they dont have other less spoken languages also. So that maybe understandable

lewstelamon01 · September 2016

The cold hard truth is that it costs both time and money (and manpower) to create a localization. No business is going to undertake a venture that isn't going to recoup the cost it takes to make it. It's not a work they're going to do out of the kindness of their hearts--this isn't a charity they're running. They're running a business for profit. Bottom line.

The cold truth is also that a LOT of Latin American countries are developing economies--meaning that things like even having internet service, much less online gaming, is an EXTREME luxury. Having running water is a huge thing to many of those countries, outside of tourist destinations or major cities. Conversely, the aforementioned countries that do have their own localizations are not considered "developing" and/or have enough of an established infrastructure that the company believes it can recover its costs in creating such localization.

Again, the number of speakers of a language doesn't mean it's automatically profitable or even cost-effective to localize a game in said language, regardless of how many players wish it so. It isn't that they don't care to. It's that there simply isn't enough players or revenue potential for the company to recover what such a localization would cost.

Unknown · September 2016

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dark8beto · September 2016

So... you traying to say, the game it's more economically on Portuguese than spanish? really? there are on Portugal more players and better internet conection than in Spain or Latin Countries?. Really, i don't think so...

beckylunatic · September 2016

Not Portugal, but Brazil. Brazilians seem to really love MMOs.

zebular · September 2016

Keep in mind, I have no official knowledge of the company's reasons for it's chosen translations and everything below is my own words, opinions, and findings.

Actually, Mandarin has been recorded as being the most spoken language, with Spanish coming in second. English has been recorded as being the most used language on the internet, followed by Mandarin in second and Spanish in third. Regardless, Spanish is the official language of almost two dozen Countries and has been censused as being the second largest natively used language. It does seem to make sense that companies would want to translate their product into such a language. However, just because the numbers of those who use a language is quite high, that doesn't mean that the product of any certain company has a comparable amount of users for a given language to make it something that can be easily budgeted. Now, I don't know how many people that only speak Spanish play Neverwinter, but it seems to me that if those numbers were shown to be comparable to other, then we'd have that translation.

Furthermore, there are quite a few dialects of Spanish, such at Mexican Spanish and Puerto Rican Spanish (just to name two) and while all similar, they all have very distinct differences on many words. Which dialect do you choose and why? Will your choice offend other Spanish dialect speakers or countries? Will your translation be accurate for its chosen dialect? Putting all these issues and points of translating into Spanish together, it seems clear to me why most gaming companies do not want to or have not translated into Spanish. It would be a very costly, time consuming, and possibly negatively public relations affecting if not done thoroughly (into every dialect) and correctly (into those dialects).

I work with two individuals, one speaks fluent Puerto Rican Spanish and the other fluent Mexican Spanish and I myself am in the process of learning Spanish too, having once known Mexican Spanish in grade school ever so long ago (if you don't use it, you loose it). The feedback I get from my re-learning between these two lovely ladies is quite different in aspects of my usage and pronunciation. So, while folks who natively speak each dialect fluently may be able to interpret each other quite well, those, like myself, who are learning it see the difficulties in trying to be correct in speaking, or even writing it, to others when there are so many different ways to speak and write it. Anyway, just food for thought.

rafaelda · September 2016

beckylunatic said:
Not Portugal, but Brazil. Brazilians seem to really love MMOs.

Yeah we like

, you can find a lot of Brazilians in neverwinter!
But to be honest, i play in english because the translate was REALLY BAD for portuguese, lots of things lost the meening...
ex the "bone porter" skeleton was translate to "Porteiro Bone" and that would mean a "Doorman called Bone" in portuguese...
and when they released Elemental eveil i remmeber to see a lot of complain about no portuguese translate, btw i cant say if is tranlated now or not since i never whent to portuguese version again ...

I hope you get the Spanish version done !! Good Luck !!

lewstelamon01 · September 2016

Keep in mind too that voice work has to be done as well and that doesn't come cheap.

Again, it's not the number of players or speakers that count, but whether the company can reasonably expect to recover the costs of producing a localization (and/or recover a profit) that determines whether one is done.

@zebular: I took Spanish in high school because, at the time, I lived in Miami and figured it would be useful. It would seem that almost every single Spanish speaking country has its own dialect and speed of speaking. Also, if I recall, the mother dialect of Spanish is Castilian Spanish, which is the widest spoken dialect in Spain.

anykiller · September 2016

Now, I don't know how many people that only speak Spanish play Neverwinter, but it seems to me that if those numbers were shown to be comparable to other, then we'd have that translation.

For this reason some of of spanish or latin-american people don't play Neverwinter. And I was near to not try it (but I can read and understand english, but I'm not perfect writing)

Which dialect do you choose and why? Will your choice offend other Spanish dialect speakers or countries?

Spanish international, it's used on lots of games and it's neutral. I don't see why Arcgames don't translate the game in spanish and yes on portuguese or turkish since the start.

But, hey, I don't know the company's reason and I see it will not change. It's a lost cause.

PD: I want to clarify that all I said is my personal opinion. Only that

When you will translate the game in Spanish

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