The language and Grand Theft Auto

[Jabalous]

As you know the English language is considered as the official global language which the political organizations use to communicate with each other , and the best example is the United nations . Also , it's considered as the language of science since the most scientific researches are published in English even from the non-native English speakers . Anyway , what if Grand Theft Auto series went out from the officially English language-speaking countries to China for example ? . If this would happen , then , when you go around the city , you will find peds who can talk only Chinese and some can talk English , you will find the street signs and the boards on the buildings in Chinese language . In this case , this will shape a big problem to the players . As you know that most of Grand Theft Auto players comes from United states and United Kingdom , and both of them officially speak English , so , most of the players face big problems when playing the game , they won't understand the conversations in the streets , they won't understand what the signs of the streets indicate , or even the boards on the buildings and so on . In fact , this will shape a problem for most of the players from different countries except the chinese players and some players who can understand the Chinese language . For example , if the total players from US only are 500,000 players , only about 100,00 of them can understand the Chinese language , then , what about the rest of them who form the big number of players ?

 

On the other hand , most of the Chinese players understand the English language very-well , then , they don't find any problem in playing Grand Theft Auto since they have been taught the language in the school or by themselves using the internet and Video games or anything else . In my view , this is a reasonable reason for not taking Grand Theft Auto series from the officially English language-speaking countries such as the United States , the United Kingdom , Canada and Australia . What do you think ?

Edited April 1, 2010 by FiS!!HeR

[Athena]

Uhmm.

 

It's already the case in GTA IV...

 

Some peds only speak polish, russian, etc...

 

And well, if you don't speak these languages you don't understand what they are saying.

 

[Jabalous]

 

Uhmm.

 

It's already the case in GTA IV...

 

Some peds only speak polish, russian, etc...

 

And well, if you don't speak these languages you don't understand what they are saying.

 

 

 

Yes , but most of the conversations are in English and the non-English sayings are almost short comments , also , you can almost understand everything from conversation to the signs of the streets to the radio and so on . Imagine you are listening to Chinese radios

Edited April 1, 2010 by FiS!!HeR

[unknowngtafan]

and this is the reason that the next gta is NOT in paris

 

good day sir

[DEADP00L]

Finally some people who understand.

[Guanxi]

Assassin's Creed II basically proved once and for all that you can set a game in any non-english-speaking country in the world as long as the protagonist is designated as a native-speaker - it makes almost little to no difference because it's no different to watching a dubbed version of a DVD in your own language.

 

They're Rocktars they don't care - if anything they'd probably relish the challenge. If the voice-actor(s) sucks you can't help that. But that's not R*'s style and you know that for sure. Besides the fact that it'd probably be set in completely fictional location would give them total artistic freedom to take as many liberties as they see fit.

 

Regardless no matter whether you have a German, Spanish or Japanese copy all peds and dj's will being speaking english with an accent because there's almost no chance in hell they will re-record ped and dj dialouge multiple times in different languages - there's neither the space, the time or the money for that.

[SmC12]

But Just Cause 2 works well and it's set in SE Asia, the people speak both English and whatever language the game is supposed to be. The road signs etc. are all in a different language but you can still tell the difference between a stop sign and a dead end etc.. also there is no radio. But overall the game is great even though it's in a non-English Speaking country.

 

I am not for the idea of moving the location outside the US either. I think R* do it best there and they should stay there because we love GTA and most of them are set in the USA which means if V is also in the USA then we'll love that too. Maybe the UK is as far as they should go (although i don't want a UK based game) since it's not much different from the USA and would be a nice change of scenery.

 

R* have much experience in the USA based GTA's so if you want a really good GTA V then it's only right for them to stick to the location they're best at.

[K^2]

First of all, official international language is French. But nobody likes it, so nobody uses it. Except French, but it'd be silly for them not to speak their own language. (I know I'm exaggerating, bear with me.) English became the de facto international language for some reason. (See what I did there?) Most likely, because it a heck of a lot easier to learn English than French. In fact, it's probably the easiest natural language to learn. But that's sort of beside the point.

 

Personally, I see no problem with a GTA taking place in some completely foreign place. It would be convenient for protagonist to be from somewhere else, which would explain why all the mission dialog is in English. The rest can easily be overcome with subtitles. I know that watching an entire movie with subtitles isn't for everyone, but since most of the story dialog is going to be in English, you won't be constantly reading subtitles. Just occasionally, when it makes sense for characters to speak in another language. We already have that in a few places in GTA IV. Nobody complained about that.

 

Some people made a point about GTA also having many cultural references, which will be difficult for people to get, but this is already a problem for non-Americans. Plus, it opens up some opportunities to make fun of how US views the world. That can bridge the gap for US gamers.

 

So anyways, I really don't see a problem with a foreign GTA. As long as it's not completely foreign, with all the characters and cultural reference coming from that one country. Throw in a bit of an international mix, and it will fly as true as it always had.

[New Liberty State]

 

First of all, official international language is French. But nobody likes it, so nobody uses it. Except French, but it'd be silly for them not to speak their own language.

Yo pense que era el espanol el lenguaje internacional

 

I thought it was Spanish. The international language, I see it everywhere

 

Anyway, I would hate to play a game which people speaks other languages, I just don´t like to talk french everywhere I go, I´d even hate more dubs, ugh, dubs, UK or bust

[K^2]

Nah. There just happen to be a lot of countries with Spanish being official language. It's also a relatively simple language, and has been spread by Spanish conquests through the strength of their Armada. It came close to becoming a de facto international language, but ultimately lost the format war to English.

[jnzooger]

The official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Every official document has to be published in all six languages.

 

The official languages of the World Trade Organization are English, French and Spanish.

 

The European Union has 23 official and working languages, with German being the most widely spoken native language, at 18%, and English being known by just over half of citizens.

 

The official language of Aviation is English.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Based on all this, it's quite clear why English is the de facto international language. There is no single international language except in aviation.

 

Saying that we couldn't have a GTA set in France because of the radio is just a cop-out. Even in GTA III we had a Spanish language radio station, and in IV, we had a Serbian/Russian station. Its not like people that speak English only could understand those songs. Besides, the radio never really connects to the game. Sure it reflects on it, but it never has an impact. So there is no reason why there can't be a talk radio station in English with say a bad French accent in a GTA based on France. Sure the majority of peds and billboards would be in French, but c'est la vie, if you actually went to France, that would be the case. I'm sure you'd manage.

 

(Full disclosure, I support GTA UK + France as a single game. Border areas would have signs in both English and French leading to some possible fun satire.)

Edited April 1, 2010 by jnzooger

[SmC12]

 

Based on all this, it's quite clear why English is the de facto international language. There is no single international language except in aviation.

 

Actually English and French are spoken in Aviation, the main is English and pilots don't have to be good at French but it helps if they are when in a foreign country and the controller or pilot doesn't understand the English because of accent etc. so they talk French instead, and if that doesn't work then who knows.

 

French overall is the second largest Language spoken throughout the world and nearly every country can speak either their local lanuage/French or their local language/English.

 

But i agree with everything else you said although i still think GTA should best stay in the US.