Language difficulties/bad translations, Ubisoft screwed up.
I'm from the Netherlands and therefore play AC3 in my native language, Dutch. Worked out fine with previous games, but now I've noticed some mistakes. (Note that these are found in the PC version, I don't know if Xbox and/or PlayStation versions have the same flaws.) I'll just list them here:
- In the shop menu, things like bait, arrows, rope darts etc. are filed under verbruikbare voorwerpen. Fine, no problem, cause that sort of means "things that can run out of stock" or "ammunition". However in the book at the Homestead and in shops, it's called etenswaren. That's also a translation of "consumables", but here it means "things that can be consumed" or, shorter, food. That's right, food. Now eating the bait would probably not be so hard, even if it's raw, but I'm not really hungry for arrows or rope darts. Those things tend to get stuck in your throat. Also, how am I going to swallow a tripmine without triggering it?
I think the translators didn't know the context here and that's why the translation fails. Anyway, it still bothers me.
- Another error is made in the mission "Battle of Monmouth". One of the 100% synch requirements was to kill two platoons with one cannonball. However the Dutch translation told me to kill two platoons without using a cannonball. So I just waited for them to come close enough and figured that if I didn't kill them with the cannon, the patriots around me would shoot them with their muskets.
I have no idea how a translation mistake like this could happen.
So, adressing the AC3 players whose native language isn't English, have you found more of these mistakes?
Yes, in the french version, there are some awful mistakes. Here are examples:
- Neufs jours plus tard, which you could translate as Nines days later
- Ne nous laisser pas ici, instead of Ne nous laissez pas ici
And some others like those... Big fail, Ubi.
Found another one.
In the description of the final Big Dave Homestead mission:
De oude eenheid van Black Dave wil hem arresteren.
I guess I don't have to explain that.
I once had a debate with a French guy who said, "I played the game in its original language, French. The game was developed in Montréal and all the staff is French speaking." I took the position that English was the original language of Assassin's Creed, not expecting to make any points more compelling than his. Then I found in the game credits under Localization: "French Version by Dune Sound Studios". 
There’s also the fact that Canadian French isn’t the same as actual French. I’ve heard speaking Can-French in France will get you laughed at…
That's true. Apart from me, I really hate hearing this.
By saying this, I only want to confirm that Canadian French and true French are similar but really different. There you can speak of two languages, not two dialects/"patois".
That's true. Apart from me, I really hate hearing this.By saying this, I only want to confirm that Canadian French and true French are similar but really different. There you can speak of two languages, not two dialects/"patois".
Aren't all French dialects (and I'm using this term to essentially mean an evolution from France's French) different from France's version? Swiss French is spoken much slower and has different words/expressions from those used in France (e.g., nonante instead of quatre-vingt-dix, which I believe is also the case in southern Belgium, Brussels, and Quebec).
Language is something that can be very problematic if the people in charge of producing something don't understand that there's a big difference in dialects of the same language. For instance, in the US, there's a big difference in Latin American-based Spanish spoken in Florida and that out in southern California, where words have been changed over time to mean various things. I'd hope that in the future Ubisoft (and other game producers) would consult foreign speakers from the different regions as opposed to adopting wholesale changes.
Don't forget English and aMURRican! haha
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Don't forget English and aMURRican! haha
We don't know our own language well enough to know when it's being spoken incorrectly. Ubisoft could have inserted as much proper English into the game and 95% of people playing probably wouldn't have noticed.
Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
Don't forget English and aMURRican! hahaWe don't know our own language well enough to know when it's being spoken incorrectly. Ubisoft could have inserted as much proper English into the game and 95% of people playing probably wouldn't have noticed.
Well, of course. This game was in colonial times... before we (as a nation) fully bastardized the language... And Shaun was always there to keep the present day speakers in check.
“Force has no place where there is need of skill." Herodotus
Aren't all French dialects (and I'm using this term to essentially mean an evolution from France's French) different from France's version? Swiss French is spoken much slower and has different words/expressions from those used in France (e.g., nonante instead of quatre-vingt-dix, which I believe is also the case in southern Belgium, Brussels, and Quebec).
Yes, some words are different (between Swiss, Quebec and France for example). That's why they're different languages. On the contrary, northern and southern french have the same words, but sound really different.
TheMethodicalAssassin wrote:
Double McStab with Cheese wrote:
Don't forget English and aMURRican! hahaWe don't know our own language well enough to know when it's being spoken incorrectly. Ubisoft could have inserted as much proper English into the game and 95% of people playing probably wouldn't have noticed.
Well, of course. This game was in colonial times... before we (as a nation) fully bastardized the language... And Shaun was always there to keep the present day speakers in check.
Shaun is far and away the best character of the series. I was so happy to finally see Ubisoft embrace his sarcasm and infuse it into all of the database entries. Whichever staff member had the job of writing them was probably happy as hell.
Shaun is far and away the best character of the series. I was so happy to finally see Ubisoft embrace his sarcasm and infuse it into all of the database entries. Whichever staff member had the job of writing them was probably happy as hell.
I couldn't agree more. The database entries and dialogues are absolutely hilarious.