Spanish Translation - Why Spain?

[iceferret]

Hey everyone,

 

I am just playing through Neverwinter nights 2 right now I am really having a hard time with the Spanish translation (it is laughably bad in terms of the voice acting quality) in contrast to say something like Skyrim, which has a pretty decent localization.

 

So I guess I have two takes on the whole translation thing. Number one, I would suggest using a different company than whatever the publisher used for that title, the acting is just cringe worthy and not worthy of something like Project Eternity.

 

My main question though, is why for Spanish localization does Spanish from Spain always seem to be used? (I noticed the KS translation was Spain Spanish as well).

 

The vast majority of Spanish speakers come from the Americas, and although the Spanish is very diverse over here, it certainly has unifying qualities that set it apart from Spanish from Spain. Generally for TV shows or movies, you get a Latin America and European Spanish version.

 

I am not suggesting that both is done for PE, but is the Latin American market not a much bigger one to hit? (Think of Spains economy these days as well).

 

I would definitely look into hitting the American market (Approx 372 Million people excluding Brasil -wikipedia) ahead of the European one (47 Million - wikipedia).

[Roxane]

I feel your pain. As a native French-Canuck speaker, I've stopped bothering with playing with the French version because it's more often than not translated in SLANGUISH France's French.

 

But, for you guys, I'll be the Cheerleader as you should be better represented as your demographic shpws.

[Pshaw]

Well since this game will be on the low side as far as voice over goes it will be largely text translation. I know they said they're willing to take on help from people would like lend a hand in terms of getting the translations done properly so if you or somebody you know is feeling particularly diligent I'm sure they'd be happy for the help.

[iceferret]

@Pshaw

 

I am actually more interested in understanding the "state of the union" on Spanish translation and the motivations behind going with a Spanish translation from Spain instead of a clearly much larger demographic outside of Spain (by nearly a factor of 10). Is it that no quality localization companies exist outside of Spain (that is not to say many of the ones in Spain are very good, they are not) or perhaps the market really isn't there.

 

I am not Spanish, it is a second language, so my translation would be something else

[Pshaw]

Yeah I can't help you at all there. I learned European Spanish in college but that was more of a fluke than anything else as that's where my professor was from.

 

If it had to hazard a wild guess it might just be because Europe might be seen as a larger market on the whole over Latin America so they prioritize getting European languages in first. Then once they have a Spanish translation they aren't really keen on doing a second one.

 

If you're really curious shoot a tweet over to Michael Pachter ( https://twitter.com/michaelpachter ) he's an indusrty analyst that has a little show based around answering viewer questions. I think he does answer all the questions tweeted to him though and he'll probably have a much better grasp of this sort of thing than I do.

[AwesomeOcelot]

Years ago I read a forum post by a South American who said that publishers don't even bother selling games in South American countries, everyone just pirates games, and that if he had to buy games they'd be incredibly expensive imports. That's probably changed a bit in recent years, but it's quite possible Spain has a larger market for games than Spanish speaking South America.

[iceferret]

@AwesomeOcelot

 

You know, that sounds like a totally plausible explanation. I know pirating (the kind on the street, like selling DVDs and fake Rayban sunglasses) is rampant, so that makes sense. I wonder if that is the case in countries like Mexico and Costa Rica, which are a bit more developed.

[Squallido]

Hi, iceferret and guys,

 

I’m a game localizer myself (from Spain ) and I can understand what you mean. Neverwinter dubbing was quite awkward, but you have to take into account that the game released in 2006 (6 years ago) and things are quite better now regarding game dubbing in Spain. The dubbing company used by Bethesda and the one used by Sony have recorded very good lines for a quite bunch of games.

 

The other point you talked about is not that simple. I mean, it’s true that the number of speakers in latinamerican countries is bigger than that of Spain, but in terms of videogame industry (mostly sales) they are not so big. Piracy is a serious issue, and only the most developed countries, like Mexico, can top numbers with Spain (imho). Anyway, maybe the guys can check the donations geographically to know if a latinamerican Spanish localization is worthy. There are solutions to make the localization “suitable” for both regions (although I personally don’t like them) in text, obviously, speech will have to be recorded two times if they don’t want to create a monster

 

I don’t really know to what extend Eternity is going to be dubbed, but if the guys choose to record some lines for the game, they have good and professional options out there.

 

I’ve already sent them a message to know that they are going to do with this, but it’s really too early in the development process to talk about it.

 

Cheers!

Edited October 18, 2012 by Squallido

[Vaesark]

I am just playing through Neverwinter nights 2 right now I am really having a hard time with the Spanish translation (it is laughably bad in terms of the voice acting quality) in contrast to say something like Skyrim, which has a pretty decent localization.

 

It varies a lot from one game to another depending on the dubbing company, I agree that NW2 dubbing was quite bad, an example of good dubbing (IMO) is the Baldur's Gate saga, it was really well interpreted by good professionals.

 

My main question though, is why for Spanish localization does Spanish from Spain always seem to be used? (I noticed the KS translation was Spain Spanish as well).

 

The vast majority of Spanish speakers come from the Americas, and although the Spanish is very diverse over here, it certainly has unifying qualities that set it apart from Spanish from Spain. Generally for TV shows or movies, you get a Latin America and European Spanish version.

 

I am not suggesting that both is done for PE, but is the Latin American market not a much bigger one to hit? (Think of Spains economy these days as well).

 

Spanish from the Americas would not sell well on Spain (except for "soap operas" that ladies 50+ seem to love) And vice versa, Spanish dubbing from Spain would not sell well on America. I think that it is a mere matter of revenue, it is simply not as profitable. The causes may vary but I guess that piracy level could be the main issue why publishers are reticent to try central/south American markets. In any case Obsidian has the data from kickstarter/paypal, they should have it easy to see where most of the funding comes from.

[Jesugandalf]

I think they talked about a translation of the game, and the term 'translation' seems to me it's only referred to the texts and not voice acting.

[Adam Brennecke]

Jorge (designer at Obsidian) did the Spanish translation, and he is from Spain. Most of the time European branches of game companies handle localization, which is probably why it's Spain Spanish and not Latin America Spanish.