After closely listening to the music in games, why not listen to the sounds characters make as well, i.e. their voices?
It's actually rather interesting how when we play a game, say a Nintendo game, we are often listening to voices in different languages without even knowing it. Smash games are a great example of this since they showcase such a variety of characters from different games.
In Melee we hear characters grunt, sigh, and make noises in two languages. These little noises we hear are in fact "language", not so much in an advanced form, but still language nonetheless.
Link grunts in Japanese because his voice actor is Japanese. Mario woo-hoos in English because Charles Martinet speaks English. We often don't think about these things, as frivolous as they may be, but they actually give games a multilingual feel to them. Some of the sounds characters make are native to a specific language. "Yippee" for example, is an English word, but a sound like "Gyaaah" is more Japanese-sounding than English. A lot of these sound effects stem from comics as well. If you look up these words in their respective dictionaries, you'd find them there.
Some games take it a step further and incorporate different spoken language within the actual game. Melee did this by leaving Marth and Roy's spoken dialogue in tact to keep true to their Japanese roots. Other games like Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 have multiple characters speaking to one another in different languages. Anna speaks to Lee in English while he speaks to her in Japanese, and somehow, everyone understands each other. Also note that Kuma and Paul have a conversation - Kuma being a bear...
Another thing to note is how English is becoming more mainstream in games and in general. Think back to Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. Navi kept reminding you of things with her "Hey! Listen!" - even in the Japanese version. Even the names of some of the characters that originated in Japan are Western names - Mario, Peach, Zelda.
I guess this is the obvious outcome of a playing a game that was created in Japan and marketed worldwide, eh?
It's actually rather interesting how when we play a game, say a Nintendo game, we are often listening to voices in different languages without even knowing it. Smash games are a great example of this since they showcase such a variety of characters from different games.
In Melee we hear characters grunt, sigh, and make noises in two languages. These little noises we hear are in fact "language", not so much in an advanced form, but still language nonetheless.
Link grunts in Japanese because his voice actor is Japanese. Mario woo-hoos in English because Charles Martinet speaks English. We often don't think about these things, as frivolous as they may be, but they actually give games a multilingual feel to them. Some of the sounds characters make are native to a specific language. "Yippee" for example, is an English word, but a sound like "Gyaaah" is more Japanese-sounding than English. A lot of these sound effects stem from comics as well. If you look up these words in their respective dictionaries, you'd find them there.Some games take it a step further and incorporate different spoken language within the actual game. Melee did this by leaving Marth and Roy's spoken dialogue in tact to keep true to their Japanese roots. Other games like Tekken 4 and Tekken 5 have multiple characters speaking to one another in different languages. Anna speaks to Lee in English while he speaks to her in Japanese, and somehow, everyone understands each other. Also note that Kuma and Paul have a conversation - Kuma being a bear...
Another thing to note is how English is becoming more mainstream in games and in general. Think back to Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. Navi kept reminding you of things with her "Hey! Listen!" - even in the Japanese version. Even the names of some of the characters that originated in Japan are Western names - Mario, Peach, Zelda.
I guess this is the obvious outcome of a playing a game that was created in Japan and marketed worldwide, eh?
Labels: games, Japanese, languages, nintendo, smash bros
I am quite jealous of those who know Japanese. Don't get me wrong; I am very proud of my Korean language skills, but I have put it to use ONCE in relation to Brawl. XD