As many Europeans know, Nintendo only translates their software to the biggest European languages (English, German, French, Italian and Spanish as far as I know). While the box art can often in the language of the country the game is bought in, the games themselves aren't translated to any of the smaller European languages, which collectively amount to a quite big number of potential customers.

Usually, this isn't a problem since most Europeans have good enough knowledge of one of the bigger European languages (most often English), but I think it's a problem for Wii Fit and it will limit its sales in some countries. This game relies a lot on spoken/written instructions, with a few complicated terms such as body parts. This will be a turn off for some people, especially older people who are often the ones with less command of a foreign language.

To Nintendo:

How much would it cost to subtitle Wii Fit in a few more languages? Why didn't you do such a thing? As a Nintendo shareholder, I'm dismayed about this.

Please get your act together in Europe.

PS: Before anyone says that it wouldn't be economically possible to do such a thing, let it be known that one of the reasons for Sony domination in Portugal is that they're even starting to dub some of their games to Portuguese, such as Uncharted. I'm not asking for the game to be dubbed, subtitles would be more than enough since small European countries usually use subtitles on TV and in the cinema. I know this is the case at least in Portugal, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, and I suspect also in other countries.

 

Hang on, so in most cases, are titles not dubbed for the smaller EU countries? I never knew that (though I suppose it makes sense thinking about it) as I live in the UK, so the only problem I have is with all the accents being in american, except for the baddies'...

Munkeh111 said: Hang on, so in most cases, are titles not dubbed for the smaller EU countries? I never knew that (though I suppose it makes sense thinking about it) as I live in the UK, so the only problem I have is with all the accents being in american, except for the baddies'...

No, but as I said no one really expects a dub, just subtitles at most.

We are used to movies being subtitled, and it's the way we like it; we want to hear the original voices while reading the subtitles at the same time. People are very used to subtitles in movies, it quickly becomes second nature to read and watch simultaneously.

 

NJ5 said: Munkeh111 said: Hang on, so in most cases, are titles not dubbed for the smaller EU countries? I never knew that (though I suppose it makes sense thinking about it) as I live in the UK, so the only problem I have is with all the accents being in american, except for the baddies'... No, but as I said no one really expects a dub, just subtitles at most. We are used to movies being subtitled, and it's the way we like it; we want to hear the original voices while reading the subtitles at the same time. People are very used to subtitles in movies, it quickly becomes second nature to read and watch simultaneously.

To add to that, if you know the original language, jokes and mistranslations turn in the correct way, compared to dubbing. Only the kids shows are dubbed (this haven't always been the case, when i was a kid, majority of kids shows was subtitled), since they usually are targeted to people who can't read. But yeah, most countries have subtitled foreign movies and shows. As far as i know, Germany and Italy apparently dubs, while nearly all others uses subtitles (Estonia apparently is a mix, since some shows in estonian TV, that i can see at home, when there's a good weather, are dubbed and some subtitled). Localising to the smaller languages is a strength of Sony, but when you hear how gay the dubs are, i'm not quite sure if it's a strength after all.

Games are rarely dubbed in continental european languages, even German voice acting is very rare, Munkeh. As a Swiss, I'm used to subtitles cause in our theatres, movies are usually played in english with german subtitles. I don't know how it is for Germans though because they use to watch their movies in German.

And to come to the original post: I think this will cause some frustrated users, but not in a measurable number. It sucks for those that will be put off, but it won't be as many as it could cause an economical issue.

For some games, like The Sims and Buzz, I think localization has been a huge sales booster here in Sweden. For Wii Fit, maybe it would. But they will probably sell all they can produce anyway.

nintendo_fanboy said: Games are rarely dubbed in continental european languages, even German voice acting is very rare, Munkeh. As a Swiss, I'm used to subtitles cause in our theatres, movies are usually played in english with german subtitles. I don't know how it is for Germans though because they use to watch their movies in German. And to come to the original post: I think this will cause some frustrated users, but not in a measurable number. It sucks for those that will be put off, but it won't be as many as it could cause an economical issue.

I think it's very much an economical issue when you lose the opportunity of getting some people to be familiar with Nintendo products... This is at odds with their stated strategy of tapping as many demographics as possible.

stranne said: For some games, like The Sims and Buzz, I think localization has been a huge sales booster here in Sweden. For Wii Fit, maybe it would. But they will probably sell all they can produce anyway.

According to the PAL charts which have been posted, Wii Fit wasn't #1 in Sweden, it was behind Mario Kart (which wasn't in its first week). So it's not selling THAT much (I've seen it stocked in stores).

@bdbdbd: I think they also dub movies in France and Spain. Basically, all the biggest European countries dub their movies (I'm glad I don't have to suffer through dubbed versions here).

 

I'm swedish and speak pretty good english so for me it isn't really a problem but my mother need some help with all spoken english in Wii fit.
But since swedish is such a small language I don't expect Nintendo do translate, but I know german and french people speak much less english then us sweds, so it would be much more attractive for them if their language was available.

I live in Greece and movies are always subtitled. I do agree that voice overs in Greek would be so much to ask although it would certainly be welcomed. However, for an exercise game as wii fit it's a big miss to not include subtitles at least.

as a swede I have no problem with the english but then again 95% of everything I watch on TV is in english.


hmmm just realised that the only thing I watch in swedish is the sportnews