Bad Grammar and spelling in iphone games

Discussion in 'General Game Discussion and Questions' started by pvtpyle, May 17, 2010.

  1. pvtpyle

    pvtpyle Active Member

    Jul 24, 2009
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    Why do so many iphone games have such poor grammar, punctuation, and spelling. This has to be by far one of my greatest upsets regarding any game i purchase. This isn't something you see in Nintendo games or games from any other large publishing company, yet is all over the place in iphone games, even from developers who have made games that are very popular.

    For example, I was just playing dark raider and there is a sign that says "Entrance to the great temple of Ra, the largest of most magnificent temple in Egypt"

    This is definitely not he worse example I have seen of poor sentence structure, word choice, spelling, or grammar, but it certainly made me do a double take as soon as I read it. This is a question for the community: Do you notice these things? Do they bother you? Would it make you regret buying a game if it was riddled with writing so poor that it was hard to follow the storyline?

    For me sometimes it does make me regret buying a game. The developers put a lot of work into these games I know, why is the text so poor?

    It's a case of "All your base are belong to us."
     
  2. bmn0210

    bmn0210 Well-Known Member

    Feb 13, 2010
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    You must have not been around during the SNES era. :p

    I expect the cause is the same in this case too: foreign companies without a proper localization department.
     
  3. pvtpyle

    pvtpyle Active Member

    Jul 24, 2009
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    I am a child of the SNES era. I remember the errors in those games. My concern here are iPhone games that I believe to be 1st gen English games. If I remember correctly, lots if the nes and snes games were simply poor translations from other languages (primarily Japanese).
     
  4. MasterChief3624

    MasterChief3624 Well-Known Member

    Oct 11, 2009
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    Well first off, the iPhone gaming landscape doesn't have a "Nintendo Seal of Quality". There are bajillions of games, and there's only a fraction of that bajillion that doesn't suck. Naturally without this "Seal of Quality", there's no need to proofread and make sure all the grammar is correct.

    Second: iPhone apps are developed by people all around the world. Russia, Sweden, Japan, Spain.. Many non-English speakers (or people that don't speak great English). They might have a hard time putting together grammatically perfect sentences, and people they may hire to translate might have a hard time as well.

    It kind of got on my nerves at first, but lately it hasn't been bothering me so much. I still enjoy the game, so why should I get pissed at the dialogue or instructions? Sometimes the mistakes can be kind of funny :p
     
  5. MartiNZ

    MartiNZ Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2009
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    I too always find this a shame, and a bit of a put-off. It shows a lack of care for the product along the same lines as words on the app icon, no capitalisation of the app title, too long titles resulting in ... in the middle, etc.

    One of my recent disappointments was in the Igloo Games Arcade which asks you to choose your 'control stlye' - I can barely even type that wrongly! Along with the various other problems with that package and the fact that the devs no longer respond to email despite the claim that they want to improve the app :).
     
  6. Bringing SEED into the discussion... :D
    glad to see I'm not the only one getting annoyed at the ... In the middle of titles lol.
    In any case, remember language won't always translate accurately. Le apfel rouge - The red apple for example. (may have spelt that wrong)
     
  7. Fruho

    Fruho Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2010
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    Gameloft Employee
    Under Your Bed
    #7 Fruho, May 17, 2010
    Last edited: May 18, 2010
    While I agree that a language barrier may make it difficult for a developer, if they are taking the time and trouble to create an App, they should also take the time to ensure there are no dumb mistakes. Using an online translator/a friend fluent in both languages is no where near as difficult as writing hundreds of lines of code and coming up with a creative game idea. If developers can do the latter, they can certainly make sure their App is without spelling and grammar mistakes
     
  8. Beto_Machado

    Beto_Machado Well-Known Member

    like a beautiful girl belching

    When i see a foreign game with a mistake or two i don't mind (even though finding someone to check your spelling is easy as hell). But when you see an american-made game with dozens of mistakes, it really makes you question the quality of the game. Makes me feel they simply threw the game into the App Store.

    I mean, seeing mistakes in a forum is one thing. In an App that you're selling to the world... it's another entirelly.
     
  9. RPGGuy

    RPGGuy Well-Known Member

    Sep 3, 2008
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    Spelling mistakes happen. Such as "dump mistakes" in what you just wrote.
    It could be worse.... http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/04/welcome-to-the-hollywood-walk-of-oops/
     
  10. kcur

    kcur Well-Known Member

    Feb 19, 2010
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    It actually doesn't bother me that much.

    That might be a bit biased though, since most of my family members are asian, and send me grammatically incorrect emails and postcards all the time.
     
  11. Fruho

    Fruho Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2010
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    Under Your Bed
  12. MidianGTX

    MidianGTX Well-Known Member

    Jun 16, 2009
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    The BBC News website had a story recently about a misprint in a cookbook, instead of "freshly-ground black pepper" it had written "freshly-ground black people".

    If there's one mistake you don't wanna make...
     
  13. Fruho

    Fruho Well-Known Member

    Jan 11, 2010
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    Under Your Bed
    Wowwwwwww. That must have been done on purpose though, that's no mistake
     
  14. Tikicobra

    Tikicobra Well-Known Member

    Apr 3, 2010
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    Colosseum is the worst. The grammar in that game is pitiful.
     
  15. pvtpyle

    pvtpyle Active Member

    Jul 24, 2009
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    To me it just seems like a lack of effort or care from the developer. Even after they have made a wonderful game, they can't get the ingame text correct.
     
  16. MartiNZ

    MartiNZ Well-Known Member

    Mar 9, 2009
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    The iPhone's auto-correction can make one type some pretty crazy stuff also, but that does indeed take the cake ... appropriately for a cookbook.
     
  17. Random_Guy

    Random_Guy Well-Known Member

    Apr 6, 2009
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    Australia, mate!
    The whole world doesn't speak English, you know?
     

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