Dutch language

[Doomie]

Please add Dutch subtitles and interface for this game. There are many people who really appreciate that if that language would be supported.

[chaosek]

Never going to happen unless someone makes a mod for that. If you're Dutch you should know English and the default would be fine. If you didn't, you should have stayed in school.

[Doomie]

Originally posted by chaosek:

Never going to happen unless someone makes a mod for that. If you're Dutch you should know English and the default would be fine. If you didn't, you should have stayed in school.

I am Dutch and my English is more than fine, but that does not mean that I have no respect for my mother tongue and there are many others who feel the same way.

[hermit0wl]

Originally posted by chaosek:

If you're Dutch you should know English

That's just a really weird thing to say. If you're Dutch, you should know Dutch. Knowing English outside of the UK, USA, Canada or Australia is entirely optional, though highly beneficial.

[seeker1]

Where there's a hole, modders usually fill it.

Dutchie
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2553

[Doomie]

Originally posted by seeker1:

Where there's a hole, modders usually fill it.

Dutchie
https://www.nexusmods.com/baldursgate3/mods/2553

Really? So if I install this mod all the English interface and text are replaced with Dutch interface and text?

[seeker1]

Dunno; have not tried it; you will have to install it and find out.

[Doomie]

Originally posted by seeker1:

Dunno; have not tried it; you will have to install it and find out.

I was already planning to buy this game and usually, if it doesn't support Dutch, I play with German interface and text. But thanks for the links. I will definitely try this one.

[Mormacil]

Originally posted by Doomie:

Please add Dutch subtitles and interface for this game. There are many people who really appreciate that if that language would be supported.

Given the sheer English proficiency in the Netherlands the extra sales generated from this would be minimal, there is no economic case for them to do this. And this is a business afterall.

Originally posted by Doomie:

Originally posted by seeker1:

Dunno; have not tried it; you will have to install it and find out.

I was already planning to buy this game and usually, if it doesn't support Dutch, I play with German interface and text. But thanks for the links. I will definitely try this one.

Now that is the weirdest take to me. I could not fathom choosing German over English. Especially with a title designed in English. Sticking to the original language of a game is always the superior experience.

[Doomie]

Originally posted by Mormacil:

Originally posted by Doomie:

Please add Dutch subtitles and interface for this game. There are many people who really appreciate that if that language would be supported.

Given the sheer English proficiency in the Netherlands the extra sales generated from this would be minimal, there is no economic case for them to do this. And this is a business afterall.

Originally posted by Doomie:

I was already planning to buy this game and usually, if it doesn't support Dutch, I play with German interface and text. But thanks for the links. I will definitely try this one.

Now that is the weirdest take to me. I could not fathom choosing German over English. Especially with a title designed in English. Sticking to the original language of a game is always the superior experience.

There is no reason not to add it. If you want to stick on English go ahead but there are many other who thinks different. Besides...most answers what I read are based on opinions, not facts. This game is developed in Antwerp city and people there speak Dutch. If non-Dutch-speaking developers take the effort (like for example the new Gears of War Eday) to support Dutch so can they.

And about the German language. I prefere text and interface in German above German because the language is closer to Dutch and it's good for learning it. I would not choose German or Dutch speech. For that I stick on the original language unless the story is not English, for example games like Metro or Stalker.

[LordNibbler]

Originally posted by Doomie:

There is no reason not to add it. If you want to stick on English go ahead but there are many other who thinks different. Besides...most answers what I read are based on opinions, not facts. This game is developed in Antwerp city and people there speak Dutch. If non-Dutch-speaking developers take the effort (like for example the new Gears of War Eday) to support Dutch so can they.

And about the German language. I prefere text and interface in German above German because the language is closer to Dutch and it's good for learning it. I would not choose German or Dutch speech. For that I stick on the original language unless the story is not English, for example games like Metro or Stalker.

Well it cost's money - there is the reason; and you're just like ~17-18 million people all in all in the Netherlands so that's not a big market. Plus your known proficiency with English; so that's a cost smaller publishers can and will always avoid (yes, yes, they are now bigger, but that only grew in the course of development of this game).

A Microsoft published (first party) game is no comparison; they include again multiple spoken languages. And they have even Nordic languages (as texts), something that also no one else does except the very big publishers, since they have even fewer inhabitants than the NLs. But - they (Microsoft) also make billions in profit every year and have ten thousands of people (even still after firing thousands). Even Nordic devs don't include their own languages most of the time, for saving money in relation to benefit. Oh and btw. Larian is in Gent, not Antwerp (https://larian.com/careers/location/gent?location=gent).

Anyway, lucky you! What little I saw from the German text it looked not like a good translation... so that spares you some disappointment! (always look on... ;)

[Heu, Iterum Id Feci]

Originally posted by Doomie:

(like for example the new Gears of War Eday)

I mean, I haven't found numbers for gears of war, but for comparison:
Dragon age Inquisition has around 80.000 lines of dialogue
GTAV had around 160.000 lines of dialogue
Star wars Kotor has around 200.000 lines of dialogue
Cyberpunk 2077 basegame and Starfield both have around 250.000 lines of dialogue, if I remember correctly
Red Dead Redemption has about 500.000 lines of dialogue
BG3 has reportedly around 1.900.000 lines of dialogue

[Mormacil]

Dutch actually has closer to 27 million speakers. The Netherlands isn't the only country that speaks it. However about 90% of the adults in the Netherlands speak English at a comfortable level.

Originally posted by Doomie:

Originally posted by Mormacil:

Given the sheer English proficiency in the Netherlands the extra sales generated from this would be minimal, there is no economic case for them to do this. And this is a business afterall.

Now that is the weirdest take to me. I could not fathom choosing German over English. Especially with a title designed in English. Sticking to the original language of a game is always the superior experience.

There is no reason not to add it. If you want to stick on English go ahead but there are many other who thinks different. Besides...most answers what I read are based on opinions, not facts. This game is developed in Antwerp city and people there speak Dutch. If non-Dutch-speaking developers take the effort (like for example the new Gears of War Eday) to support Dutch so can they.

There's the most important reason not to add it, it costs money. There other minor reason but that one by itself is sufficient. It would cost more than it would bring in.

Also the game was not entirely developed in Antwerp, the vast majority of Larian does not speak Dutch. They have studios all over the world, from Poland to I believe Maleisia but might be Singapore.

Originally posted by Doomie:

And about the German language. I prefere text and interface in German above German because the language is closer to Dutch and it's good for learning it. I would not choose German or Dutch speech. For that I stick on the original language unless the story is not English, for example games like Metro or Stalker.

That's simply false, not an opinion but objective fact. Dutch is as close to modern German as it is to modern English. Both are on different branches of the Germanic language tree. Neither are linguistically closer than the other.

Dutch is close to Low German, a language from another branch than modern German that's evolved from High German. Low German like Dutch traces it's roots to Low Frankonian, the language of Lotharingia, aka the Franks.

[Doomie]

Originally posted by LordNibbler:

Originally posted by Doomie:

There is no reason not to add it. If you want to stick on English go ahead but there are many other who thinks different. Besides...most answers what I read are based on opinions, not facts. This game is developed in Antwerp city and people there speak Dutch. If non-Dutch-speaking developers take the effort (like for example the new Gears of War Eday) to support Dutch so can they.

And about the German language. I prefere text and interface in German above German because the language is closer to Dutch and it's good for learning it. I would not choose German or Dutch speech. For that I stick on the original language unless the story is not English, for example games like Metro or Stalker.

Well it cost's money - there is the reason; and you're just like ~17-18 million people all in all in the Netherlands so that's not a big market. Plus your known proficiency with English; so that's a cost smaller publishers can and will always avoid (yes, yes, they are now bigger, but that only grew in the course of development of this game).

A Microsoft published (first party) game is no comparison; they include again multiple spoken languages. And they have even Nordic languages (as texts), something that also no one else does except the very big publishers, since they have even fewer inhabitants than the NLs. But - they (Microsoft) also make billions in profit every year and have ten thousands of people (even still after firing thousands). Even Nordic devs don't include their own languages most of the time, for saving money in relation to benefit. Oh and btw. Larian is in Gent, not Antwerp (https://larian.com/careers/location/gent?location=gent).

Anyway, lucky you! What little I saw from the German text it looked not like a good translation... so that spares you some disappointment! (always look on... ;)

Everything cost money and in Gent they also speak Dutch. Looks like they moved their office to another city. But when the developers of No Man's Sky were working on the beginning of No Man's Sky, they also supported Dutch and the developers of Balder's gate 3 were already bigger.

And what makes it not a good German translation? Or is this again an opinion?

Originally posted by 1337_h4x0r_xXx_deathlord666_xXx:

Originally posted by Doomie:

(like for example the new Gears of War Eday)

I mean, I haven't found numbers for gears of war, but for comparison:
Dragon age Inquisition has around 80.000 lines of dialogue
GTAV had around 160.000 lines of dialogue
Star wars Kotor has around 200.000 lines of dialogue
Cyberpunk 2077 basegame and Starfield both have around 250.000 lines of dialogue, if I remember correctly
Red Dead Redemption has about 500.000 lines of dialogue
BG3 has reportedly around 1.900.000 lines of dialogue

They are not going to translate the text one by one by typing everything by hand. They get a file that is uploaded into a computer with translation software and in a few hours you have a translated file.

[Mormacil]

I see you completely ignore the bits you were called out for being wrong. Anyway, the investment on translating No Man's Sky versus BG3 are about as big as they can get. BG3 has a 1000 times the lines of text. So the Dutch gamers have to return 1000 times the investment compared to NMS to break even. That's not happening, we have no data to indicate BG3 sold 1000x more than NMS in the Netherlands.

The size of the studio has nothing to do with this. It's about cost and increased sales. BG3 is significantly more expensive to translate.

And no you don't translate with AI. Translation is still done by hand for media because that's hands down the superior product. It takes actually more time to go through the text and fixing all the errors than doing it yourself right away.

Machine translation is faster, which for time sensitive matters is a worthy tradeoff. But it's nowhere near human proficiency. Even the EU developed API for translations is pretty bad, at least in 2023 when a supplier I worked with looked into it.

[Tresh]

Originally posted by chaosek:

Never going to happen unless someone makes a mod for that. If you're Dutch you should know English and the default would be fine. If you didn't, you should have stayed in school.

Even if you know a second languague reasonably well, it can be tedious to have the entire interface in that language, because switching between languages might not come naturally to them.

Also, nobody "should" know English any more than people from English speaking nations should know Spanish or French.