Anyone else baffled by how difficult English is in FFXIV?

[Nonomori]

Coming from a country which language never appeared in FFXIV, my first impression was "damn, I barely understand half of what characters are saying in dialogues!"

I always thought that I knew English on a more or less good level, but the abundance of archaisms, figures of speech and simply complex words that are usually found only in books confuses me greatly (yes, I'm looking at you Urianger and Lominsan pirates!). I wonder if there are also people who were confused by this, to whom English is not a native language?

[hagare]

sounds like a good opportunity to learn.
And yes, some words are new to me

[Raansu]

It takes a lot of liberties on "old english", so I imagine it would be difficult at times for non-english speakers to pick up on some things.

[Sunny]

If it helps, I know people that speak English as their first language...

...and Urianger still confuses them.

The "dialect" he speaks is like English-cosplay. It's dressed up as old English, but uses modern words to accomplish it, and it winds up being the language the weird man uses that nobody has ever spoken in past or current times.

Urianger is what happens when you read too many books growing up (such a state is theoretically possible) but never talk to other people (except your girlfriend, who doesn't care if you're a nerd).

[Giganx]

It likely just isn't the kind of English you learned; it's an odd mix of old world, kind of euro/shakespearean phrasings, and they even add some made up words that only make sense in context.

Not to mention all the "pirate speak" in Limsa that's basically just a puzzle of apostrophes that even I struggled to decipher sometimes.

So yea, if your grasp of english isn't rock solid the dialogue may be tough to follow at times.

[Sunny]

If you watch old Star Trek, it's a lot like how Scotty talked (USS Make Stuff Up). As long as you catch the gist of what's being said, you should be fine.

[NuhUh]

Don't worry about it. Even us native English speakers have trouble pronouncing and understanding Limsa Pirate speak.

[Kirioz]

Originally posted by hagare:

sounds like a good opportunity to learn.
And yes, some words are new to me

I really hate this argument, as if I had time left over to learn prehistoric English that I will never use in my life.

[Raansu]

Originally posted by Kirioz:

Originally posted by hagare:

sounds like a good opportunity to learn.
And yes, some words are new to me

I really hate this argument, as if I had time left over to learn prehistoric English that I will never use in my life.

It's not really old english. Its more of a play on it using certain words. Honestly, it doesn't take long to pick up on the context of it all since they reuse the same "old english" words pretty frequently.

[Stormy Dawn]

Originally posted by Sunny:

If it helps, I know people that speak English as their first language...

...and Urianger still confuses them.

The "dialect" he speaks is like English-cosplay. It's dressed up as old English, but uses modern words to accomplish it, and it winds up being the language the weird man uses that nobody has ever spoken in past or current times.

Urianger is what happens when you read too many books growing up (such a state is theoretically possible) but never talk to other people (except your girlfriend, who doesn't care if you're a nerd).

I mean to be fair most native English speakers would have trouble with English spoken during Shakespeare's time. While the written language wasn't too bad, spoken English would have been confusing because that would have been before the Great Vowel Shift. English didn't really start modernizing until the 18th century.

[Sunny]

Originally posted by Tsurayu:

I mean to be fair most native English speakers would have trouble with English spoken during Shakespeare's time. While the written language wasn't too bad, spoken English would have been confusing because that would have been before the Great Vowel Shift. English didn't really start modernizing until the 18th century.

Agreed, except for the "written wasn't too bad" part, and also the "most native English speakers" part.

Pretty sure it could be: nearly all native English speakers would not be able to read a manuscript written in the English spoken during Shakespeare's time if it were not updated at least a little. =) The people who study it would be fine, but everyone else would be so confused. So, so confused. "These words LOOK like words, they sound like words, but put together like that they have no meaning!" (For proof, I put forward how many people have problems understanding Urianger as it currently is. The difference in pronouns alone would lose folks, nevermind the differences in articles or general grammar.)

Urianger uses modern words to mimic ye olde timey English because nobody* would understand him if he spoke what we're all loosely pretending he speaks.

[DthBlayde]

Not to mention SE having their own spin on weights and measure, and the rogues guild writers tapping actual "thieves cant" and the whole game becomes word salad at times.

[Nonomori]

Originally posted by Giganx:

It likely just isn't the kind of English you learned; it's an odd mix of old world, kind of euro/shakespearean phrasings, and they even add some made up words that only make sense in context.

Not to mention all the "pirate speak" in Limsa that's basically just a puzzle of apostrophes that even I struggled to decipher sometimes.

So yea, if your grasp of english isn't rock solid the dialogue may be tough to follow at times.

I don't even mind the pirates / rogue guild people or Urianger, because at least there's a plausible reason as to why they speak like that. But every single ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ character sounds like they're trying desperately to write a poem that they're convinced will get them a literary award of some type, and at that point it's too much. I love this game's story but a lot of the time I skip the dialogue because I honestly cannot be bothered reading through a chat bubble where the character says "Okay, will do!" but in 48 words and ends it with "confound it", peppering in "perchance" for good measure, just to fluff up the conversation. I'm sorry but that's just nonsense localization.

Urianger and pirates are one thing but the whole game uses some kind of a "book" English, not the English you would normally use when talking to other people. That's the thing I struggle with the most.

[Giganx]

A lot of it is Square just trying to create a theme/culture for this fictional world. I guess at least conversationally the culture they're trying to create is that of a 1500s play; but with some added creative flourishes and modernized enough to be generally understandable.

If you don't know English well enough to easily translate "quirky" English into modern English in your head, I can see that getting annoying. This game certainly doesn't keep it's dialogue simple.

[lazybenjiboy]

I'm a native English speaker and yeah, even I rolled my eyes at some of the stuff tumbling out of Urianger's mouth. It's like he deliberately went out of his way to speak in the most convoluted way possible.
And I swear if I have to hear the phrase "we needs must" one more time I might just lose my damn mind lol.

[Virtus Ferox]

I'm all for high-fantasy, but the ye'old/Shakespearean dialogue kinda got stale after Heavensward. The XIV world has diversified into many scapes: futuristic, Oriential, etc, yet almost everyone speaks Victorian English. This is why I prefer Japanese dub. I know enough Japanese to get-by, but it's enough to know they're speaking far more basic (Japanese is very simple compared to Romantic languages.) Just joking, but I think the English localizers watched a little too much Game of Thrones