"Comrade" mispronounced in the English version

[Worthless Mutt]

I'm pretty impressed with this title overall, it feels very well polished, but the word 'comrade' being mispronounced virtually every time the word is uttered is really immersion-breaking, especially since this title is used to directly address the player numerous times in the intro. I'm really surprised the localization crew or even just the voice actors themselves didn't catch this.

The 'A' sound in comrade is soft as in 'apple.' This is true in both English and the original French. It's like the voice actors saw the 'e' at the end and thought that makes it a hard 'A'.

On another note, I find it a bit odd that 'comrade' is being used at all. I would have expected to hear 'tovarisch,' and other little bits of Russian sprinkled into the dialog for flavor. I guess they thought it would go over the heads of western audiences. The voice actors all having American and British accents rather than Slavic accents feels strange too.

I don't mean this to be a serious knock against the game, it's just something I noticed. What do you think com-raids?

[4J4X]

yeah id rather it be like metro so i could play it with russian audio but english subs

[tacohead93]

If you want a real treat, fire up Just Cause 2 again and listen to the leader of the Reapers faction, Bolo Santosi say the word 'comrade'. It's a southeastern Asian accent trying to imitate a Russian accent for specific words.

[Robert._.B]

Yeah it is really annoying I don't like that pronunciation ;))

[Wrayday]

Honestly, I've been trying to just ignore anything the Protag says.. Mainly because all the VA's had to record their lines alone and send them in so it all comes across as everyone talking past one another in random tones.....

[nanaelsh]

The American/British voice acting is probably their way to show off regional dialects and avoid the "fridge logic" of why people would speak their own language with an accent like they just learned it recently. It is indeed weird, however, that the English dialogue does not contain many "Russiaisms"

[Worthless Mutt]

Originally posted by nanaelsh:

The American/British voice acting is probably their way to show off regional dialects and avoid the "fridge logic" of why people would speak their own language with an accent like they just learned it recently.

I understand the thought process behind the decision, but it can be rather jarring. One corpse I spoke with had an American country/southern accent that sounds completely bizarre coming from what's supposed to be a Soviet citizen in the 1950s.

There are also some inconsistencies, for example, the German doctor speaks with a German accent, I believe I also heard two other characters speaking with a French and Irish accent respectively, so are they supposed to be French and Irish, or Russian? Perhaps the Irishman is supposed to be from 'the Ireland of Russia'-- Lithuania maybe? Meanwhile most English speakers find the voice acting from STALKER, Metro and other games that use actors with Slavic accents to be highly immersive.

[Excogitator]

They really f u c k e d up pretty big imo. There's no excuse for such incompetency. I'm playing the demo and it's enough of an issue that I'm choosing not to purchase the game. Immersion is crucial in most games. This is a disappointing start to what's supposed to be an "A" game. Who the f u c k says comraid? Even stupid americans know how it's pronounced.

[Tsunero]

Originally posted by 4J4X:

yeah id rather it be like metro so i could play it with russian audio but english subs

But you can if that's what you prefer.

[toby]

Only Americans say "com rad". Comrade (com-raid) is correct.

[Worthless Mutt]

Originally posted by toby:

(com-raid) is correct.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr4ediV4TGQ