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Insult Swordfighting Deemed Insulting 05 Mar, 2004 / Comments: 6


In the interest of returning to normalcy (or at least pretending to), here's a bit of trivia on The Secret of Monkey Island. In the february issue of industry magazine GameDeveloper, LucasArts veteran Noah Falstein talks about localisation issues and cultural differences. Here's a possibly interesting bit:
I discovered another clue working with some Japanese experts to translate the insult-swordfighting episode from The Secret of Monkey Island, where characters trade insults and rejoinders to gain advantage in fights. Although this went over well in America and Germany, our Japanese experts were detectably horrified (even though they politely veiled their reactions). They were amazed that we thought it was funny to insult each other, and they found two insults involving farmers and ancestors particularly offensive.
Ultimately the translators suggested to keep the swordfighting in, but remove the most potentially offensive references.

So, yeah ... Sam & Max 2.
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6 Comments

  • matt on 05 Mar, 2004, 14:13…
    that's interesting and funny :) good work
  • LucasTones on 05 Mar, 2004, 14:11…
    I know a Chinese guy living here at uni with me, and he was really shocked at how much we insult each other here too. I mean, if someone was using the microwave when I wanted to I might say "what a swine" or something, and he couldn't believe it.

    Now, of course, he swears like a Navvy. But he did say this to a friend of mine once - "If you say that in China, I would kill you"...
  • Marek on 06 Mar, 2004, 07:44…
    There's an interesting article in Edge that talks about the differences between Japanese and UK gamers. Apparently Japanese gamers try to cross the finish line together in racing games, and slow down to allow others to catch up. It's all about respect etc. Kinda funny and interesting.
  • Haggis on 05 Mar, 2004, 11:31…
    Oh yeah? Well, your head is oddly disproportionate to the rest of your body.

    Oops, wrong game.
  • remixor on 05 Mar, 2004, 08:21…
    You update news like a cow!
  • Marek on 05 Mar, 2004, 12:27…
    I've never seen a cow update the news. Please elaborate.