Well, this thread is usefull for something that has been on my mind for a while. I've noticed that most french that i've met online struggle with the english language and even in this forum you can see from time to time some people asking for french language packs to their games (as it happened today) so i'm curious, isn't english class mandatory in France?

And sorry if i'm being ignorant and assuming that it would be the same as here (not that it helps, i've seen many portuguese also struggling with english and even mine is far from perfect), i'm just curious why is mostly the french that have that problem.

I heard that when French children have good grades in English class, their parents take all their toys away and make them sing the Marseillaise 10 times.

Seriously though, I have no idea and will leave the answer to our many French members who will have more information on this mystery.

As for people asking about language packs in their own language, I've noticed that the languages most often requested are French and Spanish but this doesn't necessarily mean those people don't understand or struggle with English, it can also be a matter of personal preference. For instance, I play Daedalic games in German whenever possible not because I'm struggling with English but because the voice acting is better in the original version - in some cases drastically (A New Beginning). Chains of Satinav is sadly only available in English here on GOG and the voice acting isn't bad but again I'd much prefer the original German version. So I understand why people request French or Spanish for some games, especially if those games were originally made in those languages.

Here on the forums everyone (from anywhere) appears to have a high degree of proficiency in English, at least in written form. Spoken language is an entirely different ball game and school classes generally don't prepare people for that because tests in English classes are mostly in written form - that's less work for the teachers and unfortunate for the students.
When young people in a non English speaking country are able to speak English well, it's usually from TV/Youtube, listening to music with English lyrics or having spent an exchange year in an English speaking environment. Traditional classroom teaching can't take much credit for spoken English proficiency, anywhere. Case in point are the Swedes, they get used to seeing movies in English rather than dubbed versions on their TV and therefor it's no wonder they have a great head start in absorbing English organically. You want to understand what the movie is about so you'll pay attention, that's more effective motivation than "this will be on the test later".

So ultimately, I believe it comes down to personal motivation. I've noticed that everyone is suddenly able to speak at least basic English when they want something form you, including French people and people from countries where English is largely unknown. Necessity begets ingenuity, always.

Now that i've come to think of it you're absolutely right and i feel bad for not have thought of that, i've learned more english through the media than actually in school and since there's no actually dubs over here (well, they only do that for major Sony games and some cartoons) i had to learn english since there wasn't any kind of translation (sub/dub) in portuguese for videogames (and nowadays they do that mostly for Brazil, not Portugal).

Well, since there's that matter that games are delayed in europe (when they could release the english only version), is it something that they really have to translate by law or is it because those countries are used to translations and they don't want to piss of their customers?

I'm not aware of any law that says a game has to be translated, it just makes sense to do so for any language group that's large enough because otherwise you're missing out on millions of potential customers who only want the game in their own language.

Where law comes into play however is in other aspects, keep in mind that games aren't just translated word by word but adapted in other ways to conform with local laws & customs. For example, when I played the German version of Command & Conquer 1, the soldiers were all cyborgs and the red pixel blood was replaced with black pixels = oil. I wasn't even aware that I was playing a product which was censored to conform with German laws.
And when I played Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, I didn't know that the German version was heavily censored. Not just because of the swastikas but whenever there was a part where someone (usually Indy) dies in a gory way, there was a big fat censorship box covering the action.
Switzerland has different laws than Germany but we don't get our own localization because our market is too small, what we get is the same that the German market gets and in the case of the French part of Switzerland, they get what the French market gets, same with the Italian region of Switzerland which gets what Italy gets - not sure if this is always the case but in general that's the way it seems to go.

These are just a few examples, I'm sure there's many more things that get changed in a game depending on where and how it is being published.

...naturally those countries were arbitrarily chosen... right?

Eh, i would prefer my version where i justify the wait because of those countries laws, having to wait just because some people are used to dubs is just dumb (that and publishers afraid to piss of those customers by releasing in the UK and ther other countries that don't have those translations).

People such as...you? Perhaps you're from Saint Petersburg Florida, rather than Saint Petersburg Russia!

Hello folks, I would like to know from the US-Americans, if and why some parts of your people REALLY believe that a national health insurance is communism? Are they/you the minority or the majority in your country? And why so much people - if they're really that much - refuse that idea (that has nothing to do with communism)? Thanks for answering.

I am not sure for others but the mandated everyone needs insurance thing going on now is hard to get and pay for. As I take care of my mom as my full time job and my Dad makes over a certain amount a year I do not qualify for a lower cost of insurance, my application told me to try pay scale clinics. I also can not pay $633 a month for insurance.

633 dollars that's a lot for insurance each month, sorry to hear the difficulty people are having with cost of insurance in this country. I guess I'm lucky as I get my insurance through my work and its pretty reasonable. I know US mandated everyone to have insurance, but I am sure not everyone has purchased it. Not only are the insurance expensive but high deductibles. health insurance is a mess in this country, not sure what the future will bring for healthy insurance in the future. Sage, you might want to try a county/public clinic if you are having any health issues and need to see a doctor, if there are any in your county in which you live in. They have a lot of those here where I live and very cheap to use. Just a thought :)

I have been really lucky to be in good health. I have no problems paying to see if Dr. if I get sick. My issue would be a major health issue that would include a hospital visit. And then the fear of being fined for not having insurance on top of it. I will be trying to apply for insurance again once enrollment opens. But I will not leave my Mom alone in order to work more hours (full time) right now. She needs me more then anything and even though I do not get a paycheck it is a full time commitment.

I think the biggest problem for US citizens is that we're being forced to buy insurance, and that businesses are being forced to offer insurance to full-time employees. Because of this, many businesses are cutting employee hours back to part-time so the businesses can save money. This leaves a lot of citizens not being able to afford insurance because it's so damned expensive to begin with.

I was one of the more fortunate ones (in a very ironic way), as it comes to this new insurance mandate. I'm not very healthy, I don't make a lot of money, and I had no insurance. So when it became mandatory, that's when I looked into it. Turns out I qualify for my state's Medicaid (free healthcare) program because I make so little money, so I now I can see doctors again. Before, I was holding off on seeing doctors because I couldn't afford it.

P.S. Hi Jenn, hope Mom is doing better. :-)

This part of your response brings a question to my mind. I am fascinated by languages, but like many Americans I don't speak anything other than English. I used to speak French well enough to actually dream in it, but was never quite fluent and have lost almost all of that. I can barely get the gist (or miss it completely) from reading it these days. Sadly, on the few occasions I had to practice it with native speakers - Montreal & Brussels - people just responded to my French in English...

How different is the Portuguese spoken in Portugal compared to Brazil? In the gaming world, translations are often listed as Brazilian Portuguese, and I encounter that elsewhere as well. But I rarely hear reference to Ecuadorian or Argentinian Spanish. Mexican Spanish a bit, but not nearly as much as Brazilian Portuguese. Is the difference between Brazil & Portugal *greater* than the difference between, say, Mexico and Spain?

How well are you able to communicate with other Romance languages? I hung out in Rome with a guy from Mexico City and he just used his Spanish and was able to communicate pretty well in Italy. I wonder if Mexican Spanish is better understood in Italy than the Spanish spoken in Spain?

Which is closer to Italian? Portuguese or Spanish?

And I have to assume Romanian is difficult for all involved?

Thanks!

I'm sorry to hear about your mom, and hope she gets well soon. I'm glad to see families help each other when they are ill. I am a registered nurse and worked in home health for many years, and saw many ill patients with no family around to care for them and I believe family should come first. I hope things work out for you and your family.