Eiji Aonuma Confirms that Breath of the Wild Will Not Support a Japanese Dub Over English Subtitles

Nintendo still doesn't seem to grasp the idea that options are good.
I mean, they've taken some steps....baby steps....with Region Free (an important step, but over 10 years behind the competition)
To be fair, it's not just Nintendo that does this, Final Fantasy X on the PC (without mods) has something similar I believe.
Regardless, I simply cannot understand why you'd refuse to implement the ability to mix and match when it would be so easy, especially for a company like Nintendo....sigh...

Petition for including the option to pick Japanese voice acting while keeping English text and subtitles:
https://www.change.org/p/nintendo-add-japanese-voice-acting-in-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-western-release?

The Japanese tracks are already in there. It should be very easy to patch.

I noticed that issue with Star Fox 3D, where you could only change languages if you changed your system region.
Ultimately absolutely stupid.

If you keep all files present, let people pick whatever they like best.
It's another thing if you produce separate version per region (for size reasons) but if everything is there but you lock it away like that, you are bloating up peoples system memory with basically garbage data.

Kinda breaks immersion tbh. The characters are meant to be speaking Hylian so hearing a language other than your own can help enhance the experience.

if we show that we want it they can easily change that option with an update.

@Siskan
Nice! im signing it.

I like how there's already a petition running lol!

English all the way for me haha:)

So... the Japanese VO and the English subtitles are both on disc for the Switch version, but you can't have them together? What kind of nonsense is that?! Petition, here I come!

Well, I'm not buying it, I guess. Hopefully homebrew will come nice and fast so the community can get an undub going. Until then, I won't be playing this game. I guess this is the double-edged sword of adding proper voice acting to a Zelda game. It's cool in concept, but if it means I have to hear an english dub, it's literally worse than no voice acting. Unfortunately the game is built around said voice acting, so playing with voices disabled or the game on mute would just ruin the experience as well.

ugh, I don't think petitions will solve anything especially not with Nintendo, but what about the Japanese version doesn't that one have English subs like DOA Xtreme 3?

@darkgamer001 Their handheld devices was always region free until the 3DS. They haven't been "10 years behind the competition" like you claim.

If you want change, petitions are NOT the way to go. I mean I've signed it for some reason but...
....petitions give the illusion that you're making a difference in just a few seconds.
You know what can. Write-in campaigns. Sending NoA, NoE and NoJ emails and letters telling them why you want these changes. But of course that will break the illusion that you can push change in a few seconds, and it takes actual effort, so this will conveniently be ignored.

I don't mind english voices over any other language but if the Zelda voice actor does it as bad as she did in the trailer I'll have to change my system language.
The same happened to me with bravely default, because Agnes was annoying in english I had to change the game to japanese (there was english subtitles though.)

@Robsnoow Fine, if you want to nitpick, comparing consoles. If anything, using your argument, you can use the 3DS as a point to show that they actually regressed.

I remember hearing that part of the motivation for having voice acting at all was so that in certain parts of the game (such as the cave where you wake up), information could be relayed to the player in real-time without them having to scroll through text boxes.

In other words, there are sections with VA but without text, so you'd still miss information even if you kept the text as English.

What's intriguing is the system setting language change. Presumably this can be done at any time, and will switch all available games languages with it?

Providing there are multiple save files, it should mean you can play though the same game in multiple languages, which is kinda neat. Or play through a single adventure whilst cycling madly through the language options. It's probably not got very wide appeal, but it seems a good thing for those two want to compare and contrast without buying separate games.

Why won't they figure out that it takes very little to include the option and lots of people love it? I've played pretty much every game I was able to with Japanese voices and English sub-titles. My theory is that video game voice acting is often poor, and I can't tell the difference between good and bad Japanese voice acting, so why not put it on there?

Don't think about what you aren't getting, realise what you are getting- the most technological, largest, free roaming Zelda game EVER.

I've gotten over we won't have the traditional 'bleepy bleep' voice track, so all you Japanophiles can as well for the Japanese vocals.

Why? There's no reason not to, Nintendo!

@darkgamer001 I confess I don't have much faith in the petition either, but I'd take any chance that effortless! As for the more demanding option you listed, I'll certainly do that as well.

And here come the insults for people who have different tastes....that didn't take long

Petitions are stupid, but so is the decision to not include the option to change the VA for those who want it. Especially since it's already on the disc/cart.

That's too bad. I wonder why they did that.

@Siskan High five!
I just wish more people would do that. I mean, I probably should've worded it a bit better. I don't really mind the fact that petitions exist, just that people use that and stop there, when they can do so much more than that.

Not a problem for me, I will happily play the game fully in Italian, but overall it's annoying how more and more modern games bind their settings with the ones of the console (and it's not just a Zelda's matter, many games love to have their default untouchable settings).

I don't think anyone ever complained of the existence of the options' menu in games, develloppers should abuse it more, not try to make it die DX

I don't think English version voices are bad. And I think is really weird when I heard some complaints here. You can accept one specific language only for other games but can't accept for Zelda Breath of the Wild ? Lower your expectation, guys. Don't be too perfectionist.

@darkgamer001 I understand that you were debating the impact of the petition and not its existence.
In any case most people need to be told to send e-mails or letters, most won't generally take that initiative. Campaigns like Operation Rainfall and Bluebird require yet another level of effort from a number of people. I wonder if there's enough time for such a project.
I mean the files are already there, so it's be super easy to patch. But I somehow think success would have been more likely if there'd still be time for them to add it before the games go on sale.

@SanderEvers
Read my second post in this comment section.
Besides Nintendo has listened in the past. For example when there was a lot of demand on Miiverse for Earthbound and Mother on VC.

I'm disappointed, and I hope they'll patch it after people give them enough feedback. But it's okay, the English isn't the best but it's pretty good none the less. In no way a deal breaker lol!

Most games don't offer separate language options for voice and text so it's not exactly a surprise. I think most PlayStation in-game languages are tied to the System Language as well?

To cancel or not to cancel that is the question, didn't want voices to start with knowing how a bad dub can kill a game and now to be forced to listen to a, from what I've heard and read is a pretty uneven display of talent, its an issue for me. After all why should I pay my money for a game that does not give me what I want.

Would also like to know before I decide whether we are getting regional variations like dragon quest viii or am I going have to listen to a load of Yanks. As with the old anime argument I want subs>dubs even if it's just because it's harder to tell a poor dub in another Lingo.

I blame brexit, Trump and isis(when they eventually release a statement admitting culpability) for this.

Can someone confirm that ALL 8 languages are actually included? Because the game isn't that big, I think it's 13 Go.

But still, why would I want to waste time, bandwidth and storage for languages I can't have access to? I'm really started to miss the gibberish Hylian language...

The Internet: where every triviality becomes a petition.

At least I hope the western voices turn out to be good. I'll wait until reviews and gameplay videos before buying.

Meh. I'm still gonna play the game in English.

@Anti-Matter
For everything, have to complain, that is what I see here and wherever... *sigh
Here, we will have (probably), the first Zelda (and second game from Nintendo) with Latin Spanish dub, but not; Many want the original language (Japanese)...
Then for the effort of Nintendo and the doublers to give us a game with a language that almost has not been used in Nintendo games?, for Nothing ... but well, Keep the complaints
(Sometimes I want to ignore that when they say that the Fans are desperate, they are not, but, oh well, I think it's difficult "to defend the indefensible")

Localization is tough and I think an option to show different language captions than the spoken language in easy to find settings is a great idea to make give more people the options that work best for them.

Not sure about technical issues on this. I'm guessing everything is on the region-free game cards, but you could save memory by only downloading the spoken track that you want. Might be more hassle than it's worth, however.

Anyway, it's not some big oversight. As far as I know it's not standard practice, is it? Hmm, I should look into it actually...

That being said, a good spoken track is catered to the culture and sensibilities of that culture's entertainment and boy do they differ sometimes.

I'm sure people get used to the insanity that it feels like in original Japanese dialogue tracks because of the obsession over anime but it drives me a bit batty. Whining children are off the rails, etc. It's like broadcasting to an audience from a stage, only there's no stage, I'm right here! Even with sound effects: explosions and gunshots sound like little poofs of air. Don't get me wrong, some of my favorite movies are by Hayao Miyazaki (witness avatar).

None of that defeats the benefit of having the options to choose what spoken language and what captions you want. I think that's a feature all games that store all of them together should have.

However, I'd prefer if I could I turn off same-language subtitles because I can hear but reading is faster and it's distracting and defuses the drama by telegraphing what will be said before it is said.

NOoooooo!!!!

How did I know voice acting would open up this can of worms...lol.

I'm buying this game anyway. I'd do it even if it only came with Swahili voice acting.
What I've found most interesting though, is how people prefer foreign languages. My mother tongue is Spanish, and I've always played games in English because in Spanish they sound "too real". It breaks the immersion. And for many here it's the same with English & Japanese. Cool.

That's disappointing. The Japanese Zelda sounds like her whole world is crashing around her when she cries. The English voice just sounds flat in comparision.

To those who say that petitions doesn't work, I want to mention Operation Rainfall a petition to bring Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower to America .

Operation Rainfall got over 50 000 signatures, and look where we are now :+).

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is coming and all of those games came to America, so I do think a petition like this is possible, but it will be interesting to see how many people are willing to sign the petition about BOTW getting the option for Japanese with English subs as in if it will be enough.

I am not going to sign the petition myself as I don't really want to share my personal information, but I am thinking about writing to Nintendo and ask them about the possibility for patching in the option to have Japanese with English subtitles.

Hopefully Nintendo listen and add Japanese with English subtitles in the end, as I want all of us to have the best time as possible playing BOTW :+).

I don't see much of a use for this myself anyway. I only speak English myself, and don't really see why I'd want everything to be in a language I don't understand and have to read the whole thing.

*edit: Before anyone says it, yes that sucks for people who's first language is Japanese here in the states. Strictly talking about myself here.

@allav866
What on earth? The Switch runs on cartridges so saying "on-disc" with the Switch release is beyond dumb. I could accept what you said if you're referring to the Wii U version but you didn't.

I never understood the allure of hearing a language you can't understand. Especially if the English voice acting is decent.

But I wish everyone who prefers Japanese well in their endeavor to petition Nintendo on this.

@Kimite I respect that. Please do what you're comfortable with (writing them directly).

Why is everyone so bent by this? If you want to play in Japanese then change the language of the switch and learn Japanese. If you want play in English then change the language of the switch to English. Is it that hard of a concept? And for those who say they want English subtitles over Japanese voices.... why? The Japanese voice acting is, in my opinion, not good. As someone on this thread said it best... it is way over exaggerated.

Oh, it's so hard to choose, you know. Russian sounds good but looking at trailer... translation wasn't great... At the other side there are very mediocre english vo and normal translation...

@Siskan Thanks :+).

Hope the petition goes well, already over 500(518 now when writing) now and with the help of social media it should be possible if the petition gets as well organized or recognized as Operation Rainfall.

While I do think 50 000 might be a bit unlikely, 5 000 or 10 000 shouldn't be too unlikely if the petition gets spread enough. Will be interesting to see how this goes.

I'm bummed. Still buying it but, bummed nonetheless. For me, it's an immersion breaker but not a deal breaker. I was cool with no VO. As long as it isn't Other M bad acting, I'll deal. Missed opportunity though and a bit of a glaring oversight. 🤔

While I wouldn't mind there being language options for those who want them, I'm fine with having the voices in English (unless they're particularly cringe-y). I like being able to understand what's going on, and subs actually detract from the experience in my case.

While I know the characters in Hyrule speak Hylian, I take the resulting language as I, the player, "understanding" Hylian through Link's perspective.

@Dak908 Comment was uncalled for, try again.

Nooooo, Zelda has the ugliest voice acting ever. I may sell my preorder and get a Japanese version.

Edit: oh, I missed the possible changing language part. Never mind.

@Siskan I've signed it.

Sucks for the weeaboos. Can only be "immersed" if they're hearing Japanese. Wow.

Also, why do people feel the need to write a petition over everything? Nintendo's probably never gonna even read the petition, let alone listen to it.

This is a mistake.

First, if you don't have Japanese voice acting, people will complain

However, if you don't have English sub people will complain

Dual audio is the best option. Not sure why they didn't go with it.

I personally don't mind, and they probably want to get their money worth of the English voice actors, but still, how odd...

@iammikegaines It's more emotional, I guess? It's too much emotion for me, personally. Plus, it would ruin it for me if BoTW sounded like an anime.

The petition won't do a blasted thing, people. Just saying. Anyway, I don't personally care about the issue and plan on playing in English anyway because I think it sounds better. The ironic thing is that while people here are scraping for the Japanese audio, people in Japan usually prefer the English audio because just like we think about the Japanese track, they think it 'sounds cooler'. So to everyone's point I guess, they should have duel audio just so people can culture swap even though it's totally bizarre.

@Dak908 LOL!!! Kinda what I thought too.

Shoutouts to this comment section for being much more tolerable than the one for GameXplain's video that reported this; nobody spouting ignorant crap like "Yeah, suck it, weabs!" or "Anime isn't real!"

@KirbyTheVampire That's exactly where I'm coming from. I don't want it to sound like an anime and besides, I think all the English actors sound great so far, especially Zelda!

@iammikegaines You nailed it. Japanese are notorious overactors, which I personally can't stand. A lot of people (usually anime otakus) love it though for some reason.

@Einherjar But you can make a new Japanese account on the Nintendo Switch, buy the English version of the game, and play it on that account in Japanese.

@MrWarner14 Seriously? I only said it because nobody says "on-cartridge" when talking about a 3DS game. That, and it's easier to type, so thanks for making me type it anyways.

Nintendo put in the extra effort to provide voice over work for a wide variety of languages. I don't know if anybody is aware, but voice actors went on strike in 2016, so it's great to see Nintendo providing work for these underappreciated men and women. They easily could have only Japanese voice actors or none at all, but they went multilingual and provided jobs for many. I understand the sentiments of everyone, but appreciate the good work of the men and women recruited for this astounishing project.

You're kidding me. People are upset over this?... Siiiiiigh.

It's sad to see all the condescending and gloating comments in here. Since it seems like you're all from North America, I'll have you know that a western (the genre) movie came on once on Japanese TV when I was there on vacation. A cowboy opened his mouth and the Japanese dub came on. It sounded absolutely ridiculous.
You could try seeing it from that perspective or just accept that people have different opinions and wishes.

@Kimite If I'm not mistaken there was extensive media coverage about those, which boosted awareness. I don't see that happening this time, but I hope so.

@Siskan I'm not from North America.

Ok that video shows nothing!

Defiantly signing up! I want jap voice over with English subs.

I'm rolling my eyes equally for people who can't understand why people are upset and for people who aren't buying the game solely because they have to bear with an English VO! **moon emoji**

@G-Boy I know, but anything that sounds like an anime drives me crazy. I just personally can't stand Japanese voice acting because of how loud and over the top it is.

I think dual audio would be nice because I usually prefer original voice acting but it's not a big deal to me. I mostly play zelda for the gameplay anyway

Looks like only PC players (CEMU) will be able to choose any language for voice and subs.

This is so disappointing.. I hope they can change this prior to release.. even if they just add an option for subtitles it'll suffice.. really want to play this game in Japanese with English subtitles..

The Russian actress was the best imo. The French one was laughably French.

Comments turning disappointingly rancid. I mean, it's not unreasonable to assume that if someone wants to play the game in one language, then that extends to both the written and spoken elements, so I don't think this is an outrageous decision to tie all language elements of a game to that of the user's console (which can be changed at will, by the looks of it).

However, the petty gloating at those who wanted more flexibility with the language settings is childish and pointlessly antagonistic. It's not like those gloating benefitted in any way - there never was any conflict of interest between those who wanted customisable language options and those two didn't care. The comments exist purely for the sake of mockery.

Unwarranted spitefulness distorts online debate just as much as hysterical overreaction, if not more.

It's pompous of me to say it, but I wish people would try a little harder to foster communities where they weren't constantly pulling each other's hair out. That doesn't mean everyone has to blandly agree or censor themselves. It just means not going out of your way to be a massive plonkface.

I wonder how many languages that Nintendo put in Zelda BoTW...
Is Indonesian language also available ?

@G-Boy I didn't see you posting anything mean either. I said the condescensing ones were. Thanks for signing by the way.

Oh, btw. I heard so many peoples here are soo.... Japanophile. That's good to hear but i'm questioning your Japanese minded. If you are really really LOVE Japan , at least you are able and understand Japanese language , texts and conversations. Not just only depend on English subtitles.

After playing The Last Guardian in Japenese with English subtitles this is very disappointing. Games are just better in their native tongue with subtitles. Just like movies. Has there ever been a movie with a dub that is anywhere near as good as the original?

Really cool that both Japanese and English are available on the same cart, which I had wondered about. I think a nice option would be to lock subtitles to your set region, but allow the "switch" to Japanese or other audio. But this has me think that perhaps the audio tracks aren't going to match up between the languages. If not it seems a future patch could fix this. It does seem obvious that the Japanese track captures more emotion.

Still on a positive note I'm glad the Japanese is on the same cart, and I'm glad to try out the first Zelda with spoken dialogue. Waiting for March 3rd is torture.

To all the people who can't understand why anyone would possibly want to play the game in another language than their native one, but keep native subtitles:

Zelda games have always been games where you read the dialogue, but you don't understand the spoken words. Hylian has nearly always been what has been spoken, and thus, it breaks immersion if you understand the spoken words.

If you cannot comprehend this, then good, you don't have an issue immersing yourself despite Link and Zelda speaking English to each other, something that would never in a million years happen. It won't help to learn Japanese (example) either, because the whole point is that you should NOT understand the language. If the language sounds like hylian to you, or you at least think it sounds like gibberish, then it is a plus in the immersion book, because that's how it has been in Zelda games until now. You could read dialogue, but not understand spoken words.

TL;DR

• Not understanding the dub increases immersion for (some) people who are used to hearing gibberish while reading dialogue while playing Zelda games.
• Understanding the dub, as some of you suggested, breaks this immersion once more, so "learning japanese if u want it in japanese" would be counterproductive.

@Kimite Operation Rainfall worked because of the email write in campaign

Not some lousy petition

Well, I personally, am a fan of still being able to understand what's happening when I blink ¯(ツ)/¯

Operation Decode worked to get at least 1 game localized and then a second one got localized because of the sales the last localized digimon game brought in from the sales.

I think the reason why Japanese fits this game so well is because it feels designed to be like an anime. Also the voice acting is seemingly way better from what I've heard so far.

I'll never understand these people. They call "weeaboos" those who want to hear it in japanese, but then they proceed to play a japanese game on a japanese console. What if you want to hear it in french, italian or any other language? How are you gonna call them? SMH.

Oh well, 'MURICA.

@Siskan I see and will say, I don't think it will happen to that big of a extent, but do think at least 1000 or 2000 should be possible, already over 550 so.

Well, the best we fans can do it is to mention it in the comment sections, or write to video game news sites as news tips.

In any case, I will be sending an email to Nintendo and if you want I can sent what I got back to you Siskan :+).

I just want it to support 60 FPS

@Wendigo Well, like I mentioned before I thinking about sending a email to Nintendo and hear what they think or at least hopefully get some kind of answer.

Either way, we will see how it goes I suppose :+).

Some of these comments are really confusing. What's wrong with people wanting more options? Personally, I prefer listening to things in their original language, whether it be for games or movies.

@Ichi
Don't worry. I can read, write and understand all Hiragana and Katakana letters but still struggle with some Kanji. Also, I can speak some simple Japanese words. Well, I still need to learn Japanese grammars.

It's strange how Nintendo takes away options as a series becomes more popular.

When they thought Fire Emblem was a failure they had less censorship and dual audio.

When they discovered Awakening was actually a massive success they started making much more aggressive localization decisions to the series and took away dual audio.

Either they think if a series is popular, it'll sell regardless of if they (Nintendo) spend the small amount of money for extra options, or they think more options will confuse the poor casual who can't handle them.

@SuperTeeter64 Its good when someone with a Zaku stabbing a unlucky Mobile suit as their icon isn't concerned about this, I'm pretty sure this is Aonumas vision anyways , and feel bad for the people who don't get subs, but I'm positive Aonuma wanted the game to be heard and read the users native language, just saying

@Kimite Yes that seems reasonable.

I probably wasn't alone, but I sent NintendoLife a tip about the news covered in this article. I also mentioned the petition, but they didn't include it.
I've also voiced my opinion elsewhere. I'm perhaps a bit desperate. xD If they don't change this I probably won't play the game until next year. I'm studying Japanese but I'm not quite there yet. I'd have to look things up too often.

I doubt you'll get a reply, but I'd of course appreciate that! : ) I can do the same if you'd like. And I'm sure they will at least read it, so it will always count for something.

@MichaelQ3265 Exactly

I haven't seen that many consecutive sobs since Federation Force's announcement.

Personally, I would rather watch the cut scenes spoken in a language that I understand, I don't want to be focused on reading text and missing out what's going on on the screen.

"Hey! Listen!"

Oh no, now I can't listen to that overacting Japanese Zelda! The horror!

@TheLZdragon You didn't have to anyway, silly argument made in a rude manner (I know it's a joke, but will come across as an "eff you" to some people).

While I don't really mind whether it's an English dub or Japanese dub considering Nintendo is overseeing both (if it was an animé, where a publisher ruined the dubbing process it would be different), the real issue for me is Nintendo being Nintendo & dictating how you enjoy your experience.

It wouldn't make any difference to the file size, it wouldn't take any additional time, it there is no good reason why we couldn't have the Japanese dub with English subs for those that want it... but Nintendo is just saying no, play it our way beaches. It's just more proof Nintendo just don't get the modern gaming experience. Old Nintendo dictating to their players.

A pity. But from what I have heard the English dub is also good.

@MichaelQ3265 Yeah, but understand this, even if they made the effort to do it, if it's bad, it's bad. Just like a test, even if you studied non-stop for several weeks, if you fail the test, you just fail, your teacher wouldn't say "Well, you made a great effort, you pass".

I love watching movies in english (the actors are great), even if it isn't my native language, but I've heard a lot of english voice acting and I can say that a great chunk of it isn't good, they sound like they're only reading a script, not acting (no offense).

that french one sounds like an evil laugh

@Siskan Yup.

I think maybe Nintendo Life want to wait on the Zelda petition news, probably maybe also to space our their news if they are thinking about that. I think Nintendo everything might be a good place to send in the news :+).

Well, I do know there is the option to if possible to change back and forth between English and Japanese when you know when the cutscenes are, though you probably have to stop the game and start from your last saving point and then go to the area you know where the cutscene starts. Impractical, but maybe possible if the language doesn't have to be 100% set from when you start up.

I learned some Japanese unintentional due to my subconscious picking up words while I were watching and reading subs, but not really into Japanese as much as before. Still I can't complain about being able to understanding a bit of what they say in Japanese Nintendo Directs and such ^^.

Actually, I think it is fairly likely that I will get a reply back as I got a reply on something else, so yeah pretty sure I will get a reply .

http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/contact
Here is the weblink if you are interested and I used the Miiverse tab, which is under corporate questions and used it because I can email Nintendo from there :+). (Wasn't sure which of them I should use).

@Soundtoxin your as dumb as they come.a box of rocks is smarter then you.

Just a bunch of whinny brats whinnying like little babies over nothing.here is a box of tissues and a bottle.dont forget to change your diapers

Bummer. At least I plan to have my system lock at english. I would be the one crying if I had to hear Princess Zelda talking in spanish.

@Kimite Yes that's possible. And that's why it probably has to reach notable figures before media will start caring.

That seems kind of dispruptive as it's necessary to change the system settings rather than option in-game. But thanks for the tip. If I'm desperate enough to play it anyway I might resort to that. I just hope it isn't like Phoenix Wright (Japanese version) and Pokémon where there are separate save files for each language.

I'm jealous of all you people who seem to learn Japanese by simply watching anime. Though I've never watched it daily so maybe that's the issue.

Oh, I guess so then! I have only really contacted Level-5 before and they never responded.

I think this is fine. If 50% of Japanese gamers like English over Japanese so what is the harm? https://taisensnews.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/survey-over-50-of-japanese-gamers-prefer-english-voices-in-localised-western-games/

@Blizzia Then surely they should be speaking the made up language of Hylian - what are people who are multi-lingual supposed to do? And Nintendo actually design the games and obviously they think people should be able to understand what the characters are saying, so maybe people should respect how the actual creators wanted the game to be experienced.

Looks like I'll be playing in Italian.
Clearly the best uncontrollable sobbing.

Also, notice how a lot of weeaboo's have to criticise English dubs and act like Japanese dubs are always so much better, which is ridiculous. Respect cuts both ways.

@SeriousSam I do not care one way or the other but having a made up language is good. They try to invent accents.

@ziffy Yes, made up languages can be cool, like in Halo where it's left to your imagination what the Elite's are saying, or like in Empire Strikes Back where a droid says "E-chu-ta" to C3PO who says "How rude", but it's left to your imagination what was actually said.

I'd have a lot more sympathy for these people if they showed the same respect for others that they demand for themselves though.

@Siskan Yeah that too. I think the petition at least has to hit 1000 or 2000 for the media to really care, probably more closer to 5000 depending on how well the petition do. In any case, it is probably more efficient to email Nintendo I think, but we will see.

I think I should be fine if there are a option to have no voice acting at all beside sounds, but might do the same or just turn off the volume even though not exactly what I want to do ;^^. Yeah, there are a fair chance that when we start the game we have to commit to one language.

I can't help it really ;^^. I think one advantage I have is that as a Norwegian I am used to reading subtitles when non-Norwegian speakers are on TV, but it is really just to pay attention to what they say and read the subtitles even if I wasn't really conscious of trying to learn Japanese. (Wouldn't say Anime Japanese is real Japanese though, and don't really watch that much anime at the moment).

Anyway, I think you should try to email Nintendo, or either chat or call depending on what you prefer :+). I am going to try to send my email again one more time on Monday in case it being weekend make it harder to get replied.

If it could be done for the original Xenoblade on Wii I'm certain it could be done here too. Having options is always a plus Big N.

@Maxz Changing the system language to change the language of games does work on the Wii U as well. I started playing Shantae Half Genie Hero in German, but after I came across a piece of dialogue read like it was done with Google translate it switched to English.
The only problem on the Wii U is that it takes five minutes and as system reboot to change the language.

@Kimite Yes I could probably settle with no voices at all, but I do prefer to have them. Even the wordless moaning present in earlier games add to the atmosphere.

Well, actully I'm Swedish so as you can guess it's pretty much the same here. It certainly helped me learn English back when I was a child but then I also had the basics to build upon. I don't watch a lot of anime these either days so it could be that it'd be more helpful now that I've studied Japanese for a while.

Alright, I'll try sending one to to each of Nintendo of Europe, America and Japan I think. : )

@SeriousSam You know, the basics of Game Design is to not create a game in your image, but based on what your customers want.

Also, I agree that Hylian would be the optimal choice, but seeing as they've done zero Hylian (to the public's knowledge) voice acting, what point is there in asking for that now? It's way too late. Multi-lingual people? I'd like to see someone who speaks every available language, and also has an interest in playing video games, let alone time for that. Until I see someone like that, or Nintendo sees a large group of people like that, it remains a variable that does not need to be thought of.

@Ainz
Yoo fellow Overlord fan, any idea where i could read the Light novel?...translated of course.

F***! — Well, looks like I'll be hoping for a quick audio patch for the Wii U version.

@Neferupitou Join our Discord where we have links: https://discord.gg/WrsUa

@Miss_Dark Because it would sound like
"Hulieeer offerier hakataka tayer",
that's why.

I would have preferred Japanese, because I think it's more expressive. But OH WELL, what are you gonna do!

Siiiigh, and I'm here still wishing there was a fake language mode with chat bubbles...

@Siskan I see and would prefer to have voices as well, but we will see on if Nintendo add a dual audio or not as I would definitely choose dual audio if possible. Would technically be fine with just having sounds like in past Zelda gams, so hopefully we get that at least.

Nice, Scandinavian too :+). Pretty sure having subtitles for TV programs helped me and game text too of course. I think if you want to test your Japanese, you could always set on one of the Japanese Nintendo Directs and see how it goes .

Okey :+). Wish you the best of luck on the emails Siskan ^^.

I don't understand that if alternate audio already there, just let people have the option to use it. English subtitles are not expensive to produce and include. Having a choice is never a bad thing.

Now the meme "Cries in Spanish" has finally sense thanks to Nintendo

Welp......least we have Region Free? Just wait till its cheap and the fans do a Fetal Frame IV/Project Zero 4 job on it (Creating an English Subs mod/patch) and there you go.

Or just play the English one to death till you know it enough to play the Japanese version or finally get learning Japanese. Either 1 should work...

@Kimite Right, nothing is better than... nothing.

Yes, hello fellow Scandinavian! : D
I barely put any effort into learning English but I've been fluent for so long. School played a part in it in the beginning, but subtitles and games did just as much.
I've tried that. I get the gist of it but that's not really good enough for Zelda I think. Which is also likely more complex.

Good luck!

As always, Nintendo taking 1 step forward and another 2 steps back in anything they do.

I think this is a HUGE missed opportunity to let the players themselves decide what they would like. Stop censoring us and dictating how we should play games, Nintendo! Get with the friggin' times already!

As an anime purist, I would have LOVED to have the option to play with the original voices and English subs, but that's going to be a no go, apparently. What a shame. So many third party games on the Wii and even on the Wii U already had this option, so why not Nintendo's own games? Even Xenoblade on the Wii had the option, so it really puzzles me as to why we could not have this option now.

And yes, in my opinion the English version does sound flat compared to ALL other languages...

Don't understand why they don't just do that as they already got to translate the stuff for the voice actors so why not just give people the option to enjoy Japanese voice actors with english subtitles.

Even so thank god they don't translate the game to my native langues as my country voice actors just suck.

I'am italian .... why nintendo had to punish italy with such an orrible dub???
In italy we have many of the best movie dubbers of the world so why almost every videogames and anime had to be dubbed by the worst ones ??? In the italian trailer they have even removed part of what is said so i think that even the translation is going to be bad😢.
I hope that nintendo will patch the game because the japanese one is the best one judging from the trailers and i don't know japanese.

Japanese isn't the damn "native language" if a game is developed from the start for multilingual, simultaneous release.

Without nativism or basic accessibility to fall back on, asking for a game to be playable in another language with subs is as petulant in concept as asking for any other arbitrary aspect of the game to be changed. It's like...

"I find horses in Hyrule who aren't Epona to be immersion-breaking. Please let us replace them with the goats from Twilight Princess. You already ported the model to the Wii U, so I don't think this is too much to ask."

or "My first Zelda game was Link's Awakening, so in my heart, the world of Hyrule will always be green 'n grey. Please let me turn on a monochrome screen filter, so that I can relive my childhood."

or "You guys did a good job on the Zelda model, but I like brunettes. Could we get customizable hair colors plz?"

When a game is what it is, you have to accept it for what it is, for better or worse.

Why not? There should be a Japanese OPTION. Options are always good. I would play it in Japanese with English subs tbh.

If you're getting upset over something like this then you're probably a weaboo..... lol

@Fath The director doesn't even speak English. It's true for most of the staff. Of course Japanese is the original language. It's the language the developers speak and the only language they are able to control the quality of.

And there are so many other reasons.

Maaaaan. I was really hoping for the Japanese audio. With Studio Ghibli films I always watch with Japanese audio and English subtitles. Gestures, expressions and characterizations are pretty much always better in the audio that matches the culture that produced them. The exception being the Star Wars Prequal Trilogy. The voice acting is sssoooo much better in French.

@darkgamer001 Where I can I find these email addresses?

@crudfish

Here is the URL to where you can send your email to Nintendo of America :+). (Not sure what tag I should really use, but used Miiverse as I can email and not having to call or chat).

http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/contact

@Siskan Well, a bit early to say that yet ;^^.

Hi :+).
I am not sure if should say I am fluent in English, but I definitely know enough to make myself understood in discussions like this and such :+). I glad we have subtitles instead of dubs here on TV, feels a lot more natural.

With BOTW if you are going to play in Japanese the items descriptions wouldn't have Kana support is seems unfortunately, but luckily the NPC conversations has Kana support it seems so we can read what the kanjis sound like.

Thanks and you too ^^.

(We probably filled up the discussion enough here, but I will say that I really enjoy our discussions :+).).

@crudfish Exactly, good comparison to Ghibli. Nino Kuni, another Ghibli-esq game, had a good dub, but with that you had the OPTION to go Japanese if you wanted.

it's not a big deal...languages and dubbing tied to system language is protocol nowadays. You can't really blame Nintendo as this is a current trend, and for 95% of the buyers doesn't seem to make any difference. Still, it's a bummer overall that developers got rid of the old in-game option screen to set language and subtitles. I used videogames a lot as a learning tool when I was studying both english (when I was young) and spanish (in recent years)...

@Siskan And if you discovered that the lead scriptwriter for the game was, say, a moonlighting Bill Trinen, would that change your view? What about if the lead VA coordinator happened to be bilingual?

I'm sure there are plenty of reasons to prefer one dub over another. Most of them are petty. That's fine, people are entitled to their preferences, but there's an important difference between "would've been nice" and "compromises the game's integrity."

Some games are designed to be experienced though the lens of Japanese culture and language. Zelda, I would argue, never has been, and adding voice acting - for multiple languages in tandem -doesn't change that.

That said, if there are VA'd Tingle or Beedle characters, then I'd probably retract my assertions. Those guys are stereotypically Japanese as ****.

There will be a fair few tear stained body pillows tonight.

@Siskan Also, if we're talking about staying true to the director's vision, then if mixing subtitles were so trivial, Aonuma-san's conscious decision to leave them out speaks volumes. The director's vision is clearly for all players, regardless of nationality (addressing this with a Portugese audience, of all people!), to connect with an immersive experience playing the game in their native language.

I should think as well, since Mr. Aonuma's no slouch, that each localization has been approached with no small degree of care to ensure that this vision was met.

@Siskan
Learning Japanese from Anime only is not enough. You have to learn from the Basic first: understanding Hiragana and Katakana. You have to practice writing, reading and memorizing those letters. Don't forget the pronounce. Don't spelling Japanese words like English accent. The "A" sounds in Japan is not A by English sounds (English will say "ae" while Japan will say "aah"). I can spelling Japanese words with Japanese accents perfectly, thanks to Javanese words accent (Javanese is my traditional language in my country Indonesia). I can say both Japanese and Javanese have same accents to say pure vowels like A E I O U. Both of them spelled Aah Eh Ee Oh Ugh, not Ae Ee Ai Ow You. The last part is learning Kanji. Kanji is basically same as you learning Chinese letters. Unlike Chinese that have one only spelling, Japanese have two spelling by mostly. They are Kunyomi (Japanese style spelling) and Onyomi (Chinese style spelling). Example, "Happiness" in Kunyomi is TanoShii (The Kanji letter for this is Tano, for Shi and I letter is using Hiragana letter) but Raku in Onyomi (The spelling based on Chinese version spelling). And don't forget to practice writing Kanji letters. Writing Kanji letters also have a rule. You must know the first stroke position that I have to start before you continue second stroke. Just same as writing Chinese letters.
Okay, I think is enough. Hopefully these can help you to study Japanese language.

@Kimite Yes, I'm not even giving up hope on Japanese voice acting with English subtitles yet!

It kind of depends on how you define fluent, but I think of it quite literally. As in the ability to speak with little or no hesitation while discussing most types of subjects. Basically by thinking in the language in question rather than translating it in your mind before speaking.
Yes I agree! Dubs are even worse in live action due to the lack of lip sync and the undisputable fact that we are not hearing the real voice of the person talking.

Really? That's great! If it's just items I don't mind looking those up at all. That's just good practice. Thanks for letting me know!

I've sent an e-mail to Nintendo UK now. It actually looks like I'm guaranteed a reply so that will be interesting! I will contact the other two as well.

Thanks, me too! : ) Yes, I doubt we're adding much to the debate in here right now (sorry everyone!)
By the way I assume you're getting the Switch version? Planning on getting any multiplayer games? : )

@Fath Well, I disagree. Although popular in the west, Zelda has always been a very Japanese product. It has never been westernized in the same way Final Fantasy has been.

As I've admitted earlier, my Japanese is not good. But I am studying it at university level and I'll tell you this much: Many other language dubs are not doing a very good job at staying true to the original. And I can tell you that from only a few sentences heard in the trailer. This is often excused by localization, but that will always just be a tool to fit something to a larger audience at the expense of the original writer's ideas.

Also, my native language is Swedish. There is no such dub (I'd prefer the Japanese one anyway). So the whole thing about experiencing it in your lnative language isn't even possible for me.

@Anti-Matter Too bad I didn't write this sooner. As you can see I'm already in a position where I know about these things. Hopefully some beginner read your post!

@SeriousSam They only did Elite's language in the first game, iirc. Rest of the series they speak English! Unless you're Tolkien, it's just too hard to make your own language.

@Fath The game was developed by people who pretty much only speak Japanese, in Japan. The native language is Japanese. Your examples are ludicrous, because they have nothing to do with the case at hand. There is no "change major plot point x/y because I want it so". It's literally just giving players the freedom to choose the language of the dub they would like to hear the most, and the language of the sub they'd like to read the most.

It has no impact on the game other than improving the story impact and level of enjoyment for the people who find that their preferred dub/sub does that, and for the ones who don't care... They can play the way THEY want. It doesn't change ANYTHING for anybody but those who care, so it's not a problem. It's not even a change to the game itself, it's just making an option called dub, and one called sub. You choose your preferred dub and sub, and play the game. Done. The files will all be included regardless of version anyway, so there's no reason not to do this.

@countzero That's good to know, thanks. I'd only really considered it for handhelds before, and only with regards to Japanese/English games. I ended up grabbing a JPN 3DS off eBay (in fact, I accidentally bought two by winning a bid I never expected) to play through Detective Pikachu, and so ended up thinking of the consoles as 'Japanese Language' and 'English Language' systems. But really, the English system is really a European system who's even language options I've just been neglecting. And with the Wii U, it' seems never crossed my mind.

The tying of the game to the language must vary from game to game, as I remember some games like Sun and Moon giving you language options regardless of what console you were using. Though it sound pretty commonplace though.

It'll be interesting to see how things pan out with the Switch, given its lack of region lock. I wonder if all consoles will have the same language options, regardless of origin...

We won't be able to play with JP VA and EN sub's? Hah... That's what you think... Nothing a mod can't fix, if you're playing the Wii U version...

@Siskan Yeah same here :+). I at least have to get a answer from Nintendo before I give up and actually... the petition is now at over 850 just in some hours and it really jumped the past hour 0.0. Some sort of news site has likely mentioned the petition I think.

I think I am probably not as fluent as you, but still not too bad and can discuss a lot in English. I do need to translate more uncommon words, but I do mostly fine I guess.

Yeah, the dubs usually sound weird unless the dubs are for movies as they usually do a good job, but to live action-shows on Disney Channel as such no thanks from me ;^^.

Seems so, or at least for the old man in the beginning, but I think it is likely that other NPCs likely have kana support too if the old man has it.

Also if you want to translate kanjis I recommend you if you have a iPad if not a iPhone that you turn on the Chinese kanji drawer keyboard to say, so you can write the stokes and get the translation in Google Translate at least if you do one word at a time :+). A method I have used a few times when I was more into Japanese ^^. (And are thinking about starting more seriously with Japanese again after all of this).

Nice, hope you get an answer soon Siskan :+). (Not yet a answer for my email, but thinking about resending in on Monday again like I said before).

Actually if you want we can continue to talk in private on Miiverse as I come to think of that we could discuss there and saw your Miiverse name to say in your profile :+). Already sent you a comment in case you are interested ^^.

Anyway, I am getting the Switch version as then I can take BOTW and other Switch games everywhere I want . As for multiplayer games not sure. Maybe Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but have the Wii U version so, but we will see.

So if you want to continue the discussion Miiverse is up to you Siskan :+). (You can access Miiverse from your PC, you just need to know the password for your account).

Crap. Seriously? This was honestly the thing I was most looking forward to ever since hearing the Japanese voice work in the latest trailer! D: That really really really sucks. If the different audio is apparently already in there, why not make it available to gamers? They did it with Xenoblade!

Cool I will just switch to the Japanese os then.

However I really just hope you can turn the voice acting off.

@aaronsullivan To be blunt. I usually like Japanese dubs, because by and large, they just sound better in general. I find it very rare to find a game where I legitimately 100% like the English Dub.

Honestly, while I do think the Japanese dub sounds good I do have a problem with them - In Tokyo Mirage Sessions, a game with only a japanese dub and english subtitles, it was inmersion breaking for me NOT understanding the battle snippets and depending only of the subtitles.
My first playthrough will be in English, so I can know the name of the places and comment it in the internet, and the second playthrough will be in Latin Spanish. I'll understand both perfectly, thank goodness.

@Siskan Petition a worthwhile cause for goodness sake. The English dub is great. Or you know, go buy the Japanese version. Honestly- entitled or what

I'm really just happy that this confirms that not only can I have the option for my Japanese Switch to be in English, but also my copy of Breath of the Wild.

I like the English voice acting personally and especially their effort and willingness to include American AND British (and maybe even other) accented characters. But I'd be willing to create a second profile on my console and play the game in Japanese also when I replay the game.

This game, unlike anime, was designed with the intention of being released in multiple languages and therefore will be just as good, if not better, in your mother tongue. Not really something we can judge too intently on the minimal samples we've heard so far.

Plus, who's to say that the other language options aren't superior in acting quality to both the Japanese and English if that's what people are worried about?

Heh this game should be voiced in hylian and subbed in all availables languages ...

@Soundtoxin "I'm not going, o buy a game I really want because the company making it won't let me hear it in a language I probably don't understand"

Honestly, if it's machine translated, they could've been talking about fish and we wouldn't know. I'm gonna wait for some official word on the subject from NOA or NOE, rather than from foriegn interviews that fans couldn't even be @$$ed to translate...

I cannot understand why is this news. Nintendo has not implemented in-game language settings in their first-party titles ever again since the introduction of the Nintendo DS. You can only change language from the console's own system settings. This is likely going to continue on.

I think Sony Interactive Entertainment has started doing the same thing with their own first-party titles on the PlayStation 4.

Anybody who won't buy over no dual audio is a fool. Yes, the decision is stupid but, anybody who thinks Zelda's voice is that bad needs to play Final Fantasy X or the original Resident Evil and re-think their life after ranting over a voice in a video game. It's not the end of the world. Hopefully Nintendo will change this but, until then give the voice actors a chance.

@Senario I didn't think it was that awful if anything I thought Russian was a little off to me.

I am looking forward to watching cut scenes in english and not have to read as much.

i prefer subtitles for every game i play, regardless of language. it's like i have a hard time processing audio dialogue when i'm focused on visual information. so i'm curious to know if there will be the option to even turn on subtitles? and if not, what about people who are hard of hearing or deaf?

(watches video) . . .

English language voiceovers in Japanese games always kills the immersion IMO, because they are almost always Californian ("Valley Girl") accents or similar, and contrary to their belief, only a relatively minute number of English-speaking people worldwide sound like that.

Look... I abtolutely agree that more options is always good, but... Come on, guys, it's not the end of the world.

If you speak Japanese, just play the game in Japanese. If you don't, I don't think you NEED the voices to be in a language you don't understand.

People often say that Japanese voiceovers are much better, and they sound much more natural compared to English voiceovers, but... How do you know that if you can't speak the language? Most people only heard Japanese in anime or other games, and became their standard of what the language sounds like, so to them, it doesn't feel unnatural. Of course it's much easier to notice if something doesn't sound EXACTLY like they think it should in a language they interact with every day through real speech.

And for people who can't stand some characters having a certain accent, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't really notice if characters spoke in a Japanese dialect that "doesn't fit" them.

@G-Boy Again, that's absolutely ridiculous and a workaround at best.
If you keep all these files on the cartridge anyways, make it possible to use these files.

There are dummied out files and there are 5 text and speech localisations that go unused for the average player but STILL eat up space (You know, the thing a vanilla Switch has so little of).

@Krisi Emotional tonation and sympathetic/empathetic cues cross all language barriers. Don't need to understand a language to detect whether a voice conveys genuine expression or not. The JP VA sounds genuine, the EN VA does not.

@speedracer216 Dang, beat me to it.

@PlywoodStick Yeahhh... no. That's not how Japanese people cry, it's how Japanese voice actors cry. And the same goes for any of the other acting. If you don't live in a country and hear the language on a daily basis, then yeah, you may think it sounds better than your own language, but if you spend enough time in Japan you'll eventually notice that Japanese voice-overs in pretty much any medium (video games, movies, television, the news (because they assume Japanese people are too lazy to read subtitles so they do voice-overs any time a foreigner speaks, even though they ALSO include Japanese subtitles most of the time), etc.) all sound exactly the same. There are exceptions to the rule, but they're very rare. The original Xenoblade Chronicles had very good Japanese voice acting (for the most part... Fiora was pretty awful), but the sequel sounded more or less like any other generic Japanese video game. Still... having said that, unless the English is REALLY good, I'd rather play the game in the language it was originally created in. Though if the English is even slightly decent I might choose that just because I'm lazy.

The petition has 1,255 supporters so far.

Haha, people will always complain.
"WAAAAHH there's no voice acting, what is this 1992?!"
"WAAHH it doesn't have dual audio, Nintendo are nazis!!"

Hey NintendoLife, can you guys please share the petition? You could give it huge exposure

Personally, I never cared, or even wanted VA in Zelda games.
Seeing the embended video, I've got to say I liked Spanish and Russian best (which I don't speak any of them)

Some peoples here prefer Japanese voice with English text. Yes, that's good to hear but if the reason is Japanese intonation sound better than English intonation, I think some of them just only fascinated by the sounds of Japanese language, probably Japanese language sounds "Exothic" for some people. Because of "Exothic" voices, probably they want to hear how exothic that language but never want to understand Japanese language. So what is the point if we want to hear so exothic language that we have no idea the meanings just only to satisfy our desire, just because Japanese voices sounds more pleasant, so "SuperStar", so Animesque than other language ?
I like to hear Japanese voice acting, but that option from Nintendo is not The End of the World. Try to embrace, don't reject.

@kurtasbestos Well, it reminds me of someone having experienced a great loss, such as having just seen their parent or child be killed right in front of them. I've seen a CCTV video leaked from China of a mother and father whose toddler ran out into the street when they weren't looking for a split second. Before they could bring her back, someone accidentally ran over the child, crushing them beneath the tires with a sickening crunch, their innards oozing out.

The cries of the mother and father afterward, as people gathered around, didn't sound wildly different from how the JP VA Zelda is crying. That is the sound of having experienced a deep loss. It is replicated in JP VA (and East Asian VA in general, for that matter) because they recognize the sound for what it is. The EN VA here simply does not convey that sense of deep loss.

I would love to see Nintendo include all the possible languages in Zelda. It's a way to learn different languages.

@Anti-Matter It has nothing to do with "exoticness." Japanese isn't an exotic language at all. If anything, the various Native American and original Latin American dialects are examples of something truly exotic, since there's so few people who can speak and understand each one. Liking to hear those languages may often be an example of liking to hear words that one cannot understand for the sake of "exoticness." Not Japanese, it's too common.

The elderly woman's narration in the JP trailer actually sounds like an elderly Impa (or someone like that) portending of events to come. In the EN trailer, it sounds like someone much younger attempting to sound elderly. The middle aged man's narration in the JP trailer sounds like a leader imparting the task at hand. In the EN trailer, it sounds like a generic man's voice, to the point one can't tell their age, though it sounds younger than it should. This trend continues for the rest of each character's VA comparison. These things are a lot easier to notice in the EN/JP trailer comparison video on YouTube.

It's not that the intonations of Japanese sounds better than English, it's that they're performed much better in this example. (And not all examples.)

I personally don't mind, but I think the option would have been nice. Even with the option, I would have played with English audio. But still, it's such a simple thing to have the option, so why not?

I think I came up with a solution to circumvent this. Sure, it's not an ideal solution, but I might try it if Nintendo shouldn't patch this:

Google translate is already able to translate pictures or basically anything that's in front of your camera.
So, unless I'll take a crash course in Japanese until March 3rd (which I'm seriously considering), maybe I'll just play the game in Japanese and hold my phone in front of the screen everytime there appear subtitles.
As I said, it's not ideal, but maybe it'll be enough.
Still, it's Nintendo's responsibility, not Google's, so I'm hoping they will change their mind...

@shani I mean, "use a smartphone app" is Nintendo's solution for everything else on the Switch

@shani Google Translate between English and Japanese is still monumentally bad for anything of reasonable length, complexity, or uniqueness. It's even worse for fantasy material like video games because many of the characters speak with heavy or exaggerated dialects, sometimes with quirks not found in any actual human usage. In short, you'd end up with something like this.

If you DO take a crash course, Google Translate can be a useful tool to fill in some of the gaps in your knowledge (although arguably inferior to jisho.org in nearly every way). However, from my experience (and by common consensus), it's still a long way off being able to act as a replacement.

In some ways, I think games are the perfect language learning tool; you play a game at your own pace, and are actually invested in the world and its information. A film or TV show will carry on without caring whether you've understood it or not, and while a book isn't much different (although can at least be slowed down). They're both essentially 'finished' pieces of work before you even start them, rather than interactive worlds to explore. A game allows you to actually apply what it teaches you, and your progress though the main story will somewhat depend on the knowledge you pick up and use.

However, most games require a pretty decent language ability to be actually enjoyed, so you may find turning your favourite game into a linguistic trudge spoils the experience somewhat.

Long story short, I think Google Translate will be a mess, and you should take the crash course in Japanese for the hell of it (though it might not get you up to a standard where gameplay is anything less than frustrating).

Maybe (if there are multiple save files) you could play though each section first in German, then English, then Japanese. That'd be... interesting, and would mean you wouldn't miss out on any crucial information for the sake of language practice.

@darkgamer001 lol "region free". did you notice how he worded region free though? in the switch presentation he made it clear that not everything would be region free, but stated it in such a way that only some titles would be region free

@Yoshis95 That would be one of the biggest slaps to fans and I think even Nintendo realize the danger of creating so much anger and frustration with that kind of move....I...think
But no, if I'm pretty sure with this one it's a given. Maybe one or two extreme cases like Persona on the PS3, but nothing more than that

@darkgamer001 I'm not trying to contradict you just so you know. I just think region locking is stupid. but the quote from the presentation is "In General We will not apply region locking to nintendo switch software". I just find it sneaky and annoying how they do this. Maybe im just being a pessimist but i could totally see them region locking all the games where the region actually makes a difference. (E.g. xenoblade, fire emblem)

https://youtu.be/Ntzz8O7SpWs?t=5m17s

@Adamario Haha so true! ^^
@Maxz I didn't really think it through, but you made a fair point. It might not be up to the task of properly translating the dialogue from an enormous fantasy game like LoZ... my 'idea' was based on the assumption or hope that Google Translate got better at this by now. I've only tried out the picture translator once out of curiosity when it was released.

I actually (almost) never use GT myself, not only because I usually have a good intuitive, context-based understanding but also because there are better tools out there. For example, there is dict.leo.org - they have a pretty extensive database For DE<->EN, DE<-<FR, DE<->SPA and - I think - DE<->ITA (oh and I just realized they also support Chinese, Russian, Portugese and Polish ^^). Even less common words and proverbs can be found in the forum discussions (included in the search function). For me, that covers 99%, everything else I ever needed was exclusively found in urban dictionary. ^^
There's also wiktionary of course, which is a great tool, but not that practical as a translator.
But other than that, you're probably right, specialized translators are better suited, which I can confirm for Dutch and Farsi.

So in that regard, thanks for pointing me to jisho.org!
I've been wanting to learn Japanse for several years, at one point I even bought Influent (Japanese) on Steam, an educational game for learning languages - although it hardly qualifies as a game. The thing is, I rarely 'played' it. ^^ But I think it might only be good to memorize vocabulary, which never was hard for me anyway...

And actually, while I don't disagree with your notion about games as a viable language learning tool, I think TV shows - depending on the genre/subject - are more helpful because they carry more natural or daily life language. Unless it's some fancy fantasy or sci-fi stuff, you witness more 'normal' conversations and reactions, which is more useful because you're more likely to get into these kind of conversations in real life.
Most games - but again, it depends on the genre/subject - contain more fantastical or otherwise unusual situations.

Even though I'm a quick learner and have a talent for learning languages, I don't think one month would be enough to properly understand and enjoy the story of LoZ... so I'll probably go with one of these options:

a) I'll play the game in English and then I'll play a second time in Japanese (not really what I wanted).
b) Someone will put a complete collection of the English subtitles on Youtube and I will just have the video ready on my phone whenever needed.

Option b) sounds more probably, though still problematic as BoT is non-linear and videos per se are always linear...

@shani Yeah, you're probably right about TV shows being closer to life in the vast majority of cases. I was talking more in terms of 'format' though, in that a video game give some you information and then asks you to apply it, whereas a TV show is closed off to your inputs. This varies from game to game though.

I picked up a cheap JPN 3DS off eBay to play Detective Pikachu, and despite finding the experience quite slow and difficult, there was a certain satisfaction in being able to listen to people, assess the evidence, and then present a conclusion, all in the target language. As in, I was actually a functioning part of that world, whereas with most other media I'm completely passive - watching events pan out. A part of the audience rather than the cast.

Anyway, that was my one experience with that game, but I thought it was worth sharing. Definitely much more immersive than watching something play out on a screen.

I hope your strategy with BoTW works, whatever it ends up being!

I was gonna say just buy the Japanese version, but I forgot that the text will be Japanese also. Ehh.

@Yoshis95 I know, don't worry. If you think you're being pessimistic, well....let's just say it's very possible I'm being overly optimistic and naive over here.
And I really shouldn't, given Ninty's track record. But yeah, I'm tempted to pick up the Switch whilst in Japan (considerably cheaper there), and any flip-flopping with region-free will really mess me up to say the least.

The ones mad are the kids obsessed with Japanese cartoons.

@Nintendude789 Nah, I definitely don't watch any Japanese cartoons (with Street Fighter being the exception, but that was a long time ago). But right from the start when I saw the BotW story trailer I realized that the Japanese voice acting is superior, because it's more believable/convincing (the Russian VA is also pretty good though).

@Maxz That's definitely true and furthermore I think games with the specific goal of teaching languages could work better than anything other medium for all the reasons you mentioned.
There are so many examples for things that gamers like us have learned better through gaming than by traditional schooling methods, be it geography, history, mechanics, agriculture, architecture or other topics.
Come to think of it, games (and songs) definitely helped me learn English as a child.
Influent is such a game, only I think it isn't good enough. I've only played it for 23 minutes, it basically lets you explore a 3D appartment where you could click on every object and it would tell/show you how that word is pronounced and written in Japanese as well as in Romajii.

But for now, I'll just order a book to learn Japanese. For the past 3 hours I've been researching the web.
I've been reading reviews about books with different learning methods on Amazon and went through wikipedia to get a general feeling for how the language works... like knowing what Katakana, Hiragana and Kanji are or how sentences and words with different meanings are formed.
I probably won't be up to speed until March 3rd but at least BotW gave me long overdue push to finally start learning Japanese.

@shani
I want to know what's happening. Not how good they are.

@Nintendude789 Exactly!
That's why people want Japanese VA and English (or their mother tongue) subtitles. To have the best voice acting and still understand what's happening.
Now you get why people want that option?

@MrPuzzlez Essentially, there wouldn't be Japanese version anyway. Since the Switch is region free, you can just switch your console's region to Japan and then the game will also be in Japanese. But as you already realized, then the subtitles will be in Japanese, too. ^^

@shani
I find Japanese voice acting extremely annoying. Especially with young female characters. Even though I don't watch anime, I'd still prefer English dubbed.

@shani If you want want help with textbook selection (or any other advice) don't hesitate to ask! Of course, if they're Japanese-German textbooks that don't have an English counterpart then I won't be of much help, but if not I'd be happy to!

From my experience, picking the right textbook is pretty crucial, as some are incredibly dry and lifeless, which is a massive turn-off. I found Japanese for Busy People sat firmly in the lifeless category, while the Genki series felt really engaging. There's a subtle charm and humour to them that makes the reading more memorable and compelling, and I feel the serious 'linguistic' side of things strikes the right balance between readability and rigour (for a beginner's textbook, anyway).

If you want to go deeper into things, I think Tae Kim's Guide to Japanese is a useful online resource to be aware of, which can give you a different angle on various grammar points.

And as for general approach, it's widely regarded that the sooner you can learn the Kana (Hiragana and Katakana), the better. It actually caught me off guard how achievable that actually was, as the different script is one of the most initially intimidating things about the language for all readers (after all, how are you meant to gauge how hard something if you've got no idea what it says). Personally, I don't think 100% romaji textbooks should even exist (unless they're really short), as it's just postponing such a necessary - and actually not all that difficult - part of the language.

Most games come with Hiragana written above the Kanji (known as 'Furigana') which means that with a solid grip on Hiragana and Katakana, you should be able to at least pronounce everything in the game, even if you can't understand it. Crucially, it'll make looking things up easier (although that that might not be such if issue if you're using the Translate App).

As for Kanji, people have different approaches, and even these approaches change over the course of a person's studies, but most textbooks should have a decent drip-deep of characters that are both simple and common. The Kyouiku Kanji list can provide some people with a basic ordering of characters to learn first, but needn't be stuck to too religiously. Some people like to do 'Kanji Study' as if it's almost it's own separate subject, but I find the further I isolate it from the rest of my language knowledge the harder things are to remember. After all, if you know a character but not any words that it features is, then you can't use it as the building block of a language, which is exactly what a character is supposed to be.

Anyway, the two Kana scripts should keep you busy enough before you have to worry about any of that.

I hope you find a textbook you get along with!

@Nintendude789 I know what you mean!
@Maxz Actually, I just ordered the Genki book (second edition) because of its excellent reputation. They're only available in English, but that doesn't bother me.

Most of the German books I found use Romaji in the first 2 or 3 chapters (there was one German book that looked really good, but uses Romaji up until the 10th chapter) but then slowly replace them with what you've learned, apparently it's called the progressive method. ^^
But from what I've read in user reviews, I'd like to keep the Romaji use to an absolute minimum because learning the Japanese lettering is inevitable. And maybe you're right and it's not even that hard to learn.

I also found books that were specifically designed to help memorizing the Kana and Kanji, like with the Heisig method which basically is just gives you mnemonics for every single one.
But I think I'll be fine creating my own mnemonics, memorizing stuff was never a problem anyway and there are also free sites like http://yesjapan.com and http://realkana.com.
But thanks for those other two links, they went straight into my bookmark folder.
That Kyōiku kanji list looks especially useful for when I'll already know some of them and want to progress further. I'm curious how learning them will feel like, but from what I've seen in a handful of youtube videos, it could be quite interesting!
So far I've only noticed that every book teaches you its own limited set of Kanji and I also briefly saw the Furigana mentioned somewhere on Wikipedia I think. ^^

Anyway, thanks for your help so far!

@allav866 I just got annoyed because it wasn't accurate.

@MrWarner14 Welcome to the Internet, where accuracy is... wait, what is accuracy?

Look, I wanted the option to play with the Japanese audio too but some of you guys are taking this a bit too seriously. If listening to your own native language is that hard for you to bear (as in, that you won't play the game) I would question why you don't, or aren't already learning Japanese than instead of boycotting this masterpiece.

Hell, I'll sign the petition but I'm still going to play the game with or without the option and I'm not going to whine about it and let it stop me from enjoying this beautiful game.

@business-scrub English is not my native language.

@darkgamer001 Thankfully, it's been confirmed you can change the region of the Switch. If you change the region to Japan, you will get japanese voice acting and vice versa.

@G-Boy Fair enough. I definitely agree there should be dubs in more languages, I'm surprised there isn't a Swedish dub too.

I was more speaking about the people (who must be anime purists or something) that are boycotting the game because of the fact they can't choose the Japanese audio with English subtitles. Again, I'm disappointed too. I would've liked to play it with that option but it's honestly just not that big of a deal.

@business-scrub I don't think it's a big deal either, but it would be very nice if Nintendo changed their mind.

@Maxz
"In other words, there are sections with VA but without text, so you'd still miss information even if you kept the text as English."

Thereby excluding deaf gamers. All in game speech should have (optional) subtitles.

@SirPrimalform True. It's also not always practical for players who can hear perfectly to play with the sound on. I could well be wrong about that. I tried to find the video where I thought I'd heard it, but couldn't.

I'll have another go at tracking it down, because I still have a feeling about the voice overs being saidn to potentially aid the game's fluidity, but in none of the videos can I find any evidence of them replacing subtitles altogether. And as you've said, it would be an unnecessary impediment to players with little or no hearing, or even those playing with the sound off or in a noisy environment.

So you're right to pick me up on that.

@Ainz
Looks like i'm late the invite expired.

@Neferupitou Here ya go: https://discord.gg/bbkTC57

@Kimite Just want to say sorry about that. Hope it didn't affect you.

@Siskan Not sure what you mean Siskan, but if you mean in terms of dual audio not being in BOTW I will figure out something :+).

@Kimite I hope you do! : ) But I meant that thing you warned me about on Miiverse. It was already too late (it happened with a bit of delay).

@Siskan I see :+(. You could maybe have been saved by deleting the comment, but it is fairly likely you would have gotten banned anyway.

I recommend you to contact Nintendo of America as they might be able to help you get unbanned and say that you didn't think or didn't know at first that you wasn't allowed to share that sort of information. I tried Nintendo of Europe for a similar case, but they couldn't help so I think the Miiverse headquarter in America.

So yeah, hope it goes well for you Siskan :+).

Here: http://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/contact

(Miiverse is under corporate questions).

@Kimite Thank you. I guess I'll try that.
I received a reply regarding the voice acting by the way. They said that as of now they can't confirm whether there will be a patch or not. But they would definitely take on what I informed them of as feedback.

@Siskan No problem Siskan and like I said I hope it goes well for you :+).

I see and understandable from Nintendo's side, but for now I guess we just have to hope for the best now.

I am thinking about writing a reply back to Nintendo still, but after either going a new PC or fixed the keyboard buttons. (Hopefully not too long to).

I was hoping for dual audio ;( I always enjoy playing with Japanese audio on my second play through of RPGs. Alas.

It still amazes me that this luxury is actually a genuine deal-breaker for some people. Sure, the option would be cool, but how many games have required this for their enjoyment? I don't think I've ever heard of a dual audio complaint for a video game (maybe there have been, I just missed them - I imagine a game based off an animé might have ruffled a few feathers in this regard) before but suddenly it is of the highest importance. I guess it's the whole Hylian thing, but would you really be satisfied hearing a familiar sounding Japanese dialect in it's place?

Nintendo don't include all of the audio tracks as options and it means Nintendo 'still don't realize that options are good'. I suppose people won't be happy until every game has every possible option ever, even if it is one that caters for what seems to be an, until now, unprecedented requirement from purists.

Christ knows how much Nintendo had on their plate with this game; it seems outlandish to label this as some sort of shortcoming on their part.

I hope everyone can enjoy this upcoming marvel, and for those who are genuinely at ill with the predicament I hope that you can get your unrest heard by Nintendo. It would still be great if they could accommodate your wishes. While the reaction does amaze me, I realize it is real, and shared by many so I can't ignore the potential benefit from such an amendment.

@G-Boy is there a reason you're buying the English version in the first place then? The system is region free, after all. Not being snooty, I'm genuinely curious. I take it your native language isn't catered for in the other versions?

@TearTheRoofOff I'm Swedish, and I learned English when I was three years old, so I understand that language better than Spanish, Italian, German and French.

And I'm actually learning Japanese right now to be able to play Final Fantasy VI (Ted Woolsey's translation contains everything I hate about American localizations), but I don't have time to learn the whole language before March, so I'll have to play Zelda in English.

But, as I said earlier, it's not a big deal. At least BoTW (not Bottom of the Well) hasn't been censored like FFVI so far.

@G-Boy Thanks for the info - It's a shame that someone like yourself can't enjoy it in your native tongue, but your language skills sure will pay off at times like this (my language skills SUCK).

I agree that it's not a big deal; I hope others can share that sentiment so as to not be too disappointed. The game looks to offer so much, a preference for a different spoken language being a deal-breaker is a shame.

@Siskan Just wanted to give you a heads-up that you are unbanned on Miiverse now in case you didn't know and were interested :+).