Where are our French pilots?

[Hauksbee 103]

'Was looking at the OFF pilot maps that Olham has patiently compiled, and it seems that on the Allied side there is a dearth of French pilots. Is there something about WWI flying that does not resonate our French comrades?

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

yeah..it's called fighting!

 

(just kidding)

Edited September 29, 2011 by UK_Widowmaker

[Olham 164]

The sim seems to be best spread in the English speaking world,

as we can see in the USA, Canada and even down under in Australia.

Maybe because all info is in English?

 

There are not even 10 % German flyers, if I counted right, although the German market

for flight sims is very good.

Maybe OBD should have a part of their website in German, and another in French?

Edited September 29, 2011 by Olham

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Good idea Olham!!!!!!!!!

[Hasse Wind 46]

Maybe localized versions are important to have in many countries? Every major game title that gets released in Europe is always localized for the biggest language groups. I'm fortunate to not belong to any such groups, so we always get the original language versions here. But maybe flight sims would also require such localization to better penetrate the French, Spanish, Italian, and German markets? Obviously small developer groups don't have the resources to do that.

[Creaghorn 10]

germany is a "dubbing" country among other big countries in europe. other countries do not dubb movies but have it with undertitle. that's one of the reasons why english in germany is taught in school but hardly anyone really needs or speaks it. same probably in france. so that's like algebra, you learn it and after passing the exams you forget it again. another reason is that many people in germany never had english in school but russian (east-germany). but IMO biggest reason is that in dubbing countries the people are spoiled with having everything translated. if it's not translated, then they hardly can use it. of course there are also many people who watch movies in original language and just have undertitles to support in the case it went too fast or so, but most people want to have everything translated. especially the youth nowadays sings songs from the charts without having a clou what it's about lol. in those countries who are used to get stuff mostly in english, be it movies or games etc., they have less problems with it.

there is the language forum in combatace and there were also some threads about OFF in the german forum, and the people there liked it, but refused it simply because it is not in german.

 

 

[Hasse Wind 46]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's a shame when somebody who enjoys flight sims misses a gem like OFF because of language, especially when you don't need to be fluent in English to enjoy it. There's no dialogue to follow or anything, after all. If people just gave it a chance, I'm sure they could play and enjoy the sim perfectly well, even if they can't speak English like a native.

[Creaghorn 10]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. It's a shame when somebody who enjoys flight sims misses a gem like OFF because of language, especially when you don't need to be fluent in English to enjoy it. There's no dialogue to follow or anything, after all. If people just gave it a chance, I'm sure they could play and enjoy the sim perfectly well, even if they can't speak English like a native.

 

problem is rather to know it exists and getting interested in the first place. if i don't speak english i probably won't search in english websites for new games and sims etc. so actually i think that most people never even knew it's existing. you can compare it with books. if i love reading books and can only read german, then i would of course look only for books available in german. if there are excellent books not translated (yet) i might never be aware of them in the first place because i only know about books in german.

or the other way, the japanese horror movies like the ring or the grudge etc., they existed for some years and nobody knew about them. it's only since the US made the movies again with own budget and in english when most of the non-japanese people knew about it and went to the movies.

[Lewie 7]

I'm not sure why the French Escadrilles don't have more pilots represented in our OFF ranks, some of the SOP Escadrilles are liveried in really neat designs. I've got 3 pilots that are French, but that's out of 18 that are mostly RFC and RNAS.

Edited September 29, 2011 by Lewie

[Capitaine Vengeur 263]

germany is a "dubbing" country among other big countries in europe. other countries do not dubb movies but have it with undertitle. that's one of the reasons why english in germany is taught in school but hardly anyone really needs or speaks it. same probably in france. so that's like algebra, you learn it and after passing the exams you forget it again. another reason is that many people in germany never had english in school but russian (east-germany). but IMO biggest reason is that in dubbing countries the people are spoiled with having everything translated. if it's not translated, then they hardly can use it. of course there are also many people who watch movies in original language and just have undertitles to support in the case it went too fast or so, but most people want to have everything translated. especially the youth nowadays sings songs from the charts without having a clou what it's about lol. in those countries who are used to get stuff mostly in english, be it movies or games etc., they have less problems with it.

there is the language forum in combatace and there were also some threads about OFF in the german forum, and the people there liked it, but refused it simply because it is not in german.

 

 

 

Yes, France too is an all-dubbing country, Creaghorn. Even on the French-German channel Arte, most of the German movies are in dubbed version, a shame. Comparing to non-dubbing countries like Netherlands for example, it really makes us international idiots. But I must admit that there can be a problem about original versions: accent. Since youth, we've been trained in and used to the International English accent, listening to Shakespearians, BBC extracts, things like that. But most of the audio and visual English-speaking products come from the USA, whose accent our young and open ear has not been used to (there even can be vicious traps, like Hugh Laurie faking the American accent in Dr House!). I have a real problem with the nasal, chewing American accent (not even speaking of local accents like Appalachian or Southern rednecks', or New York City dwellers'). In the "Dogfights" series by The History Channel (chosen as an example for I am browsing it now), lacking subtitles, I can easily understand the commentator's narration (International English accent), but hardly the testimonies of the Yank pilots. I'm probably too old now to remedy.

 

No problem about the written language, on the other hand: daily use of rich Internet forums like Combatace is a perfect regular training.

[Creaghorn 10]

Yes, France too is an all-dubbing country, Creaghorn. Even on the French-German channel Arte, most of the German movies are in dubbed version, a shame. Comparing to non-dubbing countries like Netherlands for example, it really makes us international idiots. But I must admit that there can be a problem about original versions: accent. Since youth, we've been trained in and used to the International English accent, listening to Shakespearians, BBC extracts, things like that. But most of the audio and visual English-speaking products come from the USA, whose accent our young and open ear has not been used to (there even can be vicious traps, like Hugh Laurie faking the American accent in Dr House!). I have a real problem with the nasal, chewing American accent (not even speaking of local accents like Appalachian or Southern rednecks', or New York City dwellers'). In the "Dogfights" series by The History Channel (chosen as an example for I am browsing it now), lacking subtitles, I can easily understand the commentator's narration (International English accent), but hardly the testimonies of the Yank pilots. I'm probably too old now to remedy.

 

No problem about the written language, on the other hand: daily use of rich Internet forums like Combatace is a perfect regular training.

 

btw. i love arte, at least most of the times (sometimes still too strange though). especially the french-german show "karambolage" and this geopolitical show "mit offenen Karten".

 

accents is the main reason why i mostly watch dvd's and blu ray in original language. i don't want to miss the different accents. it's not fun watching lord of the rings without their accents, or darth vader in german.

 

on the other hand german dubbing is one of the best, any many many movies in the past had a hughe success just because of the translation, like all bud spencer and terrence hill movies, or louis de funes.

 

about faking accents, i just recently found out that apollo in BSG is actually british and speaks like gaius baltar in real, but in the series he spoke american to match the accent of his father adama.

[Olham 164]

Another regular ARTE watcher here.

They have a good touch about their whole design, and often have good theme nights.

About dubbing: I guess one day many films will be Chinese - and I guess, dubbing will

be inevitable then.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I know it's a cultural thing and you'll get used to it if you hear it all the time, but I can't stand dubbing. Some of the DVDs I've bought have dubbing for the biggest European languages, and sometimes I've tried to watch them using dubbed dialogue. It's awful. I just can't imagine watching classic English-language films with famous actors playing the roles and hear them talking with another person's voice! You can't dub James Stewart, Marlon Brando or Steve McQueen! It's just wrong. Films should be enjoyed as they were made. It's not hard to read subtitles, if one doesn't understand the spoken language.

[Creaghorn 10]

Another regular ARTE watcher here.

They have a good touch about their whole design, and often have good theme nights.

About dubbing: I guess one day many films will be Chinese - and I guess, dubbing will

be inevitable then.

 

i like those trashmovie nights, especially with classic horromovies.

some months ago there was the greek trashmovie "attack of the giant moussaka". .

 

btw. i don't think that dubbing from chinese movies will be necessary. our children will have for sure chinese in school instead of english and french. question is rather cantonese or mandarin?

[Hasse Wind 46]

Mandarin Chinese has more speakers.

[themightysrc 5]

Here's a tip for movie goers.

 

My wife, rather more than me, is a great movie fan, as in going to the cinema, which I tend to treat as slightly less unpleasant that attending a public execution.

 

My eyes, though, were opened recently when we went to watch the final Harry Potter film - don't, before you even say anything, just don't. We'd missed the non-subtitles showing and so had to watch the one with subtitles for the hard of hearing.

 

Tell you what - I'm doing that again. Absolutely no noise from the rest of the audience whatsoever, and you quickly ignore the subtitles. Bliss. No crisp packets, no colicky babies, no kids rabbiting, no adults questioning the script. Just silence, and the occasional waft of hands behind you as two deaf people argue frantically about some aspect of the plot.

 

Well recommended.

[Wayfarer 5]

Here's a tip for movie goers.

 

My wife, rather more than me, is a great movie fan, as in going to the cinema, which I tend to treat as slightly less unpleasant that attending a public execution.

 

My eyes, though, were opened recently when we went to watch the final Harry Potter film - don't, before you even say anything, just don't. We'd missed the non-subtitles showing and so had to watch the one with subtitles for the hard of hearing.

 

Tell you what - I'm doing that again. Absolutely no noise from the rest of the audience whatsoever, and you quickly ignore the subtitles. Bliss. No crisp packets, no colicky babies, no kids rabbiting, no adults questioning the script. Just silence, and the occasional waft of hands behind you as two deaf people argue frantically about some aspect of the plot.

 

Well recommended.

 

Hey, mightysrc, I ended up accompanying the rest of the family on one of their number of visits to see the last Harry Potter film myself, and I don't even like the books. Thought some of it made quite an impressive spectacle. So you are not alone!