Why will the Arabic language be deleted?

9Outlaw9Outlaw Member Posts: 25 ★
in General Discussion
Hi Kabam, over the years we have been enjoying the game and because this week we got a message saying the Arabic language will be deleted. Unfortunately, did you know that there are many Arab players who will leave the game because of this decision...
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Comments

  • 9Outlaw9Outlaw Member Posts: 25 ★
    I hope you will reconsider the decision We loved the game why Yakabam The whole Arab community feels sad because of this, oh, looks like we're leaving the game. Thank you
  • ShiroiharaShiroihara Member Posts: 1,092 ★★★★
    edited March 2022
    You know what. I apologise for my last comment.
    In fairness, I don’t know how anything I’ve said can be construed as xenophobic. You’re putting words in my mouth.
    I’m not telling anyone to learn English. It is what it is, a business decision.
  • KerneasKerneas Member Posts: 3,845 ★★★★★
    Nice to have you, bye. Hope you will find happiness in another game (I say that as someone who had to adapt to foreign languages in all situations).

    For real tho, I understand it is unpleasant, but you clearly know enough english to read and write, is it such a big deal?
  • UnknownUnknown
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  • KerneasKerneas Member Posts: 3,845 ★★★★★
    AverageDesi said:

    Kerneas said:


    For real tho, I understand it is unpleasant, but you clearly know enough english to read and write, is it such a big deal?

    Is the concept of people speaking for others unable to do it themselves foreign to you?
    That's a fair point, thank you. I didn't realise knowledge of english is not as common where they live.
  • Crine60Crine60 Member Posts: 1,446 ★★★★
    ItsDamien said:


    Translation does not come cheap, I know this because I’ve worked in games translation. The amount of work to support right to left text and then to have it translated every single month is extremely costly and while that may seem unfair, that’s business. These translations aren’t done in house by a team at Kabam, I can almost guarantee you that, but have to be outsourced to a third party localisation team who happens to have an Arabic member actively working in that company, which again is rare for game translation companies to have (neither of the two I’ve worked for had a single Arabic translator).

    I am confused by Kabam posting about and you referring to the work/cost of doing right to left text. I completely understand the fact that it costs extra to have everything translated to any other language but what does the direction the text is read in matter? If you make all the text appear at once is it any different than just typing the text backwards so that it can be read from right to left? Honestly interested in understanding why the direction is a big factor as opposed to just the cost of an Arabic translator.
  • GroundedWisdomGroundedWisdom Member Posts: 36,646 ★★★★★
    Money is not the issue. Not solely. Any business practice will assess need versus cost. If resources are being allocated to something that the numbers do not justify the need for, it's going to be reconsidered. This wasn't something they decided on a whim, or with any kind of malice or intention of exclusion. The requirement didn't support the energy that was going into it. It's as simple as that. This was not done blindly. They have the data to support the decision.
  • LedfloydianLedfloydian Member Posts: 5
    9Outlaw said:

    Hi Kabam, over the years we have been enjoying the game and because this week we got a message saying the Arabic language will be deleted. Unfortunately, did you know that there are many Arab players who will leave the game because of this decision...

    9Outlaw said:

    Hi Kabam, over the years we have been enjoying the game and because this week we got a message saying the Arabic language will be deleted. Unfortunately, did you know that there are many Arab players who will leave the game because of this decision...

  • LedfloydianLedfloydian Member Posts: 5
    I hope kabm reconsiders this,we support our Arab brothers from canada
  • GrandOldKaiGrandOldKai Member Posts: 791 ★★★★
    Zan0 said:

    Crine60 said:

    ItsDamien said:


    Translation does not come cheap, I know this because I’ve worked in games translation. The amount of work to support right to left text and then to have it translated every single month is extremely costly and while that may seem unfair, that’s business. These translations aren’t done in house by a team at Kabam, I can almost guarantee you that, but have to be outsourced to a third party localisation team who happens to have an Arabic member actively working in that company, which again is rare for game translation companies to have (neither of the two I’ve worked for had a single Arabic translator).

    I am confused by Kabam posting about and you referring to the work/cost of doing right to left text. I completely understand the fact that it costs extra to have everything translated to any other language but what does the direction the text is read in matter? If you make all the text appear at once is it any different than just typing the text backwards so that it can be read from right to left? Honestly interested in understanding why the direction is a big factor as opposed to just the cost of an Arabic translator.
    It’s not just text, the entire game is backwards

    I tried this myself, and was actually surprised to see that the game does this.

    Though I can see that making the game do this probably requires a lot of extra work compared to other languages.
  • Crine60Crine60 Member Posts: 1,446 ★★★★
    Zan0 said:

    Crine60 said:

    ItsDamien said:


    Translation does not come cheap, I know this because I’ve worked in games translation. The amount of work to support right to left text and then to have it translated every single month is extremely costly and while that may seem unfair, that’s business. These translations aren’t done in house by a team at Kabam, I can almost guarantee you that, but have to be outsourced to a third party localisation team who happens to have an Arabic member actively working in that company, which again is rare for game translation companies to have (neither of the two I’ve worked for had a single Arabic translator).

    I am confused by Kabam posting about and you referring to the work/cost of doing right to left text. I completely understand the fact that it costs extra to have everything translated to any other language but what does the direction the text is read in matter? If you make all the text appear at once is it any different than just typing the text backwards so that it can be read from right to left? Honestly interested in understanding why the direction is a big factor as opposed to just the cost of an Arabic translator.
    It’s not just text, the entire game is backwards

    That's...... interesting. I don't really know why the order icons appear should matter as long as the text is readable from right to left but even if making it backwards took effort, isn't that work done already now? Isn't all that they really need to do is continue to have the new text translated and then put it in the game in the way it has been already mirrored or even stop reversing things and just use the default GUI with the readable translation?

    Again, I am not discounting the cost of getting the translations done, that is Kabam's business decision and I am not second guessing that. Just trying to wrap my head around the technical/design aspect that was brought up.

    For new modes/GUI like the battlegrounds or anything else they do in the future, if it is too costly to flip the screen I don't see why it is necessary as long as the text is readable from the correct direction. For example (and maybe it is too simplistic a comparison), I know I have seen books written in Arabic and Hebrew (forgive me but I don't know off hand if other languages are read from right to left) that open with the binding facing either direction, depending on how it was put together, so even though the native speakers may be used to the binding being on the right side and reading it from what we would consider the back to the front they are still able to read it when it is laid out in the format we use as long as the text is written right to left.
  • ItsDamienItsDamien Member Posts: 5,626 ★★★★★
    Crine60 said:

    ItsDamien said:


    Translation does not come cheap, I know this because I’ve worked in games translation. The amount of work to support right to left text and then to have it translated every single month is extremely costly and while that may seem unfair, that’s business. These translations aren’t done in house by a team at Kabam, I can almost guarantee you that, but have to be outsourced to a third party localisation team who happens to have an Arabic member actively working in that company, which again is rare for game translation companies to have (neither of the two I’ve worked for had a single Arabic translator).

    I am confused by Kabam posting about and you referring to the work/cost of doing right to left text. I completely understand the fact that it costs extra to have everything translated to any other language but what does the direction the text is read in matter? If you make all the text appear at once is it any different than just typing the text backwards so that it can be read from right to left? Honestly interested in understanding why the direction is a big factor as opposed to just the cost of an Arabic translator.
    That’s a great question, and simply it boils down to implementation when inserting the text into the game. More often than not this is done using a specific tool (as adding each text string manually would be arduous and extremely time consuming), but unfortunately these tools generally don’t do well when dealing with text that is essentially “backwards” for lack of a better term. This can lead to instances where the words themselves will be correct, but the order will be wrong, or the order and words will be correct. You’d then need the translator to go through every newly translated line again to ensure that there has been no errors during the localisation process.

    On top of that issue, and an issue that can occur in almost any language outside of the developers default (usually English is preferred as the default even with foreign developers), is simply due to the length of translation. Some words simply don’t translate in a small enough capacity to fit within the current UI or Text box that it was designed for (I’m looking specifically at you, German Language…) this means that more time and money has to be spent redesigning those elements to fit the text or you end up with a problem known as “Text bleeding” or which happens when text overlaps the borders of it’s intended place, or even worse can overlap with itself on separate lines.

    But truly the biggest factor is simply the cost of implementing it for a small playerbase, and often the return on investment simply isn’t worth the time of troubleshooting and bug fixing that can arise.
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