Mod for foreign language

[Haagus]

I'd like to assist in building a mod to slowly teach you a new language. What I'd like the mod to do is:

 

- Add one quest line. The quest could be started at level 1, and as you level up (up to level 40), you would access a new part of the quest on each level. The quests goal, besides killing something/retrieving an object, would be to teach you a few words in the language you are learning. It would be along the same lines as the Daedric Shrine quests.

- Modify the quest dialogs of all other quests. My thinking is one of two things;

- Modify the dialogs such that some areas of the world speak only in the foreign language, while others speak in "broken English," and still others speak in English. The idea being as you travel around, to interact you will use the language more and more in other parts of the world.

- Or, ideally, to have the percentage of English spoken by NPCs diminish based on your level. At level 1, everyone speaks English. Then, at each new level, they speak less English and more foreign language. For example, someone who says "Hi, how are you?" at level one might say "Halo, how are you" at level 5, and "Halo, apa kabar Anda?" at level 10 (The language here is Indonesian, btw).

 

I love playing Oblivion, and I work with folks who do a lot of language training. I really don't like spending hours in front of the computer trying to learn a language through Rosetta Stone or other programs. Frankly, if I'm in front of a computer, I'm either typing something or killing virtual creatures (and I much prefer the latter). I find the best way to learn a language is to be immersed in it, say as a student in a foreign country. However, we can't all spend lots of money to travel overseas, but we can do that virtually through a video game, so why not get even more out of your playing experience?

 

I have NEVER modded before, but I am an engineer, so I understand software fundamentals. I can lend my talents translating, and probably persuade others to translate. If you're interested, please let me know.

[Matth85]

Hm.. I actually found that idea amusing.

 

It would be like the old movies: An American gets captured by an indian, and start to live together with them. He then needs to adapt and learn the language, slowly.

 

I could see a small cenario:

 

- A bunch of foreign people have arrived to Tamriel. They are in a camp. Somebody wants to know what they want, and send you.

- As you approach, you'll get tricked and trapped. You understand nothing.

- Now you must start to learn the language to proceed. Certain people speak english, and will aid you. Then you can find certain books that translates ( dictionary ;P ).

And it goes on. Depending on how big the quest should be.

 

The problem, though, is that you'd only be able to learn a very little language. Making a huge quest would take a lot of time. And only certain people would like to play it.

But, the concept is nice. We do see that people learn language over games. I see people playing early-released games that is Japanese, since they are there a few months before anywhere else. These people start to learn the language, and can actually read a LITTLE.

But if it was an easier language, they would be able to write it rather good.

 

This would be better for Skyrim, if you ask me. It would take time, and dedication, to be able to make a mod that would help you learn a new language, and is still interesting. I doubt anybody would like to play a mod going:

 

- Talk to 1 NPC.

- Talk to 5 more.

- Kill 4 enemies.

- Answer a quizz, to prove you've learned anything.

 

At best, you'd need a awesome quest, with "foreign" as the main theme, custom models and some fancy effects. The kind of things people seem to like. Not just make the whole game another language. That would cause the mod to be a mod that couldn't be with any other mods. And people who do play mods, usually got more than 1 mod at a time active.

 

If you one day get a nice idea, you can PM me. I am a 3d modeller. I am also a student, and wouldn't mind learning a new language, or get better at what I got :) I am, however, hopeless in anything other than 3d/2d within modding. I can make the simplest of quests. My imagination is rather dull, and my creativity is limited.

 

Good luck!

 

Cheers,

Matth

[Haagus]

It would be more than one quest. My goal would be to modify the text and voice to all quests. Basically, the voices would be in the foreign language (so as you walk around you hear people talking in the language), and the text would gradually shift into the language.

 

I agree that the foreign language quest by itself would be a lame edition. Who the heck wants to do that? But my goal would be changing the whole gaming experience. The issues I'd have to overcome are:

- getting the text out of the game, translating it (either by myself or with help of my friends), and then reinserting it.

- capturing new mp3s for the voices and reinserting them

 

Has anyone done this before?

[Keirgarth]

An interesting idea, and I hope you all the best on getting it done. For me however I don't think I would want to spend that much time in a game environment trying to learn a language when there are better faster ways outside the gaming industry to do the same thing.

[David Brasher]

It is easy to change the text dialog that NPCs use. You could easily learn to do that part. But adding new voiced dialog to the game is so hard and time-consuming that almost no one does it. Since Shivering Isles came out, the new version of the CS has been broken and can't be used to create voiced dialog completely. So the people who do voiced dialog now have to have two computers, or the skill to hack their single computer and make it run two copies of the CS, the old and the new. After getting past that obstacle, it is tricky and time consuming.

 

You may wish to limit your project to just having the game use foreign language text on a leveled and regional basis. I haven't tested this condition on dialog infos, but you might try a condition like:

 

Run On Target GetLevel None >= 10

 

You could have the same piece of dialog copied three times and in English, broken English, and Indonesian depending on player level.

[Matth85]

outside the gaming industry to do the same thing.

THe argument against that is: Do you honestly got the time? Juggling school/work, modding, gaming and friends is more than you can manage in the houres you got per day. Not to mention the houres you need to sleep.

So why not start combining? You do learn language in school, but not enough. You can't really learn it while modding, and rarely off friends. the most logical way is through gaming. We all know there are kids game to learn languages, but why not make a twist into a nice mod?

 

Imagin: You get inprisoned by a bunch of foreign eople, you now need to figure out what to do. You learn small language, and you get a very interesting quest mod. Add some foreign kind of custom meshes, and a few particle systems, and you got it all.

Of course, it's a lot of work for something only a few people would bother doing. People are really impatient these days :/

 

Cheers,

Matth

[Keirgarth]

I understand the concept you are talking about. Exactly like what was encountered by Tom Cruize in "The Last Samurai". The problem is that there are better ways. Yes they would take away from game time, but they don't have to take away from your other times if planned correctly. Priority is what it all comes down to.

 

If you are serious about learning a language, why play games when you could be spending time learning? Sure there are games for kids to introduce them to languages, and you might feel you don't learn enough by learning a language in school, but do you really think that advanced language can be learned by playing a game? The only way to get beyond what you can learn in school would be to interact with real people in real conversations using that language. The only reason that Tom Cruize's character was able to learn the way he did was because he was forced to do so and wasn't able to speak to anyone in any other language, but he was speaking to real people in that movie :)

 

Now if you are planning something that would teach basics, pretty much less than what you would learn in a school environment, then a mod might be possible and accepted, but I don't think that this will end up going far due to the massive amount of time and energy that is going to have to be spent creating and editing the mod to encompass what you are asking.

[David Brasher]

I don't think that this mod concept sounds like it would take an inordinate amount of time as long as the modder stuck with text and not voiced dialog. People translate mods all the time, and some of them are very quick about it. People are always taking English mods and translating them to German or French or Japanese. And since the goal is not a complete translation, but a partial translation, it is entirely acceptable to leave areas untouched. Like if the modder just had time to translate Skingrad and the quests that start there, then that would work out fine. People could go to Skingrad to try to learn the language people speak there.

 

As more time came available, more areas could be translated. A bilingual modder could just jump right in and go at it. A person would need practically no CS experience at all to start translating dialog text, quest updates, and books and notes from one language to another.

 

From a production standpoint, I would advise against adding new quests and content. I would just focus on translating and partially translating. At that level, the translator would need almost no modding skill. It would be about the same level of difficulty as using a word processor or e-mail program.

[Keirgarth]

I agree, straight translation would not be an issue, but the OP was asking about creating a mod that would teach a language, not that would play in another language exclusively. Either way though, if the OP wants to spend the time, and feels the project is worthwhile, then by all means, create the mod :)