Resident Evil 4 is by far my favorite game of the franchise
It perfectly combines action, horror and thrill
I got all excited when I heard that a remaster
was gonna be released next year
So I couldn't help but play the original game from 2005
The game is supposed to take place in Spain
But I'm pretty sure it wasn't local native speakers
who recorded the voices
So I wanted to ask my Spanish friends if I was right
And if so, what I think about it
To set the context for those who haven't played the game
You'll encounter Spanish villagers
who will eventually become zombies
Those who have played the game know what I'm talking about
These villagers are called 'ganados' in the game
And the first interaction with one was actually pretty convincing to me
I was wondering if you might recognize the girl in this photograph
What the hell are you doing here?
Get out of here, @*#hole
By the way, I always thought it was very odd
that he would turn around from that side
when the other one is way faster
Anyway, the more I progressed in the game
the more I found that the accent was less and less consistent
"No dejes que escape de la isla vivo"
So that's: "No dejes que escape de la isla vivo"
"Don't let him escape the island alive"
I believe the famous Spanish 'jota' should be way harder
"No dejes"
And I'm also doubtful about the V sound
It should sound closer to a B
[Bong Juan repeats the expression in Spanish]
After the villagers, you'll start encountering cultists
Here are a few examples
Let me isolate some examples for you
"Cerebros, cerebros, cerebros"
That means "brains, brains, brains"
But in Spain, it should be pronounced /θeˈɾeβɾos/
/θ/ like in 'think'
By the way, I find it very funny that these Spanish villagers
who clearly don't speak English at all
would suddenly call their master "Lord Saddler"
Later on, there is a scene where Leon is eavesdropping a conversation
And this is what he hears
[Indistinct chatting in Spanish]
I know it's not very easy to hear and I'm not 100% sure
But I hear: "Y si la plage es mucho mejor que la nuestra"
"Tienes razón"
"And if the plague (which is the game's virus)"
"And if the plaga is much better than ours"
"You're right"
Again, the 'jota' should have been harder
And 'razón' should have been pronounced /raˈθon/
with a Spanish 'zeta'
[Bong Juan repeats the sentence in Spanish]
But let's give the game the benefit of the doubt
And pretend that there are people from Latin America
living in this small Spanish village, in the middle of nowhere
I think I still have the perfect example
from a memorable key character
And this is how he introduces himself
"Me llamo Ramón Salazar"
Again, he should have pronounced his name /salaˈθaɾ/
with a Spanish 'zeta'
[Bong Juan repeats the expression in Spanish]
Now, I'd like to believe that most of the people living in Latin America
know these slight difference with Spanish from Spain
In fact, sometimes they would make fun of the accent
So I wonder if Spanish is the first language of the voice actor
Not to criticize
The rest of the performance is absolutely amazing
I actually found the Spanish version of the game
for the Latin American market
And they did make the changes
[Scene in Spanish]
Who are you?
My name is Ramón Salazar
But I'm curious, is it something that would annoy
people living in Spain or even players in Latin America
who would notice that the accent doesn't sound European?
Because when I was in Spain, people were very strict about the pronunciation
And they would have corrected me if I said /seˈɾeβɾos/
instead of /θeˈɾeβɾos/
So I really doubt they would speak that way
unless there are remote parts of Spain
where they could speak like that
But I don't buy it from Ramón because he is a noble man
So he should be speaking in standard Castilian
Actually, I know that there are a lot of Latinos living in Spain
And if that's your case, let me know in the comments
Did you adapt your accent to the local European one?
I just felt like the game was perfect
up until I heard people speak in Spanish
Because I'm sure it makes no difference whatsoever
to an American player or a non-Spanish speaker
But I think it would have been the detail
that would have made the game more realistic
I don't want to assume anything but it could give the image
that the developers just don't care
Spanish is Spanish
Who cares about accents and linguistic diversity?
Or maybe they just don't know and that's why I'm here for!
To tell them how some people might feel...
If I had to give a more understandable example
try to picture Leon but with a British accent
I'm an investigator from the USA
And I was wondering if you might recognize the person on this photograph
Do you get what I'm saying?
I don't know who actually makes the decisions
for anything related to languages
But since Capcom is Japanese
It'd be like playing the game 'Yakuza' taking place in Osaka
But with characters speaking with a flawless standard accent from Tokyo
Actually, the accent is one thing
But I caught a few mistakes as well
There is a small part of the game
where you play Ashley, the president's daughter
But when enemies see her
they keep saying the same things to her
they were saying to Leon, like 'mátalo'
The door's locked, I can't open it!
'Mátalo'
She is a girl, so they should be saying 'mátala' instead of 'mátalo'
And if it makes sense for the main hero
it's not the case for her because their boss wants to keep her alive
in order to inject her with the virus and then, send her back to the U.S.
One more detail, that's more cultural than language related
The currency of the game is the pesetas
This used to be the Spanish currency for more than a century
But when the game originally came out in 2005
the country has changed its currency to euro
which is the one they're using right now
Though to be fair, there was a transition period
and the old coins were still used in remote areas, like this village
But I wonder what they chose for the remaster
Alright, priorities kept changing and
I took a bit of time before editing this video
So since I recorded it, so much time passed
The game is not coming out next year but in a few weeks
I saw some gameplay teasers and it appears
they kept the pesetas as the currency of the game
So, that's that...
But we'll see what they chose to do for Spanish
All this to say that I really hope video game developers
and movie productions will invest a bit more resources
in studying the local language and culture
when presenting a certain geographical region
If you need a consultation, you can always ask me!
Alright, let me know what you think in the comments
Am I being too harsh?
Or did you feel the same way when you were playing?
Anyway, if you enjoyed this video
please let me know with a thumbs-up
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See you!