Why did so many (specifically) 80s computer games offer Afrikaans as a language option?
May 4, 2010 9:58 AM
Why was Afrikaans so widely available as a language option in computer games of the late 80s and (maybe) the early 90s?
I recall that, back when I played a lot of computer games as a kid in the late 80s, the ones that let you select a language almost always offered English, French and Spanish. Many offered German. But a surprising amount offered Afrikaans as well; if a game had five or six languages to choose from, Afrikaans was almost guaranteed to be among them. (And at the time, I didn't know what Afrikaans was.)
I saw it a lot in those days, but I've never seen it in games since. What's the story? Why Afrikaans, of all languages? Why specifically then, no earlier, no later?
I recall that, back when I played a lot of computer games as a kid in the late 80s, the ones that let you select a language almost always offered English, French and Spanish. Many offered German. But a surprising amount offered Afrikaans as well; if a game had five or six languages to choose from, Afrikaans was almost guaranteed to be among them. (And at the time, I didn't know what Afrikaans was.)
I saw it a lot in those days, but I've never seen it in games since. What's the story? Why Afrikaans, of all languages? Why specifically then, no earlier, no later?
My guess: at that point, the computer gaming market was probably more or less limited to North America (English/French/Spanish), north-western Europe (English/French/Spanish/German/Germanic languages) and, South Africa. And probably the target audience in smaller European markets (the Nordic countries, Holland, Italy, Portugal) would mainly be able to understand at least one of those languages.
However, I bet that South Africa required that things of that sort be translated into Afrikaans. So if you've already got those three or four languages, the logical next language for increasing market share would be Afrikaans.
That's leaving aside East Asia: were Japanese, Korean or Chinese another language that you saw a lot at that time?
Of course, if my conjecture's correct, the laws likely would've changed when apartheid ended in 1994.
posted by tivalasvegas at 10:38 AM on May 4, 2010
However, I bet that South Africa required that things of that sort be translated into Afrikaans. So if you've already got those three or four languages, the logical next language for increasing market share would be Afrikaans.
That's leaving aside East Asia: were Japanese, Korean or Chinese another language that you saw a lot at that time?
Of course, if my conjecture's correct, the laws likely would've changed when apartheid ended in 1994.
posted by tivalasvegas at 10:38 AM on May 4, 2010
My guess is an attempt to capture an underserved market. South Africa has a considerably strong economy for the region, and was probably fairly computer savvy in that pre-WWW era. Ever heard of Thawte? They're a Certificate Authority founded in SA.
The other deal is that they've got roughly 6 million native speakers of the language, compared to 6 million Dutch, so it's not impossible. Of course inequality in 1980s South Africa was brutally high and legally enforced, so that might either tip the scales away, or tip the scales in favor, with more rich people to buy games for a very expensive computer. "Terrific market segmentation!" =/
If you can recall a specific game or two, that might help others answer your question. For all I know you're just talking about soccer, rugby, and other international sports games for which South Africa is a natural market.
posted by pwnguin at 10:38 AM on May 4, 2010
The other deal is that they've got roughly 6 million native speakers of the language, compared to 6 million Dutch, so it's not impossible. Of course inequality in 1980s South Africa was brutally high and legally enforced, so that might either tip the scales away, or tip the scales in favor, with more rich people to buy games for a very expensive computer. "Terrific market segmentation!" =/
If you can recall a specific game or two, that might help others answer your question. For all I know you're just talking about soccer, rugby, and other international sports games for which South Africa is a natural market.
posted by pwnguin at 10:38 AM on May 4, 2010
Might have been a requirement of import rules to SA, kind of like Canada and French. If the cost of translation is much less than what you would lose by not selling in SA, then you would have to do it.
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:01 PM on May 4, 2010
posted by damn dirty ape at 12:01 PM on May 4, 2010
It's probably unrelated, but I can tell you that there were a lot of South African expats in the US microcomputer software distribution business in the mid-late '80s.
posted by nonliteral at 12:05 PM on May 4, 2010
posted by nonliteral at 12:05 PM on May 4, 2010
> That's leaving aside East Asia: were Japanese, Korean or Chinese another language that you saw a lot at that time?
But supporting those languages is much harder because computers at the time were not particularly well-suited for their writing systems.
posted by madcaptenor at 12:16 PM on May 4, 2010
But supporting those languages is much harder because computers at the time were not particularly well-suited for their writing systems.
posted by madcaptenor at 12:16 PM on May 4, 2010
I worked on a product that required translations back in the late 90s. We did EFIGS+BP (English, French, Italian, German, Spanish plus Brazilian Portuguese) and nothing much else. Some products did get additional languages but I don't recall anyone even mentioning Afrikaans.
posted by tommasz at 12:36 PM on May 4, 2010
posted by tommasz at 12:36 PM on May 4, 2010
Do you remember the games or their publishers? The only way this makes sense to me is if there was a publisher connection to Southern Africa. I've worked on a lot of internationalized games going back quite a while, and of the dozens of languages I've worked with I have never ever seen a localization in Afrikaans.
posted by Ookseer at 11:06 PM on May 4, 2010
posted by Ookseer at 11:06 PM on May 4, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Having said that, I don't myself recall ever seeing Afrikaans as a choice in any computer game I ever played.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:38 AM on May 4, 2010