# Hey, You! The Importance of Pragmatics in Localizations of Mass Effect in French and Spanish

## TL;DR

This paper examines how different translations of 'you' in French and Spanish versions of Mass Effect affect player experience, highlighting the importance of cultural and linguistic norms in game localization.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a novel analysis of pragmatic pronoun usage in video game localization, emphasizing its impact on player experience.

## Key findings

- French localization of Mass Effect predominantly uses formal pronouns.
- Spanish localization predominantly uses informal pronouns.
- Pragmatic choices in localization significantly influence player experience in role-playing games.

## Abstract

The localization of video game dialog for diverse audiences is challenging because of differences in linguistic features between languages and pragmatic norms between cultures. For example, localizers must decide how to translate the English second-person singular pronoun “you” into languages that have a pragmatic distinction between formal and informal pronouns (e.g., “vous” and “tu” in French). These distinctions are used in social interaction to signal politeness, respect, and social distance, which are important elements that shape player experience in role-playing games. We analyze the dialog from French and Spanish localizations of Mass Effect and show they have strikingly different strategies for translating pronouns. French mostly uses formal pronouns while Spanish mostly uses informal pronouns. We explain how these differences affect player experience and argue that effective localization requires a clear strategy for dealing with pragmatics. We conclude by making practical suggestions for how game creators can better support localization.