What Language Should I Take?

[Anti_Bodies]

Hello all. I am going to college next fall to study Video Game Design. I have to take a language and was wondering which one would be best for an American Game Designer? In high school Ive taken a year of Spanish and 3 years of American Sign Lanugage. Thanks!

P.S. All the available languages I can take are in the poll.

 

[fladdermasken]

Japanese, hands down.

 

[Skycraft]

I'd have to say Japanese as well.

 

[Ganondorf]

Either German or Japanese. But seeing that you know English, German would be the one you'd most easily learn. Japanese would be a problem, because of the letters.

 

[Fussiler1]

Hello all. I am going to college next fall to study Video Game Design. I have to take a language and was wondering which one would be best for an American Game Designer? In high school Ive taken a year of Spanish and 3 years of American Sign Lanugage. Thanks!

P.S. All the available languages I can take are in the poll.

Okay. Let me ask you -- if you make it as a good video designer, at who will you aim your products at?

1. The American market.
2. ????
3. ????

So, obviously you have to pick the biggest and/or wealthiest markets, which would be:

China
Japan
Europe
Middle East
Hispanic

The Europese market generally understands English and the Hispanic market isn't very rich.
Now the Middle East is generally poor so learning Arabic won't have much use in gaining $$$. Japan is a wealthy market but as far as I know you'll have to learn something about anime-style.

China is the biggest, fastest growing market at the moment.
Chinese is hard to learn but it will definetly be of use later if you plan to expand into the Chinese market with video games.

 

[PurplePoot]

Mandarin is probably the most useful one there, and it's also quite interesting. Not sure why everyone recommends Japanese over Mandarin.

 

[Sevion]

This is the order I recommend the top few as:

1. Chinese
2. Japanese
3. Spanish

Chinese because of the rapid growth that China is not only undertaking but will continue to do so in the coming years. It's a great market to hit.

Japanese because Japan is also a huge market that you might want to exploit.

Spanish because there are many people who speak Spanish that you may work with. It's good to be able to communicate with them.

Most of those European languages wouldn't be necessary as most Europeans can understand some English. It would probably not be your work to incorporate other languages in though. That'd probably be someone else's job.

IMHO, those are the most important languages to learn.

 

[Tleno]

Russia Russia Russia.

It's more useful than you think.

 

[Animalpower]

Just learn chinese, other forms japanese and korean are not so general but that's your will if you want to learn them.

 

[fladdermasken]

Mandarin is probably the most useful one there, and it's also quite interesting. Not sure why everyone recommends Japanese over Mandarin.

 

[Deleted member 177737]

The Japanese make the most intense grinding games so go with that.

 

[Joe-black-5]

I think I saw that company before
haaaaa

btw, op stay away from arabic.
unless you want to make C&C Generals mods about the mid east.

 

[Sky Green]

Well Japanese is now a buisness language so try to learn it

 

[Vunjo]

WTF Why do you all wanna know Japanese, it's not THAT funny language
If you are talking about bussines, then try German or Russian, it's more useful.

 

[Sevion]

Why would you want to know those languages?

Chinese man. They're the people to talk to.

 

[Pyramidhe@d]

you want big market? go chinese

 

[Nightblade]

German,cuz im learning it.

 

[The_wand_mirror]

Meh, japanese? they are a few years behind in game development.

I don't have any choice, it's going to be all in english for me.

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

Most business is done in English, so if you already have that effective (I'm assuming that's your first language (you probably should still take some more English classes, but that's most likely required anyway)) then the next obvious choice is most likely Chinese, being that China is one of the largest, if not the largest, markets for that sort of thing.

 

[Tleno]

Actually people, though China has the most population, it doesn't mean it has most gamers.

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

Well note that you most likely won't be talking to the gamers if you're making a game (ironic)
It's business in China that you'd need the language for.

 

[Samurai_Gal666]

You should take Nippon, but kanji is hard, I can tell you that... French is a good alternative but Espanol is is also good... My suggestion is to try learning a lil bit of these three and pick the one you find interest in...

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

Well the thing is, as widespread as the usage of Spanish and French is, if he's taking the language with the only intention of to use it within the video game industry, neither French or Spanish are widely used in it.

 

[Dr Super Good]

You maybe should have studied harder cause then you could have gone to university. Colleges offer degrees which are worth less than ones from universities.

I say dump any language courses as they are all prety retarded. Rather study an electronics course as that way you will get a better incite into how a computer system works and what one can and cannot do.

As long as you can communicate in english, most employers do not care. If you are forced to have a second language (masters in chemistry and engineering only) then you should take german, french or japenese. Spanish is prety usless, god knows why the hell they taught you it in highschool. Yes mexico and spain speek it but they are not major international countires compared to Germany, France or Japan.

Infact, I do not know of any Mexican or Spanish game developers. There are hundreds in Japan and both france and germany have some (mostly run by ubisoft).

Chineese is useful for busniess, but for a job in game development.... Well probably less so. There are not many Chinese games hitting international markets as far as I am aware so you are better off with Japanese for game development.

 

[Billy the Cat]

Probably Mandarin, although I don't know how large the Chinese videogame industry is compared to the Japanese one.

 

[Zombie]

Russian is the best choice imo. You should know how to greet the landing paratroopers invading your country.

 

[Kitabatake]

Russian is the best choice imo. You should know how to greet the landing paratroopers invading your country.

But the only word you need to shout in that situation is "RUKIVER!". After that it's all just assault-rifle-communication.

No need to learn the entire language.

 

[Samurai_Gal666]

Best thing to do is just don't take a language course if you're interested in the video gaming business..... Just study some other things.... You should take an alternative language if you're going to live in another country, wanting to unite the world with peace and love or if you have interest in the subject.... Anyway, it's up to you!!!

 

[PurplePoot]

Note to people here: Having to take a language elective doesn't necessarily mean that they intend to apply it in the program, just that they have to take a language elective. You could pursue it for completely different reasons than video game design, and as far as video game design goes english is more than enough.

 

[fladdermasken]

Note to people here: Having to take a language elective doesn't necessarily mean that they intend to apply it in the program, just that they have to take a language elective. You could pursue it for completely different reasons than video game design, and as far as video game design goes english is more than enough.

Well I would interpret this part of his post as implying that he does indeed intend to apply it to his program.

which one would be best for an American Game Designer?

Which is why I suggested japanese to be the obvious choice for a game designer.

And yes, english would cover most necessities, but I am willing to bet that there are in fact japanese game designers that aren't completely fluent in english

 

[D4RK_G4ND4LF]

I would choose C/++ as my language
[/offtopic]

I don't think that german is necessary because pretty much everyone here can speak english (except ver old and very young people)
even some advertisements are english
imho you don't need another language
and if I had to choose I'd go for chinese
maybe it will become even more popular if china grows further

 

[Sevion]

I'm really wondering. What the heck is it with people and suggesting Japanese?

China's market is larger than Japan's market...

 

[Ganondorf]

I'm really wondering. What the heck is it with people and suggesting Japanese?

China's market is larger than Japan's market...

once again, we're talking about the VIDEOGAME MARKET. As far to my knowledge, Japan is much more advanced than China when it comes to videogames... among other stuff.

 

[Anti_Bodies]

Wow I was not expecting this much response. Thanks everyone for your input. I still am not really sure what I'm going to do. I talked to Daniel Erickson (who is working on SWTOR, met him at PAX), and he told me I should try to take a programing language. But If not that then Japanese.

 

[WherewolfTherewolf]

Well a programing language should be implied by wanting to go into video games period

 

[Anti_Bodies]

Well, yeah duh lol. Maybe he meant an extra programming class. I'm not sure.

 

[Ganondorf]

C++...
Damn it, someone already did the joke.

 

[Hashjie]

eventually you'll have to be abled to create your own engine. But untill then, try some pre-made engines that have the ability to be programmed through c++

http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=view_product&id=2128

This engine combined with c++ is a nice start. You'll learn the basics of game development and can evolve from there
EDIT: I know it is outdated, but it is a nice start in learning c++ for game development.

I hope this helps you in your studies.

good luck.

 

[PurplePoot]

eventually you'll have to be abled to create your own engine. But untill then, try some pre-made engines that have the ability to be programmed through c++

http://www.thegamecreators.com/?m=view_product&id=2128

This engine combined with c++ is a nice start. You'll learn the basics of game development and can evolve from there
EDIT: I know it is outdated, but it is a nice start in learning c++ for game development.

I hope this helps you in your studies.

good luck.

I'm told that reading the thread before you reply tends to be helpful. Or at least the OP.

 

[The Reborn Devil]

Learn Norwegian. We're the second richest bastards in the world. And we like video games :3

 

[Hashjie]

I'm told that reading the thread before you reply tends to be helpful. Or at least the OP.

I did.

Wow I was not expecting this much response. Thanks everyone for your input. I still am not really sure what I'm going to do. I talked to Daniel Erickson (who is working on SWTOR, met him at PAX), and he told me I should try to take a programing language. But If not that then Japanese.

I was trying to help him find a programming language which he can use to start the basics of game development. It was not my intention to go off-topic.

I was just trying to help

furthermore I suggest that when you want to reach the gaming market. Japanese would be a good language to study. However it is hard to learn and programming in japanese language is a pain in the @ss...

try searching for nadesiko japanese programming language (a shame the wiki page is gone):
http://nadesi.com/

No I don't even know what it says, it looks way to complicated xD

 

[Tleno]

You know, quite lots of Chinesse businessmen know english. What about choosing the langauge that's not more popular, but the langauge of country with less people in it spweaking English or other language you speak?

 

[MGCǂSpectre]

Jap cause many games come from Japan, at least old video ones.

 

[samusaran253]

Japanese

 

[Orcnet]

Orkish! I can be yah techar for killin' them humies!

 

[Soliloquy]

Latin...

 

[Samurai_Gal666]

You should take "I'm voting"! It has the most votes! The language is easy, just two words "I'm voting", It can be expanded into "I am voting" Easy language.. It's my second language!

 

[Crazed_seal2]

I think Russian so you can read that illegal russian modding site that we are not supposed to talk about. And Russian is cool and stuff. And like someone said, if your country gets invaded by paratroopers you will know what to say!

That or just keep with the English.

FOR THE MOTHERLAND! Hehe ^ ^

 

[InfernalTater]

German would be the easiest, but if you might want to learn Russian?

 

[Magtheridon96]

Now the Middle East is generally poor so learning Arabic won't have much use in gaining $$$. Japan is a wealthy market but as far as I know you'll have to learn something about anime-style.

Actually, it depends on what countries you're talking about.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Dubai are extremely rich.
Lebanon, Syria and Iraq are somewhat poor.

You could make huge $$$ if you go to to Saudi Arabia or Dubai or Qatar