8 Best Multilingual Video Game Characters

Mastering one language is difficult enough; learning more is iconic. When video game characters speak a couple of language, it’s exciting for a mess of reasons: the addition of one other language gives them more depth. They change into something greater than only a vehicle for absurdist gameplay feats or an avatar for us.

It is not only for his or her heroic deeds or righteous principles you could admire video game characters for: for those who’re learning one other language, knowing these characters did the identical could offer you some motivation. If not, you possibly can just use this information as a fun collection of trivia for your pals.

8

Tidus

Final Fantasy 10

Languages Spoken:

English/Japanese

Al Bhed

Disappointingly, Tidus doesn’t speak multiple real languages, and his use of English or Japanese relies on the version of the sport you will have. Nonetheless, for those who collect all of the Al Bhed primers in the sport, Tidus becomes fluent within the fictional Al Bhed language and may translate Al Bhed text on the fly.

In-game, Al Bhed works as a straightforward cryptographic substitution puzzle, though it’s spoken aloud as a language. Letters of the English alphabet are replaced by different ones, with the syntax and grammatical rules being the exact same. Because of this for those who collect all of the primers and fix the substitutions, you possibly can learn Al Bhed too.

7

James Sunderland

Silent Hill 2


James Sunderland looking in the mirror in an iconic shot from Silent Hill 2.

Languages Spoken:

English

Japanese (just one line)

This can be a one-off joke for Silent Hill 2’s ridiculous alternate ending, so we do not know needless to say if James genuinely speaks Japanese. Nonetheless, nobody who’s seen this scene can forget the moment where James Sunderland finds out that his entire misadventure in Silent Hill has been orchestrated by a dog.

Collapsing to his knees, James accuses the dog of being the mastermind all along in fluent Japanese. On condition that he spoke English your complete game – even within the Japanese version, because the 2001 iteration of Silent Hill 2 has just one dub – it’s quite the surprise.

6

Agent 47

Hitman


Agent 47 sat down as he screws a suppressor onto a pistol from Hitman.

Languages Spoken:

English

Spanish

French

Arabic

Thai

Urdu/Hindi

Italian

As a deadly assassin of ambiguous origin, Agent 47 likely has it in his job description to mix in. Not only does he hold citizenship in multiple countries, but he’s had to realize fluency of their languages to combine in with the gang.

Though everyone seems to be voiced in English for gameplay, and his full extent of linguistic literacy hasn’t been officially confirmed, we will judge this from the nationalities Agent 47 has adopted over the course of his series. Based on this information, we will conclude that he speaks a minimum of seven languages, including one South Asian language, prone to be Urdu or Hindi as a result of their status as common tongues for the subcontinent.

5

Leon Kennedy

Resident Evil 4


Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 4 Remake looking perplexed.

Languages Spoken:

English

Spanish

One of the crucial oft-parodied points of the unique Resident Evil 4 is its language accuracy. Despite the sport being set in Spain, the Ganados speak Spanish in a Mexican dialect. It also tickled fans that Leon barged right into a Spaniard’s house and commenced asking questions in English without a lot as an ‘ola.’

This was one in all the various things fixed within the acclaimed 2023 remake, where Leon is shown to be reasonably competent in Spanish when he questions the villager. It is sensible, as surely a special agent meant to protect America’s top brass would not be sent to Spain without a minimum of speaking the local language.

4

Niko Bellic


Niko Bellic in Grand Theft Auto 4 acting shocked.

Languages Spoken:

English

Serbian

Niko Bellic is an enigma and stays among the many best-loved GTA protagonists. His country of origin isn’t confirmed, because it’s only stated to be in Eastern Europe, but many fans have concluded from his language preferences that it’s Serbia.

Niko is fluent in English despite his heavy accent, nevertheless it’s clear that Serbian is his native tongue. It is the inverse case together with his cousin Roman: the latter has stayed in America for therefore long that he has forgotten methods to speak his native language. Niko doesn’t suffer from language barriers and may understand Jamaican dialects with ease. That said, it’s clear that American culture leaves him bemused.

3

Lili Rochefort And Eddy Gordo

Tekken

Languages Spoken (Lili):

English

French

Languages Spoken (Eddy):

English

Portuguese

The world of Tekken is one in all magical realism, where characters of various nationalities – and even different species – can understand one another easily despite speaking only of their native tongues. The one case where this was subverted was in Tekken 4, where the Japanese Jin Kazama and the South Korean Hwoarang communicate in English as a typical tongue.

While it’s clear that there are various polyglots within the Tekken world, the 2 most interesting cases are Lili and Eddy. Lili is from Monaco, while Eddy is from Brazil. Each speak perfect English in Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection and Tekken 6.

From Tekken Tag Tournament 2 onwards, though, the 2 switched to their native languages. There doesn’t appear to be a reason for this except that they’ll, and good on them: being bilingual is all the time a bonus once you’re participating in a worldwide martial arts tournament.

2

Big Boss

Metal Gear Solid


Naked Snake in Metal Gear Solid 3 pulling his knife out.

Languages Spoken:

English

Russian

Spanish

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is a cinematic masterpiece, but cultural conventions of the time forced one small compromise. There wasn’t much call for games dubbed in foreign languages, so immersion was sacrificed for magical realism. It’s implied in cutscenes that Big Boss, then referred to as Naked Snake, is speaking Russian to the Soviet characters, most notably when Sokolov compliments his proficiency within the language.

Nonetheless, Snake clearly reports back to his bosses in English, and possibly speaks in English to EVA once they’re alone. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker shows that Big Boss has picked up a smattering of Spanish as well.

Snake appears to have forgotten Russian in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain. This discrepancy is deliberate, with characters theorizing that the language centre of his brain was affected by shrapnel.

1

Lara Croft

Tomb Raider

Languages Spoken:

English

Italian

Mongolian

Russian

Arabic

Yucatec Mayan

Japanese

Maori

German

Spanish

Mandarin Chinese

Greek

Languages Deciphered:

Latin

Old Norse

Ancient Egyptian

Khmer

Mam

Middle English

Quechua

Vedic Sanskrit

Lara Croft is the last word explorer, not only of tombs but of tongues. Over the course of assorted iterations and different media, she has shown speaking proficiency in a minimum of a dozen languages, and has displayed reading comprehension in much more, as with camcorder in hand, she will be able to translate many ancient inscriptions on the fly.

In Rise of the Tomb Raider, you may help Lara learn Mongolian and Greek by collecting different documents. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, she will be able to hold conversations in Yucatec Mayan without an interpreter, so Survivor Lara is clearly multilingual.

Nonetheless, the very best multilingual iteration of the character is available in Tomb Raider: Legend. While caught in a firefight at a Kazakh military base, Lara comes across two soldiers discussing in Russian whether or not they should make her take a dangerous path that will help them. Assuming she will be able to’t understand them, they provide her directions in English. Lara, ever subtle, thanks them in Russian to allow them to know she understood every little thing they said.