I recently wanted to get a new adventure game called Hoodwink. It seems the only way to buy it is through the EA online shop which has recently become Origin. 

I happen to live in Thailand at the moment. I'm not Thai, I'm English and although I've made some efforts to learn some of the language it's really not that easy and therefore there is no way I could use a Thai website. 

So, imagine my difficulties when trying to use the new EA Origin store when, because I'm in Thailand, it will only display in Thai!! 

Despite these difficulties I was still determined to download Hoodwink, so I persevered and managed to download the Origin Beta program which apparently I needed on my PC to be able to download games. Unfortunately, this also only displays in Thai, even though it has a change language option, it makes no difference and I'm still stuck with everything in Thai. 

After several frustrating attempts to get the website and the Origin Beta Program to display in English, I decided to contact Origin customer services. This is also a complete nightmare! Do a Google search for Origin Customer Services and see how many other frustrated Origin users there are out there!! 

Anyway, after lots of going around in circles on the Origin website followed by lots of Google searches I finally stumbled upon a way to contact Origin via live chat (you need to set your language to English US and then you get the live chat option under help). 

Below is the transcript of my conversation with their customer service representative. Nothing against him personally but you can decide for yourself if you think that this is a customer service team that cares about their customers!??... 

This live chat occured on 14th July 2012. As yet, I have had no contact from Origin or EA. You guys suck! 

Vinod: 

I would forward your issue to the expert team so they can investigate your issue and reply you via e-mail regarding this. 

Nothing yet Vinod! 

From further research I now know this is a known issue. I know that EA are 'working on a fix' and that the 'working on a fix' has been going on for 3 years! 

One of the reasons that has been given for the delay is EA are trying to get Origin to work in local currencies all over the world. Whilst I appreciate this as a good idea to try and avoid bad conversion rates, if this is the main problem, why not just at least let everybody have the option of using one central store and fix the localisation issues in the background? 

I'm English but wouldn't be bothered if I had to use the US store and pay in US dollars. But being forced to use the Thai store makes my purchasing any games from EA practically impossible and something that, realistically, I'm unwilling to do. 

Well done EA for alienating so many people around the world and preventing them from giving you money! 

Can you say 'global economy'?!

Changing the language on to the ea website itself doesn't change anyting for the origin store.

Origin localises by IP, so if you're in thailand it will always be in thai.

The only way i've found is to change the language in the url (on each page), but that only works if there actually is an english storefront for Thailand.

We've got a similar problem here in Belgium, the language is French by default, which is NOT the majority language.

It's not that the storefront doesn't exist in our language, they just assume we all speak french.

It would be the same if Origin would be set in spanish by default for the US and making it nearly impossible to change it to english

The language issue has caused a lot of political trouble before, so not only is this illegal, it also enrages a lot of customers when visiting the site.

Absurd isn't it? 

I cannot understand why they treat their customers like that, it's as if EA is a rookie company that doesn't have a clue how the internet works

interesting... wasn't aware of this 'expat' issue before, or the situation in countries with several languages in play. Come to think of it how do they work this out in multi-lingual countries/regions anyway?

Originally Posted By tincup2 (2 AUG 2012 10:43am)

interesting... wasn't aware of this 'expat' issue before, or the situation in countries with several languages in play. Come to think of it how do they work this out in multi-lingual countries/regions anyway?

Very poorly, from what I've heard. EA even recieved threats from people from Belgium, because they felt offended by the default language (apparently language "identity" is very important to people from there, but I guess Markornikov can fill you in more about that. That is by the way something that is poked fun of by The Smurfs (comics, not cartoon), where the two halves of the village are barely unable to understand each other))

Anyway, Origin still feels like a bad joke to me. Their Swedish localization is so poor that I suspect that it was not done by a native speaker, but rather by someone who just know the basics of Swedish. And some words are translated that should not be translated (we do say "online" & "multiplayer" here)

And Jacksagr, you are not alone with your trouble. I've heard of plenty of people who have been working in other countries than they normally live in, and who have been utterly unable to access their games or even use Origin, because of the language issues. How hard can it be to just let people change language with a simple button press? Almost all other multi-lingual services offers that option.

Firstly, I commend your persistence, your determination to explore all your options, even to the point of trying to discover options that don't exist.  You are a truly deserving adventurer who has come up the loser against the Boss of the modern age - call centre service.  Even if you got the game, chances are it would all be in Thai anyway. 

As for the rest, well..... very brave of you to be living in a country without learning the language.   

You come here and try and learn Thai!

I can order what I want food and drink-wise, I can direct a taxi driver, I can say lots of little things and I can even say "Looks like rain?".

But seriously, we're not talking about moving from England to France and not learning French, that would be relatively easy. This is Thai, with a completely different alphabet and language structure. They don't conjugate verbs, they don't seperate words in a sentence and they have five different tones. The word mai can meet 5 different things purely by changing the tone, not the way you say the word (may, my, me), just the tones.

In addition, myself and many other expats often don't move to a country with the intention of staying for very long. Another thread I read was by an American serviceman based in Japan. He contacted Origin to be told to learn the language or move to another country. He's only there for another year, so eventually will move but what if that move is to another foreign language country? 

I may move to Qatar after Thailand, then maybe France, maybe Italy, until I settle down somewhere. Am I supposed to learn the language of every country I move to when the international language is supposed to be English anyway?!

Not really having a go at you Caroline, this is just a continuation of my rant against Origin....

Hey, I can take it - I'm from Liverpool.... I at least had the nouse to move to a country where the language was almost the same. 

I bought a game from ebay, Atlantis IV, and it came from Thailand.  Very pretty looking language on the cover but thankfully the game was in English.  Anyway, I understand the impossibility of learning the local language but as the world isn't going to cater for you, it looks like they won this round.  Get even and post disparaging comments about them on as many discussion boards like this as you can..... oh wait.  You probably have already. 

Meantime, feel free to drop in here any time and chat.  About anything you like.  We're a sociable bunch and hardly ever bite now that our dentures have been taken away and locked in a cupboard.

Hoodwink was advertised on this site not long ago, so it does make sense to complain about it here.  And Jacksagr is not the first person to vent his frustration about Origin and the issues surrounding it on this forum. 

Originally Posted By Caroline (3 AUG 2012 7:20am)

I bought a game from ebay, Atlantis IV, and it came from Thailand.

eBay is fun when you get stuff from the far reaches of the earth. Totally new envelopes, stamps, official stick-ons, and handwriting clearly not done by someone not familiar with English. Every now and then I'll save a particulary interesting enclosure for it's uniqueness..

Yes it is. I have one such encloser I have tucked away, unique in its appearance, that I received from Belgium. A pity that I cannot recall what the game was.

I have many padded foreign envelopds and stamps 

Originally Posted By Caroline (3 AUG 2012 7:20am)

Hey, I can take it - I'm from Liverpool....

From Liverpool? Well you barely speak English yourself then!!

I'll refrain from smackin' yer around the chops fer that 'cos it was funny.  But next time......

Packages from Canada always look like dimlomatic pouches - very impressive...

I have NEVER bought ANY games from EA, there being MANY other places to purchase from – and apparently much more reliable.. 

From the above posts, it seems that I NEVER WILL !!!
N.B. Seems the name "Origin" is very much a misnomer !!

The localization efforts of both game and book publishers are extremely frustrating to people who temporarily find themselves in foreign countries indeed!  There's suddenly a whole lot of things you cannot purchase simply due to your locailty, even if it's an e-book or game download- purely electronic products, which IMO, should be available to anyone in the world.  ..but these are marketing strategies, and i think they stink, actually. 

Hah, luckily Caroline has a sense of humor...  but, tbh, she has a beautiful accent and doesn't sound Liverpudlian at all!

Originally Posted By Fnord (2 AUG 2012 11:04am)

 

Very poorly, from what I've heard. EA even recieved threats from people from Belgium, because they felt offended by the default language (apparently language "identity" is very important to people from there, but I guess Markornikov can fill you in more about that. That is by the way something that is poked fun of by The Smurfs (comics, not cartoon), where the two halves of the village are barely unable to understand each other)

Long story short: The majority language dutch used to be outlawed early 20th century, after many protests and political reforms, we got our own governments and institutions...

So we're easily offended if a company like EA forces us to use french.

I wonder what will happen: Will EA resolve the issue first or will our country be seperated by then (which will surely happen sometime this century)? 

Originally Posted By Traveller (6 AUG 2012 1:55pm)

The localization efforts of both game and book publishers are extremely frustrating to people who temporarily find themselves in foreign countries indeed!

I think most people would have an easy time in Sweden, as long as you are able to read & speak English. Almost everyone here speaks English, and while the smaller bookstores might not have a very good selection of books in English, any mid-sized or larger bookstore will. Games are rarely localized, and apart from children's movies, movies are not dubbed, just subbed. It is even relatively common for local authors to just write their books in English, so that they don't have to deal with any localization issues, in case the book will be sold in an English-speaking country. 

Originally Posted By Fnord (6 AUG 2012 5:16pm)

I think most people would have an easy time in Sweden, as long as you are able to read & speak English. Almost everyone here speaks English, and while the smaller bookstores might not have a very good selection of books in English, any mid-sized or larger bookstore will. Games are rarely localized, and apart from children's movies, movies are not dubbed, just subbed. It is even relatively common for local authors to just write their books in English, so that they don't have to deal with any localization issues, in case the book will be sold in an English-speaking country. 

Identical here in Israel

English is taught as the 2nd language from a very early age.

All English books, magazines, publications are easily available throughout the country and NO films are dubbed - all films & foreign TV reports are subtitledn in Hebrew).

But during the past decade or two, the Knowledge of English has increasesd ENORMOUSLY due tyo the Internet, Facebook, Google, Twitter, SMS's. MMORPG games and the like, etc., etc,

Originally Posted By markornikov (6 AUG 2012 2:32pm)

Originally Posted By Fnord (2 AUG 2012 11:04am)

 

Very poorly, from what I've heard. EA even recieved threats from people from Belgium, because they felt offended by the default language (apparently language "identity" is very important to people from there, but I guess Markornikov can fill you in more about that. That is by the way something that is poked fun of by The Smurfs (comics, not cartoon), where the two halves of the village are barely unable to understand each other)

 

Long story short: The majority language dutch used to be outlawed early 20th century, after many protests and political reforms, we got our own governments and institutions...

 

So we're easily offended if a company like EA forces us to use french.

 

I wonder what will happen: Will EA resolve the issue first or will our country be seperated by then (which will surely happen sometime this century)? 

Originally Posted By Fnord (6 AUG 2012 5:16pm)

Originally Posted By Traveller (6 AUG 2012 1:55pm)

The localization efforts of both game and book publishers are extremely frustrating to people who temporarily find themselves in foreign countries indeed!

 

I think most people would have an easy time in Sweden, as long as you are able to read & speak English. Almost everyone here speaks English, and while the smaller bookstores might not have a very good selection of books in English, any mid-sized or larger bookstore will. Games are rarely localized, and apart from children's movies, movies are not dubbed, just subbed. It is even relatively common for local authors to just write their books in English, so that they don't have to deal with any localization issues, in case the book will be sold in an English-speaking country. 

Ah, but I love the sound of Swedish though!  I bet you have a cute accent too? 

Anyway, what i meant is that many online stores don't allow you to buy digital products from other countries these days, where you used to be able to buy products online from anywherre in the world.

For instance when i was looking for French-language comics, i couldn't buy them from the French Amazon, for instance.  Lucky for me Canada also does French, so i got some there.

Originally Posted By Traveller (7 AUG 2012 3:11am)

 

 

Marko, praten jullie Hollands of Flaams in België? Is er een groot verschil? Begrijp je wat ik nu geschreven heb? (Ha ha maar ik heb Google Translate gebruiken zo wijt de app als ik fouten gemaakt heb.)

 

 

Vlaams not Flaams ... and that's the only mistake you made, so Google did a wonderful job 

The written language is almost identical, there are some minor differences in vocabulary, but comparable to the differences between American and British english.

The spoken forms do vary. It's not that we don't understand Hollands (dutch in the Netherlands), it just sounds very akward.

On very rare occasions games are dubbed in dutch, in those cases it's always spoken Hollands, which is just horrible.

It would be the same if the longest journey would be voiced by Southern US people, it makes no sense at all and kills the atmosphere.

Originally Posted By markornikov (7 AUG 2012 3:14pm)

Originally Posted By Traveller (7 AUG 2012 3:11am)

 

 

Marko, praten jullie Hollands of Flaams in België? Is er een groot verschil? Begrijp je wat ik nu geschreven heb? (Ha ha maar ik heb Google Translate gebruiken zo wijt de app als ik fouten gemaakt heb.)

 

 

 

Vlaams not Flaams ... and that's the only mistake you made, so Google did a wonderful job

 

The written language is almost identical, there are some minor differences in vocabulary, but comparable to the differences between American and British english.

The spoken forms do vary. It's not that we don't understand Hollands (dutch in the Netherlands), it just sounds very akward.

On very rare occasions games are dubbed in dutch, in those cases it's always spoken Hollands, which is just horrible.

It would be the same if the longest journey would be voiced by Southern US people, it makes no sense at all and kills the atmosphere.

 

 

Before tranlating with Google, i did try to correct a bit to avoid tranlations mistakes if seen it make before.

If i translate straight out of English, it comes out like this:

I don't know a thing about spoken Dutch (the accents, i mean, beyond what i've heard my cousins from Amsterdam speaking) so i wouldn't be able to tell the difference between Hollands and Vlaams.

I have read quite bit in Dutch, i read most of the Dutch books in my fathers library when i was a kid. I don't know if my father could still speak Dutch -he was more into the Geman side of his family (They were a mixed German/Dutch family on his father's side, but i did sometimes hear my aunt speak Dutch to my cousins (who cold also speak English and who preferred to speak English to me because apparently my poor little attempts at trying to speak Dutch stank

Anyway, so if you had replied to me in Vlaams, I would understand you, (mostly, i guess) but i have more difficulty in replying.

Heh, so i suppose you would find my Dutch family's accents akin to a Southern Drawl.. (they're in the Netherlands) - i personally wouldn't notice any difference, because Dutch already sounds rather strange to my Anglicized ear.

I've never been to Belgium or Sweden; i'd love to visit them sometime.

My eyes do not enable me to read ANY subtitles at all  any longer in any language.
I can't remember ANY film, TV program, game etc being dubbed..
So I am restricted to the EXTREMELY large amount of stuff in English and my second language which is Hebrew.
Even after very many years here, my Hebrew is not nearly as 'solid' as my English  (which is my "Mother Tongue") !  

hmmmm my answer to trav's post seems to have vanished into oblivion.... 

Oh mijn God een hollander, wie is hier nu de melkveehouder?

Translation: Spoiler AlertOh my god, you're a dutchman, who's the dairy farmer now?

Anyhow, you did a far better job than Google Translate, you managed to correct all mistakes.