It seems a pretty big mistake has emerged in the text written on walls and signs in the “Karachi” map in Modern Warfare 2: It’s all in the wrong language.
The in-game version of Karachi, which is a real city in Pakistan features text which is in fact Arabic, despite that not being the language spoken in Pakistan. The country features English as the official language and Urdu as its national language.
Saad, who tipped Kotaku and lives in the real city of Karachi said: “I, being a Pakistani, was so excited at seeing a Karachi map and then immediately so disappointed when I played the map… Infinity Ward probably thought, ‘Oh hey its a Muslim country so Arabic is the language’”. Arabic uses the same characters as Urdu, similar to how French and English have the same Latin-based characters but obviously have hugely different meanings.
Kotaku uses this example:
The noun “people” is “al-naas” in Arabic (الناس), and “log” or “loug” (لوگ) in Urdu.
Infinity Ward has obviously not researched the country and its language properly, resulting in this mess. To Western players this isn’t an issue, but imagine playing a game set in London or New York to find Spanish written all over the walls and signs. Slightly distracting, no? Never mind the fact that this is really stupid and could be rather offensive to Pakistani gamers. At this rate Infinity Ward won’t have anyone left to offend.
iTunes
“At this rate Infinity Ward won’t have anyone left to offend.”
Maybe people will stop wasting time on pointless MW2 stories, then.
They haven’t offended me yet, one day maybe :).
@Naughton: I think getting the language of the country the level is meant to be set in has merit as a news post. I know I found it interesting.
If you don’t want MW2 related news, why not use the filter? It’s what it’s there for http://negativegamer.com/2009/11/08/filter-out-that-modern-war-game-on-ng/
@James_El: I don’t kno James, I heard Bobby Kotick call you a twat.
Regarding the title; Arabic is a language, Urdu is a language. Urdu is not an Arabic language :p Also, I don’t think they’ve done much to offend the Australians yet, probably just a clerical error or something.
@CtMythic: Whilst it’s true that Arabic is a language, like Persian, Pashto, Urdu etc, they all use the Aramaic-derived alphabet, which can be described as Arabic. I think.
In that case I’ll back down with dignity and grace, well played sir.
Easy fix.. in the next patch, change the name to the level to Riyadh or some other such Arabic speaking city where buildings exist. I suspect there are a few.
Normally I’d look for an excuse to slag a company owned by Activision, but I can’t really be that upset for IW’s texture artists for not being experts in the subtleties the Arabic cultures or paying several thousand dollars to hire the services of one, as the only exposure the game has to Pakistan is this single multiplayer level.
Not entirely true! In Middle-Eastern countries, particularly in the Mesopotamian region, differences in language are very common. Other languages other than Urdu spoken in these areas include Arabic, Farsi, Kurdish, and many others. I’m not saying that Infinity Ward didn’t fuck up; they did. I’m just saying it wouldn’t be unreasonable to find a sign in Arabic in Pakistan.
I’m pretty sure it was also Spanish not Portuguese the militia were speaking in the Brazil level.
Sweeping generalizations about the language spoken in areas of the world!
Oh Infinity Ward, what other whizzbang shenanigans will you think of next?
Do you think IW know about all these issues and are just crossing them off a big long list as they are discovered.
Completely ignoring actual cultural parts of Pakistan to blindly agree with the author!
Oh “Dr” Steve Brule, what other whizzbang shenanigans will you think of next?
@Hawkeyed One: While you’re right, in Karachi, the most prominent language is Urdu (just under half). 12% accounts for “other”, which is split into 10 different languages, including Arabic. For some scale, Spanish has 12% in America.
I found this fact with 3 mins of Googleing. Infinity Ward should have put the right language in its game. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s worth pointing out their mistake.
@Sam “verygoodyear”:
Well, yes. At the same time, most of these “other” languages wold be spoken in certain neighborhoods. The middle East is a very tribal-based area. My point was not that Arabic is a major language, I was just pointing out that it is very possible for there to be a place in Pakistan where a sign would be in Arabic. Would it be more likely for it to be in Urdu? Of course.
@AzNheadbanger: you are wrong, it was indeed portuguese, i have been speaking spanish since i was born so i can tell the difference
@Naughton: the language thing is no biggie for me, its just ammusing to know people can be that stupid.
what pisses me off though is that, Karachi is featured as a game map, yet we have no Pakistani flag to put as a callsign, need i say, pakistan is ranked amongst the 7 most powerfull countries in the real planet earth!!! and yet even 3rd world countries have their flags??? this is truly offensive to the 180 million people of Pakistan.
we Pakistanis are dying by the thousands every month fighting terrorism, we have a 911 every week in pakistan, all so the world can be a better place. yet we are not even recognised as a nation worth mentioning by the games developers!! is this how american people treat their freinds?
@Hawkeyed One: HA HA HA HA HA, i dont know wether to laugh or to cry,
1: Pakistan is not in the Middle East, Pakistan sir is in South Asia
2: Arabic is not spoken in any of Pakistan’s cities. Arabic and Urdu are as different as german and English. its like us eastern people saying, they speak german in london, because both the writing’s look the same.
3: Midle eastern culture and Pakistani culture is as different as greek culture and roman culture. we cant say their both the same because their both christian countries now can we? we Pakistani’s have a completely different history to the middle east, Pakistan has its own independent civilisation known as the Indus Valley which streches back 7000 years. go google it up kid.
@Sharjeel:
Allow me to point some of the many flaws to your “argument”
#1: “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.” Too bad, you just did
#2: Just because you are Pakistani (may I ask which major ethnic group?), doesn’t mean you know everything about Pakistan. I’m from Massachusetts, and I know jack shit about Alabama, which is only about 100 miles away from me.
#3: As stated numerous times above, there are many languages spoken in Pakistan.
son,
1: Pakistani people are not as DUMB as American people. we know the geography and history of our country.
2: first learn about Alabama which is only a 100 miles away, before you can make claims of knowledge about a country 1000s of miles away. you Americans are indeed very dumb. i feel sorry for you guys sometimes.
oh and son,
there are many languages in Pakistan, but son, Arabic IS NOT one of them. go Google it up kid.
@Sharjeel
I don’t know where you learned to argue. But let me give you a few hints. First, don’t insult me. It makes you look weaker, rather than putting me down. Second, don’t make generalizations about people from certain countries. It makes you look presumptuous and ignorant. It would be like me calling you a terrorist because you live in Pakistan. For the record, I do not think you are a terrorist nor do I have anything against Pakistani people in general. Thirdly, there ARE people in Pakistan who speak Arabic. I have a very good friend who moved to the United States from Pakistan and his first language was Arabic.