Unity 3D’s Arabic Localisation Labelled “Unreadable”
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A new Unity 3D localisation system got released a few days ago that aims to provide tools that will support developers who wish to add various languages and regional variations to their applications. However, one Arab video game developer quickly noticed that the new system renders Arabic unreadable.
The first issue is that Unity separates each Arabic letter. This isn’t the same as writing a word like ‘t h i s’. In Arabic, the way letters join to each other depends on several factors, such as which letter is being used, the position of the letter within the word – front, middle, end – as well as some unique letters that do not join onto other letters, but can have other letters join on to them.
This means devs trying to write in Arabic within Unity are going to have a hard time reading what they’ve written, slowing development. This creates an artificial barrier to entry where Arabic-speaking developers have to either download additional tools to make their own language more readable, or they have to learn another language to develop in.
Apparently, even with extra tools the Arabic is still unreadable due to issues with the localisation tables within Unity. To add to the issues of readability, Arabic is written and read from right to left, but Unity lays it out as though it’s a Latin language – left to right.
While it’s commendable that Unity is trying to make life easier for Arab game devs, it’s frustrating that such basic fundamentals of the Arabic language have not been taken into consideration, and it betrays a lack of care and understanding.
The video game industry is one that often represents Arabs poorly, in ways that seep into everyday life, as reported by our own Eric Switzer when he wrote about a press event where journalists and influencers were encouraged to shoot at people dressed up as stereotypical Arabs. Good Arab representation and support are sorely lacking.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/unity-3d-arabic-localisation-unreadable/