They sure most have there own language, but no one wants to read subtitles, do they, or learn japanese for example. Therefore its easier to make them all talk in english.

I agree that they should bother making them speak their own languages, but then this causes difficulty in terms of what the hell do people from other realms speak.
It takes a lot of originality and creativity to make a fake language sound cool and not totally repetitive, like those star trek people and the scrunchie forehead people language they made up.

Jin, Asuka, Kazuya, Heihachi, Jinpachi, Lee and Ganryu spoke Japanese.

Xiaoyou, Feng and Wang spoke Chinese.

Hwoarang and Baek spoke Korean.

Anna, Nina, Steve, Bruce, Paul, Law, Craig, Julia and Raven spoke English. Christie and Eddie spoke it too, for whatever reason (why they didn't speak Portuguese, I don't know). Lei spoke heavily accented English.

King and Kuma/Panda spoke in growls.

Roger Jr. spoke in... kangaroo noises or whatever.

Mokujin spoke in wood noises (I guess).

"Get over here" wouldn't be as cool in Jap.
English is the language of the MK universe. If scorpion wishes to converse with the other MK peeps, (for instance, to tell them to "come here") then English is the way to go.
I thought it a bit wierd in Tekken now everyone speaks their native tongue. It makes their their opponent dissing totally pointless.
If it's supposed to be that everyone in that world can understand whatever anyone else says- kind of like the universal translator thing in Farscape- i'd prefer that the player have a "universal translator" too- like in Soul Calibur- if you speak English choose English, if you speak Jap choose Jap.

MK is obviously not Tekken yes...surely doesn't sell world wide as it does. Though it would be interesting if they character spoke in their native tongues. I would for nostaglia reason keep the "Come here" phrase in English. lol Being stationed in Japan for 4 years when I was in the Navy, not all Japanese speak English, some do though...but I will have to agree with Aculeus on this one.

They could just continue speaking that stupid MK-ese that MK characters currently speak when they fight.

"Doyouwantsomepie?!"

"Nottoday!"

I would just keep the characters from the other realms speaking English, that would complicate things trying to develop a new language...tasking it would be though. For Mavado not speaking Spanish, he could, but the Red Dragon seems more of an secret Organization that is open to many ethic back grounds. Whatever the individual langauge is, they speak that and English, same as the Lin Kuei being Mandarin or Cantonesse. For Scorpion, makes you wonder though...he could know English as a second language though.

And Raiden can continue his famous one-liners like:

"JOHNNYBOUGHTACAR"
"ONEDEADNINJA"
"OHIMGONNATHROWYOUFORTHAT"

Often times in books or movies, characters will be speaking their native languages but it is put through a universal translator in order for the reader/viewer to understand. If it's not meant to be understood then it would be kept in their native language. You kind of get the idea that MK does that as well as other video games. I doubt they were speaking English in Shujinko's village.

You live in America, nowhere near Japan, so why must you ask why he doesn't speak Japanese? I would expect a question like this from someone who lives in Japan or someplace where they do speak Japanese.

Did you try importing an MK game or movie from Japan? Maybe he only speak Japanese in appropiate places

Good point as that is, but a little Japanese here and there would make sense now. When he confronted Sub-Zero (Noob Saibot) in the Temple of Elements, how could he have known the man spoke English if the Lin Kuei are a band of Chinese assissins? Shinryu were Japanese, the language barrier would had been hard there, but they do it in Tekken and the character universally understand one another still. ( Wang Jinrei and Jinpachi Mishima) Though I see that English is a universal language and it's not like Scorpion is going to sweet talk his prey before he kills them showing off his English skills. Well it's an interesting topic though.

the game is made in america for americans...now shut up please

The problem is that whenever MK attempts to take its Eastern elements seriously outside of weapons styles, it tends to screw up - giving Hotaru and Reiko female names, "real" Japanese names given to characters meaning goofily prosaic things ("Shujinko" = "main character", "Kenshi" = swordsman, etc.), Dairou and Liu Kang's names getting garbled in pronunciation, etc. Heck, finding out why a bunch of Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monks are worshipping a Japanese Shinto thunder deity could take up a couple credits in itself.

In a way, I would like to see Scorpion speak Japanese for once (or Mavado Spanish or what have you), and, in a way, it's better if he doesn't. If MK keeps to the goofy martial-arts movie, Big Trouble in Little China-level of Eastern influence, it's not that serious; MK doesn't have to account for its cultural accuracy that much. Once MK starts trying to take itself seriously in that realm (again, outside of the martial arts styles), it doesn't fare well.

Who knows, maybe Scorpion values the diversity in everyone, and is willing to adapt the language of others.

Or maybe it' s because it's really a small issue. Practically nothing in MK really makes all that much sense. Seriously, the poster boy of the game is a lemony-colored ninja ghost who is inexplicably never actually able to get revenge, despite having over half a dozen games where he's dedicated to that purpose. How can anyone keep fighting after being totally engulfed in ice? Shot a half dozen times in the chest? How come Sektor has an infinite supply of torso missiles, while Shao Kahn is unable to taunt more than three times, despite taunting being an action not requiring ammo?

Hmmm... not MK, but in Street Fighter, which is a Japanese game, they don ́t have native languages for all chars.

Chun Li is chinese and she says "Spinning Bird Kick"

Dhalsim is from India and he says "Yoga Fire" "Yoga Flame" and "Yoga Blast"

Sagat is from Thayland and he says "Tiger" "Tiger Uppercut" and "Tiger Knee"

Shouldn ́t they speak in their native languages? Screw that! The names in english are better and much more memorable in my opinion cause the whole world can understand them.

ermaclikesmuffins wrote: _________________________________________________________ the game is made in america for americans...now shut up please __________________________________________________________

I think that is obvious that this game is American made...especially the lack of bios and fucks up that were in MKA. LOL If this was Tekken, that wouldn't be the case. All the good games come from Japan...Midway could learn a lesson from getting lazy and trying to screw the consumer over from Namco and other companies. The Japanese may be timid people, but they value the work they put into things. Also living there for 4 years when I was in the Navy stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, I learned a few things that got me buy. Yes they even have cigarettes, tampons, sodas in vending machines out in the towns. So here is what Sword Saint requested to know what Scorpion would be screaming out in his native tongue the words we know so well from English to Japanese... __________________________________________________________"Get over here!" = Oide (O-e-day) __________________________________________________________"Come here"= Koi (Coy) __________________________________________________________ I can understand from the storyline that Scorpion father who was once a member of the Shinyrui had to save a fortune after retiring from the clan. So when Scorpion was younger, as most Japanese kids in Japan will do is pay for English classes, or get sent over to the states by forgein exchange student programs, through what ever school he was going to, to simply learn English. About his wife, most Japanese men prefer Brazilian women due to the relations they have with one another countries, or she was Japanese. So this is how it could be with him. I know it's in depth look at Scorpion, but that's an ideal when you make a fictional character...giving them a bio. lol

If the game is made in America, then why would Midway make Scorpion speak a language we don't understand?

Well Mortalkombat2007, you obviously can learn some thing new if it is put out there, right? People like Ermaclikemuffins limit themselves so much. I guess you could say you learn nothing from Video games, then yet again you can...if you pay attention to what is going on in the game and out. Like reading a book. Now if reading the subtitles for a brief second would hurt anyone, I am really sorry? You do use some of that Mental actument (brain power) when you play them games now. I mean, will your brain explode and turn into mush now? lol Speaking Japanese or not, it's an interesting ideal. At least you all learned some thing new today. Mata ne (See ya)

he has a flaming skull and breathes fire, accuracy doesnt matter at that point with me

LOL...He maybe dead, but he's a dead Japanese guy. Just because you're a black dude, you don't go to heaven and turn white. I am comparing that to the language thing here. Ermac doesn't like muffins, he like Almond joys...he told me so. :) Baka (stupid) Carnage...

And be glad. Because he sounds bad enough in English.

As other people have pointed out, this is not an isolated incident among video games. Dead or Alive has a large variety of characters from across the world, but they all speak Japanese (Hitomi doesn't speak German, Bayman doesn't speak Russian, and so forth.). Personally, I prefer the MK-ese, as someone else here referred to it. That could be a language.

"JOHNNYBOUGHTACAR!" (Hello! I'm Raiden!)
"EHBOOGAHBOOGAH!" (Hi, my name is Sub-Zero!)
And so forth...(Personally, I'd love to see a conversation in MK-ese. That would rule.)

woah a flaming japanese ghost ninja WTF that awesome P.S. ermac likes soul muffins

scorpions can speak any language he wants because hes a badass ,the only timei hear himeven talk is when he say GET OVER HERE OR ILL RIP YUR BALLS OFF ermac is like 528945775 different people and youdont hear hideos gurglingof a buncha languages.. my point is, its a game designed for killing people . not debateing a characters minor illogical behhaviors for 3pages ! this thread just got owned

I must say, though, that this is a rather narrow-minded view. They don't have English in Street Fighter because "the whole world can understand it" (that isn't true; I shouldn't even have to SAY that), but because some Japanese think that the use of English phrases as a flourish is cool - just like some Americans think the use of Japanese phrases or characters is cool.

I mean, come on. We've had Japanese and other languages in Virtua Fighter and Tekken for years. No matter what the reason for excluding Japanese from Scorpion's vocabulary, "English is automatically better" shouldn't be one of them.

Nada...He still Japanese regardless dead or alive. H'ai dozo!
Scorpion is one of the greatest MK characters ever, and it's ashame they caused his story to go on an endless rampage of revenge...but it maybe just a game, but the bios make it more than that now. lol My page again!!!
OOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhh! Ahahaha-hahaha-hahaa (Japanese man laugh)
He is from Japan, he can speak a bit of his language...it doesn't hurt no one...English is not the only language in the world now. Ermac is made up of souls from outworld, not Earthrealm. Duh! Ermac also loves Pumpkin pie too, better than those damn Kan-OS. LOL