Language translations for leader sayings

Thanks for the minor corrections! Credited you in the original post accordingly.

According to one of the voice actors, Emile (who voiced Augustus), the voice actors were given the translations to read out, and didn't do the translations themselves. So Firaxis/2K/whichever voice acting company they used is to blame for any inaccuracies therein, though the voice actors' awkward pronunciation and grammar is their fault. It was sad, I was kind of hoping that Bismarck would be accurately voiced, and at first I thought he was, until people on this forum enlightened me.

Here's to hoping the Korean and Spanish leaders sound natural, or I'll be the ones calling foul and laughing at them. Even though I don't want to. Civ has always been a venerable series in my mind, until this 5th installment that is. =|

Slight update on search for further translations: I suspect Askia is speaking Hausa, so I'm searching for people who might speak that language. I think the only real way of getting in touch with Mohawk speakers would be to visit bilingual Native Americans on reservations or to talk to some people on YouTube who teach Mohawk (there are several users doing that).
 
I guess the voice actor tried to make Bismarck sound hard or even harsh on some of the sentences by stressing the first syllable but in my ears he exaggerated. And you could probably explain weird phrases like "verderbter Bösewicht" as an attempt to make him sound like a statesman of the 19th century (rather than the 21st) though I doubt they really spoke like that ;)
But like Beechwell and Azalnubizar I'm from an upper(=southern) german speaking region, so probably we should look for somebody coming from the region of Hannover where, as Azalnubizar stated before, people are believed to speak the "purest" form of (Standard) German (which Bismarck is speaking) because their dialect died out.
 
I think the guy who spoke for Bismark is German, just not a voice actor, so he flubbed some lines.

I really hope they'll have the Spanish Spanish in there too. I miss hearing the unique "th's". :)

Good point on the Akkadian. I always wondered why Nebby spoke very short lines, rather than the longer speeches other leaders resort to. It's probably because they had difficulties translating full sentences/speeches from Akkadian....very curious who the voice actor was for Nebby, and how they hired him/located him/what culture he's from. The notes on the DLC don't give his identity, do they?

Apparently the guy who spoke for Nebbuchadnezzar speaks Akkadian. I'm not sure if he's credited anywhere, but it would be cool if he was. If Firaxis did the translations, though, it's possible they kept them short to make sure they didn't screw them up. I found an online Akkadian dictionary. They're so short I'm tempted to translate them.
 
) isn't German, at least in my opinion. I mean, from a purely grammatical point of view it's correct, but it's...just not German, sorry I can't really describe it.

I am not questioning your German but I find this sentence to be contradictory. If one states that something is grammatically correct - it means it is correct in the language. Thus what you seem to be saying is he is speaking grammatically correct German but not in German? Perhaps what you mean to say is that "while this is in accordance with the rules - people do not normally speak that way (today)?

Rat
 
Has anyone offered to do Alexander yet? I haven't really listened to him, since, as others have said, the words are very mechanical.

If not, I may try to do it if I get time. (In real life I am actually a scholar of the ancient world, who blows off writing their next academic monograph by playing Civ. Sad.).

But I don't want to waste time if someone else can do it.

I haven't listened closely to Darius, but assuming it is Aramaic, I could probably do that too.

Why not just ask Firaxis to release the translations? :confused: Or is that no fun?
 
They probably should release them, but it's still interesting this way. Give them a shot, it'll be cool. Alexander apparently speaks authentic Attic Greek (as opposed to even Koine Greek, which is much closer to modern Greek).

You wouldn't happen to know any Akkadian to go with your impressive resume there, would you? ;)
 
Attic Greek? What makes you think that? Last time it seemed forumers had settled on Koine, which was spoken during Alex's time.

goldribbon said:
Has anyone offered to do Alexander yet? I haven't really listened to him, since, as others have said, the words are very mechanical.

If not, I may try to do it if I get time. (In real life I am actually a scholar of the ancient world, who blows off writing their next academic monograph by playing Civ. Sad.)

But I don't want to waste time if someone else can do it.

I haven't listened closely to Darius, but assuming it is Aramaic, I could probably do that too.

Why not just ask Firaxis to release the translations? Or is that no fun?
Firaxis probably won't release the translations. They have other things to worry about. But maybe some day in the very distant future....For now the only translations which seem accurate are some of the intro and defeated messages. It'd be great if you could help with Darius and Alex, they really puzzle a lot of people and there aren't many speakers of Aramaic in the world yet.

Not heard back from my friend looking for Hausa just yet, but will keep you posted.

Louis XXIV said:
Apparently the guy who spoke for Nebuchadnezzar speaks Akkadian. I'm not sure if he's credited anywhere, but it would be cool if he was. If Firaxis did the translations, though, it's possible they kept them short to make sure they didn't screw them up. I found an online Akkadian dictionary. They're so short I'm tempted to translate them.
Interesting, and yeah, they really should credit all the DLC leaders somewhere too. They did the same work the vanilla game voice actors did, and got bad luck by being chosen as DLC--thereby not being included in credits. Not fair, imo.

The online Akkadian dictionaries seem to be of limited help. One of them confirmed Nebuchadnezzar's "Lah!" meant "no" or "not" though. But "Nishat-dattay"? Or "Eshemeh"? Or "Ebbesh"? No idea. No idea at all. And it's a tough language to learn, too.
 
Attic Greek? What makes you think that? Last time it seemed forumers had settled on Koine, which was spoken during Alex's time.

This should help

Koine Greek is biblical Greek (Greek from the Hellenistic period). Listen to when he says the word "theon" at the end of his intro speech. Compare the pronunciation of Theta between the two dialects. Koine Greek uses modern Greek pronunciation (a th sound), while Attic Greek uses an aspirated T.

Interesting, and yeah, they really should credit all the DLC leaders somewhere too. They did the same work the vanilla game voice actors did, and got bad luck by being chosen as DLC--thereby not being included in credits. Not fair, imo.

Yeah, credit would be nice. I think the voice acting is a distinct part of this game and they deserve credit for it.

The online Akkadian dictionaries seem to be of limited help. One of them confirmed Nebuchadnezzar's "Lah!" meant "no" or "not" though. But "Nishat-dattay"? Or "Eshemeh"? Or "Ebbesh"? No idea. No idea at all. And it's a tough language to learn, too.

Yeah, I got Lah, but didn't try with the rest. It doesn't help how Nebuchadnezzar speaks.
 
I've got Latin and Greek at my school so...
In August's request 'ab' should be changed into 'a'. It's just a small thing, but to make it correct, it has to be 'a' instead of 'ab', and that's also what Emile says. It should be 'a' because the next letter isn't a vowel, or an H.

I tried to translate the Greek sentences, but it was very hard, as it's spoken very quickly and the way we learn to pronounce it is quite a bit different from his.
Here's what I got:


Forget about the red lines :p
There probably are some mistakes in there and hopefully others will be able to add some translations ;)
I also couldn't add the 'spiritus asper' in Word, so I put an apostrophe there and did nothing for the 'spiritus lenis'.
Unfortunately I couldn't just copy the text, the forums somehow didn't allow me to use the Greek font. How could I change that?
 
I want to thank you guys for such thorough and detailed translations! The linguistic aspects of Civ5 has been one of my favorite aspect of the game, despite how flawed it might be. :)
 
Someone want to start with Isabella?

I hear Dios, Diablo, and a bunch of common Spanish verbs, but I'm definitely not going to take a shot at this one.

EDIT: Hate No. 3: "Are you crazy?" :lol:
 
Thanks FlyingDutchman7 for translating some of Alex's sound files. Any help is better than no help. :)

Nebby remains as elusive as ever, and will likely remain so. How often do you find an Akkadian scholar playing a computer game? :|

As for Isabella and her Spanish, I wish I had the DLC so I could hear Isabella....but I'll bide my time. If someone puts up vids of Isabella's expressions on YouTube (including DeclaresWar) I could try and translate it. Until then, let's wait on a Spaniard!
 
Corrected some minor spelling mistakes ;)
When I heard Bismarck for the first time I couldn't stop laughing. His pronunciation, the breaks between some of the words and really his whole way of speaking are a little bit...well, uncommon ^^ Verderbter Bösewicht! :lol:
Also, "Wir nehmen es nicht an." (we do not accept [it]) isn't German, at least in my opinion. I mean, from a purely grammatical point of view it's correct, but it's...just not German, sorry I can't really describe it. He should have said "Wir nehmen Euer Angebot nicht an." (we do not accept your offer) or simply "Wir nehmen nicht an." (we do not accept)

i privatly studing german ^^ , im a noob atm , whats the mining of the separable verb Annehmen? i heard only mitnehem :)

and why "Wir nehmen es nicht an." it's wrong? seems right to me ( sincerily i need someone to make conversation for improve my knoledge about "StreeT" germanic language :D )
 
I haven't met isabella yet in my game, but I added her manually as oponent, so I can help when I meet her if nobody has until then

edit: somebody described how to hear the speaches, but I prefer to not spoil them until I meet her :p
 
I am not questioning your German but I find this sentence to be contradictory. If one states that something is grammatically correct - it means it is correct in the language. Thus what you seem to be saying is he is speaking grammatically correct German but not in German? Perhaps what you mean to say is that "while this is in accordance with the rules - people do not normally speak that way (today)?

I think he meant to say that people (politician or not) do not talk this way. German is my mother tongue and Bismarck's "Wir nehmen es nicht an." just sounds silly. Imagine Washington saying "We do not accept it."
 
Pouakai, steam --> steamapps --> assets
I can't remember after that. Somewhere you get to sound --> speech --> shared --> Isabella.
 
Pouakai said:
I know a bit of Spanish, as mentioned above.

Where are the sound files for speech located?

Go to C -> Program Files -> Steam -> Steamapps -> Common -> Civilization V
Assets -> Sounds -> Speech -> Shared -> Isabella

Let me know if you guys or others translate them!
 
Isabella I of Castile
She speaks spanish with a a dialect which is natural to Spain (Or rather old spanish). She uses proper words such as preparaos, estais and deciais, which I never hear in spanish dialects from the Caribbean, Central and South American spanish.
______________________________________________

Attacked: Repugnant spawn of the devil! You will pay! (Repugnante prole del diablo! Lo pagareis!)
Declare War: God will probably forgive you. But I will not. Prepare for war. (Probablemente dios te perdone. Pero yo no. Preparaos para la guerra!)
Defeated: Very well. This is undoubtedly the will of God. And I accept it. (Muy bien. Estas es induda la voluntad de Dios. Y debo aceptarla.)
Hate Hear it 1: Onward. (Adelante.)
Hate Hear it 2: You were saying? (¿Que deciais?)
Hate Hear it 3: Continue. (Continua)
Hate Hello: And well? (Y bien?)
Hate No 1: That is unacceptable. (Eso es inaceptable.)
Hate No 2: Of course not. (Desde luego que no.)
Hate No 3: Are you mad? (¿Estáis loco?)
Hate Yes 1: I agree. [Okay] (De acuerdo.)
Hate Yes 2: Of course. (Desde luego.)
Hate Yes 3: I think that is an obligation. (Creo que es una obligación.)
Intro: God bless those who deserve it. I am Isabel of Spain. (Dios bendiga aquellos que lo merezca. Soy Isabel de España.)
Neutral hear it 1: Proceed. (Próceir.)
Neutral hear it 2: Yes? (¿Si?)
Neutral hear it 3: I am listening. (Estoy escuchando.)
Neutral hello: Salutations. (Saludos)
Neutral no 1: Not before god. (No ante dios.)
Neutral no 2: [We] Refuse. (Rehusamos.)
Neutral no 3: How? (¿Cómo?)
Neutral yes 1: Very well. (Muy bien.)
Neutral yes 2: Excellent. (Excellente)
Neutral yes 3: With the blessing of God. (Con la bendición de Dios.)
Peaceful: God bless us by our clemency before the defeated enemy. (Dios nos bendecira por nuestra clemencia ante el enemigo derrotado.) I need a second look at this one.
Request: I hope this deal will receive your blessing. (Espero que este trato reciba su bendicion.)
 
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