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George Washington sounds like Bill Clinton.
Great, now I'm never be able to listen to George without hearing Bill.
Figure out what Attila is speaking
- Thread starter Louis XXIV
- Start date
Oh boy, I can see the DLC possibilities right in front of me!
Thanks god they decided to do one leader.
Spoiler :
I totally understand your concerns that English with an accent could sound cheesy. This has been done for so many times before in games and movies. This is why I want to say that I agree that accents should be done accurately.
And I want to remind that now what we have is also not very accurate. Washington speaks American English with a southern accent, Catherine speaks Russian with a heavy Russian accent (even though in real life she spoke it with a German accent), Montezuma's Nahuatl is full of Spanish words... not to mention Ramesses who speaks Masri - very authentic...
And I want to remind that now what we have is also not very accurate. Washington speaks American English with a southern accent, Catherine speaks Russian with a heavy Russian accent (even though in real life she spoke it with a German accent), Montezuma's Nahuatl is full of Spanish words... not to mention Ramesses who speaks Masri - very authentic...
Agreed!
One leader per civ is what we need. I'd rather have interesting civs like Polynesia than 3 different leader options for America, that won't really make a big difference on the game because each time the AI might play differently regardless of the leader he is. Even Gandhi can declare war on you in Civ.
To clear up any potential misunderstanding, Firaxis are not the ones who go around digging up these ancient languages and finding people to speak them. They outsource that to a audio post-production company:
source
I'm aware that to native speakers there are several issues with both the phrasing and the delivery (not to mention weird things like Ramesses speaking Arabic). But this is not a perfect world: Wave Generation, like Firaxis, have time and budget constraints. Finding suitable, talented voice actors for every language under the sun is no easy task (and no, fans coming up and saying "I'm [nationality], let me speak the lines for [leader]," is not really a practical solution
).
I suppose I might feel differently if I was Turkish, but to me, and I assume the vast majority of the playerbase, what's there is fine, and I like hearing the leaders speak different language.
English-speaking leaders with comedy accents would be ghastly, and from a developer's perspective, far more people would notice. Not least the developers themselves: I wouldn't imagine someone who had spent hours recreating Otto von Bismarck in computer-graphic form would be all to pleased if he came out with things along the lines of "for you, ze var is ofer".
source
I'm aware that to native speakers there are several issues with both the phrasing and the delivery (not to mention weird things like Ramesses speaking Arabic). But this is not a perfect world: Wave Generation, like Firaxis, have time and budget constraints. Finding suitable, talented voice actors for every language under the sun is no easy task (and no, fans coming up and saying "I'm [nationality], let me speak the lines for [leader]," is not really a practical solution
).I suppose I might feel differently if I was Turkish, but to me, and I assume the vast majority of the playerbase, what's there is fine, and I like hearing the leaders speak different language.
English-speaking leaders with comedy accents would be ghastly, and from a developer's perspective, far more people would notice. Not least the developers themselves: I wouldn't imagine someone who had spent hours recreating Otto von Bismarck in computer-graphic form would be all to pleased if he came out with things along the lines of "for you, ze var is ofer".
This is something I don't really understand. Why do the accents have to be "comedy accents"? This is not what I meant. I meant using "serious" speech with an accent, something that sounds not like somebody making fun of a foreign language, but like a foreigner speaking English, which is not his native tongue, with his native accent.
Louis XXIV
Le Roi Soleil
I think the reason is, in order for it to be an accurate accent, you'll likely have to find a native speaker of that language. In that case, why not just have him speak the language? It's worse because you'll have to find someone capable of speaking with a Korean or Quechua accent in French, Italian, German, etc.
Because you can't find a native speaker for every language. It would look bad if Napoleon would speak French, Bismarck would speak German, Isabella would speak Spanish... and Ramesses woud speak English because there are no Ancient Egyptian speakers. This is kind'a what we have now in the game.
Again, I don't want to say that leaders speaking their own language is a totally bad idea, it is good and it works with many leaders. The problem is that there are leaders who speak a dead language (Ramesses, Atila) or a language that was changed and is no longer the one they spoke (Montezuma, Alexander), so we get something less authentic. It is not a major part of the game, but it would be nice to see it improved in Civ VI, when it will be developed.
Or you could record only English and use subtitles in other languages.
Louis XXIV
Le Roi Soleil
FWIW, Alexander actually speaks pretty accurate Attic Greek. He isn't speaking modern Greek, which you can tell because he pronounces Theta as a T rather than a Th. He might actually be speaking as a correctly tonal language (hence the singsong nature of his speech), but I don't know enough about Attic Greek to say this with any accuracy.
I will re-emphasize, accuracy is not the paramount goal - immersion is. Having Oda speak Japanese makes me feel like I'm playing Japan even if he isn't speaking the correct time period of Japanese. Ramses isn't as good, but he is at least speaking Egyptian Arabic (which is different and this would be noticed by an Arabic speaker). But having him speak English would be far, far worse.
Besides, if you're going to have them speak English even for foreign audiences who don't speak English, why have them speak a language at all? Why not just have text?
I will re-emphasize, accuracy is not the paramount goal - immersion is. Having Oda speak Japanese makes me feel like I'm playing Japan even if he isn't speaking the correct time period of Japanese. Ramses isn't as good, but he is at least speaking Egyptian Arabic (which is different and this would be noticed by an Arabic speaker). But having him speak English would be far, far worse.
Besides, if you're going to have them speak English even for foreign audiences who don't speak English, why have them speak a language at all? Why not just have text?
Ulthwithian
King
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2012
- Messages
- 733
Well, I must say, it is quite refreshing to see so many linguists here. 
I cannot help much with Attila, compared to the others.
I was struck, though, by Louis's comment about Oda. First, I do have a degree in Japanese language and culture. I realize it's nothing like a native speaker (and, to be frank, I'm not even fluent, never having been to Japan), but I can still give my impressions. I will probably do so in the language thread, though.
I cannot help much with Attila, compared to the others.
I was struck, though, by Louis's comment about Oda. First, I do have a degree in Japanese language and culture. I realize it's nothing like a native speaker (and, to be frank, I'm not even fluent, never having been to Japan), but I can still give my impressions. I will probably do so in the language thread, though.
Louis XXIV
Le Roi Soleil
Yeah, check out the language thread and see if it's still needed for Oda. My point was that he isn't speaking Medieval Japanese. I'm sure his modern Japanese is fine. But that's still very enjoyable.
Technically, Gandhi always spoke in English, but having him speak in Hindi is better to feel like you're playing against India.
Technically, Gandhi always spoke in English, but having him speak in Hindi is better to feel like you're playing against India.
Morningcalm
Keeper of Records
Wait, Gandhi never spoke Hindi? I had no idea! Source please! I always thought the Gandhi movie had him speak in English just for convenience...
Optional
Deity
There will be more like that in Civ. Upon defeat, the words of William of Orange will probably not be: "Mon Dieu, mon Dieu, ayez pitié de moi et de ce pauvre peuple", instead it'll probably be something in Dutch, eventhough William hardly spoke Dutch.
As the forum rules state we need to translate everything, I'll take a shot at that French; "Dear God, have mercy on my and my poor people" shouldn't be too far off.
But honestly...who notices that
?The forums are only a small part of the total player base, and not even everyone here is interested in that. I think most people are totally happy with whatever they hear.
Louis XXIV
Le Roi Soleil
I wouldn't go as far to say he never spoke Hindi. However, I can't find a source right now, so I'll retract the statement. It would have been Gujarati, though.
shaglio
The Prince of Dorkness
But honestly...who notices that
The forums are only a small part of the total player base, and not even everyone here is interested in that. I think most people are totally happy with whatever they hear.
I couldn't agree more. I speak English and a little bit of Spanish. If people on this forum hadn't mentioned that Ramses and Oda don't speak their correct language, I would never have known the difference. But I'd prefer the leaders speak their own language (or a close enough approximation thereof) than speaking English with an accent or going back to text only.
Because the thin line between "serious" accents and "comedy" accents is hard to distinguish. The ratio of games/films/TV shows that have serious accents in the voice work to the games that try to have serious accents but fail miserably is horribly lopsided.
Saxony
Chieftain
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