Language translations for leader sayings

[EulerMcE]

According to Wikipedia, Byzantine Greek borrowed from Latin especially with respect to titles. I have no knowledge of Greek or Latin and was merely guessing it was Greek as to me it sounds similar to Alexander's speech.

I plugged 'I am Theodora' and 'Byzantium' into Google Translate (I know) for Greek and got pronunciations that sound similar to what she says. So my uneducated guess would be Byzantine Greek, with interlaced Latin.

EDIT:
More guessing wrt Dido's language: Wiki gives the Arabic for Carthage as Qarṭāj, which she doesn't appear to say. The Phoenician origin is given as Qart-ḥadašt, which when read phonetically sounds like something she says at the end.

[anandus]

The Dutch sentence and translation:

"Ik... ben Willem van Oranje, Stadhouder over de Nederlanden. Behoeft gij iets? Mij staat nog veel te doen."

Translation:
"I... am Willem of Orange, stadtholder of the Netherlands. Do you need something? I still have a lot to do"

[IgorS]

I doubt Dido speaks Arabic.
In the end she says something like "Anuq Dido, hamalkat Qart-Hadash wa-kulula."
I have no idea about this "wa-kulula".
But the stuff she says before it are clearly "I am Dido, the queen of Carthage."
In Hebrew it would be: "Ani Dido, malkat Kartago."
In Arabic (according to Google Translate...): "Ana Dido, Malika a-Qartaj."

*Hebrew uses the Latin word "Kartago" (Carthago) for Carthage, which is a little weird for me, because it could have just translated Qart Hadast into Kirya Hadasha (which means "New City").

[Louis XXIV]

Calling Carthage Qart Hadast is just smart no matter what. However, I am leaning towards it being a Phoenician language. Here's an example

I'm glad we've narrowed it to a Semitic language and eliminated Hebrew and probably Arabic. It would be nice to confirm Aramaic. Process of elimination is much easier than the alternative.

[IgorS]

Originally Posted by Louis XXIV

However, I am leaning towards it being a Phoenician language. Here's an example

I am 95% sure you found it!

[The_J]

Originally Posted by Louis XXIV

For Byzantium, I was only listening for key words, but they made me think Medieval Latin (I thought I heard "figlia" or "daughter). Then again, other parts sound Greek, so I clearly don't know.

Same for me. I heard myself also filia, but the rest doesn't sound in any way like Latin.

[IgorS]

Originally Posted by The_J

Same for me. I heard myself also filia, but the rest doesn't sound in any way like Latin.

No, it is definitely Greek.

[jinzou]

As for Dido, she speaks some sort of Canaanite/Phoenician (the word 'nk/אנכ is a proof for that), I doubt it's Punic since not much is known about that later variety of this language. And besides, Dido herself came from Tyre so Canaanite/Phoenician would suit her more than the later Punic. It's definitely not Arabic, Aramaic or Hebrew.

IMHO she says "May the ???? bless the one that comes to the domain of Naʻaman(Adonis). I am Dido the queen of Qarthago and everything that is hers (of Carthago)" [brkw h???? 't ht' lmmlkt hnʻmn. 'nk dydw hmlkt qrt ḥdsht wkl hw' lh]

[Smokey_Monkey]

Originally Posted by EulerMcE

Just a note that there are leader intros for the new civs on the G&K website: http://www.civilization5.com/godsand...civilizations/

Theodora speaks Greek from the sound of it.

Boudicca speaks Welsh. Moreover I believe she says
"Mae fy enw(?) Buddug, brenhines y Celtiaid. [something]" - My name is(?) Boudicca, queen of the Celts. [something]

I read somebody said they spoke Welsh so we should be able to get that translated.

Yep, that's me.

She says: "I am Boudica, Queen of the Celts, and nobody better try rushing me" - Modern (media type) Welsh. They should've got someone huskier (maybe heavier?) to do her voice in my opinion.

I'll do that translations when the game is released. Is there a way for me to do them all without playing the game through and waiting for them? Shame I'll only be able to hear her when I'm playing against her!

[EulerMcE]

Originally Posted by Smokey_Monkey

I'll do that translations when the game is released. Is there a way for me to do them all without playing the game through and waiting for them? Shame I'll only be able to hear her when I'm playing against her!

All the voice files in game at the moment are in the Civ 5 folder where Steam installs it (probably steam/steamapps/common/Sid Mei.../assets/sounds/speech/shared, +DLC lines are in the DLC folders). I imagine this will be the case with G&K too, and I'm sure somebody can upload them if you don't want to wait the extra days for the international release to translate.

[Guandao]

What in the world is Attila speaking!!!

As for Haile Selassie, he says Ras (title) Tafari Makonnen (his birth name). I might have a friend who understands Amharic, so I will try asking her to translate it.

A Greek speaker should understand Theodora, at least partially, she pronounces her name as "febora", and says "Byzantion" at the end.

For Pacal, I will contact a Yucatec Maya professor to see if that is the language he is speaking.

[kungming2]

This is an amazing thread with so many linguistic treasures but I do have a suggestion for a translation mistake in Wu Zetian's lines:

"DeclareWar: You won't ever be able to bother me again. Go meet Yan (King of Hell, known as "Yama" in Sanskrit). (你們再也不能冒犯我了。 見閻王去吧。) Nǐmen zài yě bùnéng màofàn wǒ le. Jiàn yánwáng qù ba"

The word translated as bother here, 冒犯 (màofàn) is actually translated as "offend" and carries a far greater negative connotation in Chinese. The word for bother is generally 麻煩 (máfan) or in some contexts, 打擾 (dǎrǎo). Also, 你們 (nǐmen) is technically a plural second-person personal pronoun (closest translation would be something like "you all") but since "you" can be plural in English I guess it works.

One more thing: I feel that it'd be fine to just say in the English translation to say "go meet Yama." After all, 閻王 (yánwáng) is short for 閻羅王 (yánluó wáng), which itself is short for the words 閻魔 羅闍 (Yánmó luóshé), a transliteration of the Sanskrit "yama raja" (King Yama). There are many such Sanskrit contractions in Chinese, but we ultimately translate them in English to the Sanskrit original. As an example, one wouldn't translate into English that they "believe in Fo" when the character 佛 (fó) is an abbreviation of the Sanskrit transliteration 佛佗 (fótuó), or Buddha. One would just say they "believe in the Buddha." TL;DR, "go meet King Yama" sounds less awkward and is more in line with Chinese-English translation norms.

Source: Native Chinese speaker, studied both Classical and Modern Chinese.

[Saxony]

As I said in another thread, I can possibly provide the translations for the Swedish king.

[Geppenguin]

Originally Posted by kungming2

This is an amazing thread with so many linguistic treasures but I do have a suggestion for a translation mistake in Wu Zetian's lines:

"DeclareWar: You won't ever be able to bother me again. Go meet Yan (King of Hell, known as "Yama" in Sanskrit). (你們再也不能冒犯我了。 見閻王去吧。) Nǐmen zài yě bùnéng màofàn wǒ le. Jiàn yánwáng qù ba"

The word translated as bother here, 冒犯 (màofàn) is actually translated as "offend" and carries a far greater negative connotation in Chinese. The word for bother is generally 麻煩 (máfan) or in some contexts, 打擾 (dǎrǎo). Also, 你們 (nǐmen) is technically a plural second-person personal pronoun (closest translation would be something like "you all") but since "you" can be plural in English I guess it works.

Source: Native Chinese speaker, studied both Classical and Modern Chinese.

Heh, actually pointed out the maofan issue, but they've decided to keep it that way *shrugs*
You're also quite right about 你們 (nǐmen), so I guess we could add a note saying that it's a plural you...

[kungming2]

Originally Posted by Geppenguin

Heh, actually pointed out the maofan issue, but they've decided to keep it that way *shrugs*
You're also quite right about 你們 (nǐmen), so I guess we could add a note saying that it's a plural you...

Hah, I must not have seen it. The word "bother" bothers me - the translation makes it seem like she's talking to an annoying younger brother instead of a statesman or stateswoman.

[Geppenguin]

Originally Posted by kungming2

Hah, I must not have seen it. The word "bother" bothers me - the translation makes it seem like she's talking to an annoying younger brother instead of a statesman or stateswoman.

開膛破肚 (disembowel) isn't exactly something you'd tell your brother...
I actually advocated for an even stronger translation with 'violate' initially XD

She's way too friendly. Wu Zetian was supposed to be an imperious, power-hungry empress, and completely ruthless.

[kungming2]

Originally Posted by Geppenguin

開膛破肚 (disembowel) isn't exactly something you'd tell your brother...
I actually advocated for an even stronger translation with 'violate' initially XD

She's way too friendly. Wu Zetian was supposed to be an imperious, power-hungry empress, and completely ruthless.

True, I forgot about the second half of that line. But "violate" can mean something completely different...

Hope someone implements the changes soon.

[splendid_youth]

according to a youtube video of Theodora from the G&K website, Theodora speaks Greek and is saying '" Oh what a miracle, what is the name of the good stranger ? I'm Theodora, the friend of Byzantium. "'

[ghost88]

Originally Posted by splendid_youth

according to a youtube video of Theodora from the G&K website, Theodora speaks Greek and is saying '" Oh what a miracle, what is the name of the good stranger ? I'm Theodora, the friend of Byzantium. "'

In the G+K expansion Theodora comes with subtitles.

[EulerMcE]

For people who want to translate Welsh, Dutch or Swedish:
Boudicca's voice files
William's voice files
Gustavus Adolphus' voice files