I have to admit that Qin Shi Huang cant have a better VA than this. His modern Madarin was pronounced fluently and accurately, and it really fit in with the character of him - a mighty emperor and conqueror. Even though Chinese wasnt pronounced that way during Qin dynasty (they spoke Old Chinese then, which was completely different from modern madarin - a northen accent influenced by the manchu language during 17th century), it's still OK because using a dead and extremely complicated pronunciation in acting is hardly doable.
But the dialogue writing seems very amateurish to me, showing that the writer's knowledge on Qin Shi Huang and imperial Chinese history is very limited. All dialogues are written in Literary Chinese, a classical style of written Chinese used from 5th century BCE to 1920s, so technically it fits in with Qin Shi Huang's era. It's only "technically"; because Literary Chinese is a constantly evolving literary language throughout its entire 2500 years history. An experienced reader can easily tell the differences of grammar and vocabulary between the 5th century BCE
Analects and the 18th century
History of Ming, both typical Literary Chinese texts. And although Qin Shi Huang's Literary Chinese is quite readable, it doesnt appear to be from 3th century BCE. Let's examine one of these sayings:
Greeting:
今汝之來也，岂欲观秦国山川之圣？ 寡人乃秦之主也。
Jīn rǔ zhī lái yě, qǐ yù guàn qín guó shān chuān zhī shèng? Guǎ rén nǎi qín zhī zhǔ yě
You've come today.Is it possible that you want to view the scenery of mountains and rivers in the State of Qin? I am the ruler of Qin.
I'd like to direct your attention to these two words: "秦国"(qín guó, State of Qin) and "寡人"
(guǎ rén, I).
When Qin dynasty was mentioned in the literature of its era, it is usually "秦"(Qin) alone without“国”(state), because “秦国” means specifically the State of Qin, a vassal kingdom of Zhou dynasty, major player in the Warring States period eventually became the Qin dynasty through conquering other states. Qin Shi Huang is famous for this unification under his reign, thus he created the title of Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇, First Emperor of Qin) as the first emperor of a centralized Chinese empire. Before the unification, his title was Qin Wang Zheng (秦王政, King Zheng of Qin).
So, Qin Shi Huang referring to his civilization as “State of Qin” is really inconsistent with the fact that he is called Qin Shi Huang and he is the sole ruler of a unified Chinese empire in the game.
Now let's check the word "寡人". When translated into English, it's "me" or "I" and lost a great amount of information it conveys. There're many ways to say "I" in Literary Chinese, most are related to the social status of speaker, "寡人" is one of them, used by vassal kings of Imperial China, warlords in later ages, and sometimes emperors themselves. So if this word was said by any other Chinese emperors, it's fine. But anyone familiar with Qin Shi Huang would know his contribution to the first-person singular pronouns of Literary Chinese, that he made the word "朕" (zhèn) the formal first-person pronoun of emperors themselves and no one else, shortly after the unification.
Before Qin dynasty, "朕" can be used by anyone regardless of one's status, but after Qin Wang Zheng became Qin Shi Huang, and during the 2000 years of imperial Chinese history, people can be beheaded for using that word. According to
The Records, Qin Shi Huang used “朕” for 9 years, from 221BCE to 212BCE, then he changed to "真人"(zhēn rén, a term very closely related to Taoism) due to his obsession in seeking immortality, briefly before his death in 210BCE.
So once again, Qin Shi Huang would only say “寡人” BEFORE he becomes Qin Shi Huang, but in this game what we got is Qin Shi Huang and we are playing China, instead of one of its warring states. It simply doesnt add up.
Well, so much for nitpicking, I'll translate the rest of his lines in detail.
Declaring war:
敢犯天威， 寡人将发大军，毁汝宗庙，灭尔人民，誓无遏抑！
gǎn fàn tiān wēi, guǎ rén jiāng fā dà jūn, huǐ rǔ zōng miào, miè ěr rén mín, shì wú jié(è) yì ！
How dare you enrage the heaven's might! I will send a great army, desecrate your ancestral shrines, eliminate your people. I swear I won't restrain them!
Actually the last phrase seems very confusing, with this pronunciation I came up with lots of phrases but none of them fit. Now I believe that “jié” is a mispronunciation of "遏" (è). The VA might mistook it for a similar character “揭”(jié). And I just said that the VA spoke madarin accurately....
Agenda-based Disapproval:
汝观寡人，疆域之广，文武之盛，而贵国何有乎？
rǔ guàn guǎ rén, jiāng yù zhī guǎng, wén wǔ zhī shèng, ér guì guó hé yǒu hū ？
You look at me, (you see) how vast my empire sprawls, how thriving we are both culturally and militarily. And what does your empire have?
BTW, if you come across any other Qin Shi Huang's line, you can give it to me for translation, and nitpicking.
