Language translations for leader sayings

[Red Khan]

Now for the Wilfrid Laurier's pep talk / civilopedia quote. The line in English "If it were in my power, and if I had the responsibility, I would try the sunny way." is an exact quote of his speech that he gave on Manitoba Schools Question in Morrisburg, Ontario, 8 October 1895 as quoted by The Canadian Encyclopedia. My guess is that the speech was given in English, because the French article on the same topic has an introduction in French, but the speech is quoted in English. Maybe some fellow Canadian civfanatic can clarify it.

But in-game line is spoken in French. Now I looked through the French localization and found that this there this line is written as "Si c'était en mon pouvoir et sous ma responsabilité, j'essaierais la voie ensoleillée." This seems the same as the line spoken, but somebody who actually knows French might want to confirm this.

P.S. You can listen to the line in question here.

OK, I got a confirmation on other forum from a person that knows French that "Si c'était en mon pouvoir et sous ma responsabilité, j'essaierais la voie ensoleillée." is indeed what is said in French. So @Morningcalm can you insert this one to Wilfrid Laurier section.

Pep talk/Civilopedia quote: "Si c'était en mon pouvoir et sous ma responsabilité, j'essaierais la voie ensoleillée."
In-game Translation and Actual Translation: "If it were in my power, and if I had the responsibility, I would try the sunny way."
Note: This is a quote from his speech on Manitoba Schools Question given in Morrisburg, Ontario, 8 October 1895. The sunny way is a reference to one of Aesop’s Fables, in which the wind and the sun compete to see who can motivate a man to remove his jacket. The sun shines down, pleasantly and patiently, and the wind blows with bluster. The sun ultimately wins the day, proving that patience and enticement are more effective than force and coercion.

And also please replace the transcription for Suleiman's pep talk with the following one:

İşte! Bu benim alemümdür! Beni seven tâkip ede!

Also the following:
Eleanor of Aquitaine

Pep Talk: "In nomine sancte e individue trinitatis, ego, Elionoris, Dei gratia humilis Francorum regina e aquitanorum duccessa"
Direct translation: "In the name of the saint and indivisible Trinity, I, Eleanor, humble queen of the Franks and duchess of Aquitania by the grace of god"
Notes: This seems to be a generic medieval King introduction, according to Josephias. This is from her privilegium in the cartulary of Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes, France (source: Cartulaires inédits de la Saintonge by Théodore Grasilier). Because its abbess, Agnès of Barbezieux (1134-1174), was her relative, Eleanor became a generous donor to the abbey.

Peter

Civilopedia quote ("Pep talk"):

• Line: Не забывайте кормить свой народ. Солдатский желудок пустыми обещаниями не насытить.
• Transcription: Ne zabyvayte kormit' svoy narod. Soldatskiy zheludok pustymi obeshchaniyami ne nasytit'.
• In-game text: Remember to feed your people. Soldiers' bellies are not satisfied with empty promises and hopes.
• Actual Translation: Don't forget to feed your people. You can't satiate a soldier's stomach with empty promises.
• Notes: According to Eugene Schuyler's book Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia, A Study of Historical Biography the second sentence was what he said to Danish ministers stating lack of provision as one of the reasons for cancellation of the planned joint invasion of Scania from Denmark during Great Northern War.

Qin Shi Huang's Pep talk. Currently it's listed as CHIN QS MISC PEP TALK E 3

Pep talk / Civilopedia quote

• 天下汹汹之大乱，皆由于封建。寡人即将一之。
• tiān xià xiōng xiōng zhī dà luàn，jiē yóu yú fēng jiàn。guǎ rén jí jiāng yī zhī。
• The tremendous turmoil all over the world is the consequence of feudalism. Soon I will unify them.

Note: The first sentence in the English line is a translation of his words from Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian, but the original in Chinese (天下共苦戰鬭不休以有侯王 / Tiānxià gòng kǔzhàn dòu bùxiū yǐ yǒu hóu wáng) is completely different save for "天下" (Tiānxià - All-under-Heaven).
He's talking about the greatest achievement of Qin Shi Huang - end of feudalism and beginning of centralized absolute monarchy in China. Remember that the feudalism in China, or more precisely the Fengjian system of Zhou dynasty, is marked by numerous powerful vassal kingdoms (which became independent during the late Zhou dynasty) and lack of direct rule from central government, unlike feudalism in the west (lieges, vassals , fiefdoms......)
The word “天下”, literally “under heaven”, can be translated as "all the world" or "all china", both were the same in Qin Shi Huang‘s age. So the true meaning of this line is not his hatred toward medieval social structure, but his ambition of world conquest.

Victoria

Pep talk: Do not let your feelings (very natural and usual ones) of momentary irritation and discomfort, be seen by others.
Notes: Actual quote of Queen Victoria's from her letter to her firstborn named after herself - Victoria the Princess Royal.

 

[Guandao]

According to Youtuber comments on Snowgigas' Lady Six Sky video, the voice actress for her might be Carla Castaneda, who is Mexican. Another poster complained about her not being a fluent Mayan speaker, saying she mispronounces the Mayan "x" as "ks" instead of "sh".

It seems Firaxis favors professional voice actors for the leaders now (several of the Civ5 voice actors were likely not professional VAs). It might be why they hired an Egyptian (his surname is Elshazly) to voice Mansa Musa (hence he only speaks Arabic, without any Mande language words). Professional voice actors who speak Mandinka or Bambara must be hard to find outside of Mali. Amanitore is also voiced by an Egyptian. And I think Cleopatra too.

 

[Zaarin]

It seems Firaxis favors professional voice actors for the leaders now

On the one hand, I do appreciate this. Taken as a whole, the quality of voice acting in Civ6 is a huge step up from Civ5. However, it's unfortunate when it leads them to hire voice actors who aren't proficient in the languages that they're speaking.

 

[Morningcalm]

Added the new stuff to the early posts, Red Khan--thanks for your research efforts!

According to Youtuber comments on Snowgigas' Lady Six Sky video, the voice actress for her might be Carla Castaneda, who is Mexican. Another poster complained about her not being a fluent Mayan speaker, saying she mispronounces the Mayan "x" as "ks" instead of "sh".

It seems Firaxis favors professional voice actors for the leaders now (several of the Civ5 voice actors were likely not professional VAs). It might be why they hired an Egyptian (his surname is Elshazly) to voice Mansa Musa (hence he only speaks Arabic, without any Mande language words). Professional voice actors who speak Mandinka or Bambara must be hard to find outside of Mali. Amanitore is also voiced by an Egyptian. And I think Cleopatra too.

Interesting; I guess they took to heart the criticism that some voice acting in Civ 5 was rather tepid (for example, Elizabeth, Sejong). Genghis Khan sounded overly nice to me in Civ 5, but his threatening voice in Civ 6 and his mocking laughter are perfect for characterization! That said Civ 5 had some gems like Attila, who, despite pronouncing the language rather incorrectly, had *excellent* voice acting and really conveyed to me his character. I think the localization people Firaxis hires to do the voices have a tough time finding people who both speak the ancient languages well and can voice act. Scholars aren't exactly great at voice acting most of the time, AFAIK.

 

[Zaarin]

Scholars aren't exactly great at voice acting most of the time, AFAIK.

Maybe that's sometimes true, but I've heard some delightful dramatic readings of Beowulf, the Eddas, Homer, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and so forth by scholars. Give them something suitably well-written to read and voice acting wouldn't be all that different from a dramatic reading.

 

[Morningcalm]

Maybe that's sometimes true, but I've heard some delightful dramatic readings of Beowulf, the Eddas, Homer, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and so forth by scholars. Give them something suitably well-written to read and voice acting wouldn't be all that different from a dramatic reading.

Depends on the scholar. *Most* scholars I know aren't so skilled at rhetoric (mileage may vary for everyone of course), since they are preoccupied with paper writing. And sometimes dramatic readings can sound like they are being read, rather than voice acted naturally, so that can be tough to get across too.

 

[Zaarin]

Depends on the scholar. *Most* scholars I know aren't so skilled at rhetoric (mileage may vary for everyone of course), since they are preoccupied with paper writing. And sometimes dramatic readings can sound like they are being read, rather than voice acted naturally, so that can be tough to get across too.

True. What you need is a scholar who's also a performing artist, like Richard Bagby. This scholar's reading is a little less expressive, but I'd be delighted to hear a Babylonian or Assyrian leader sound so authentic--and he'd do fine for a less bombastic personality like Sennacherib.

 

[Red Khan]

Professional voice actors who speak Mandinka or Bambara must be hard to find outside of Mali.

Not always voice actors, but also theatrical. Tomyris' VA is a theatrical actress, although in her interview she said that she dubbed a movies, although it's not cleat if it was before or after she recorded for Civ6. And also FB profile for Lautaro's VA states that he also has theatrical experience. Both of them live in their home countries and, as we can see from the blog entry of that Spanish recording studio they do remote recording sessions when sound director and others connect via Skype.
Althought I don't know how difficult it is to find in Bamako a theatrical actor fluent in Bambara and a sound recording studio.

I guess they took to heart the criticism that some voice acting in Civ 5 was rather tepid (for example, Elizabeth, Sejong)

I don't understand why native English speaker's dislike Elizabeth's voice. Yes, she speaks RP, but it's an appropriate to her status modern version of English and a lot of leaders use modern variants of their language. And the VA, IMHO, does a very good job of being posh and arrogant. BTW, she is not an actress but a language coach.

So is Catherine The Greate's VA. I yet have to meet a person who speaks this perfectly in Russian - her articulation is crispy perfect and pronunciation of words is etalon. Too bad that all this perfectness is actually the reason why she is miscast - Catherine, being born a German princess, spoke Russian with German accent. But she would be spot on when voicing a noble woman from the start of the 20 century.

Too sum it up: these two voice-overs have the the same impression on me - two higly educated women with high social status, one is just being arrogant and the other flirty.

 

[Zaarin]

I don't understand why native English speaker's dislike Elizabeth's voice. Yes, she speaks RP, but it's an appropriate to her status modern version of English and a lot of leaders use modern variants of their language.

I mean, it would have required almost zero effort to find someone capable of speaking Elizabethan English--and even just reciting Shakespeare in a modern dialect would have been a step up. (For that matter, Elizabeth I was a highly proficient poet herself; she could have quoted her own poetry and speeches.) That being said, her delivery wasn't bad, but it was a little flat--especially when portraying someone who was notoriously mercurial. Part of the reason I hoped Elizabeth would return in Civ6 is that she had a very colorful personality, and her previous portrayals in the franchise have been rather on the bland side.

 

[God of Kings]

Not always voice actors, but also theatrical. Tomyris' VA is a theatrical actress, although in her interview she said that she dubbed a movies, although it's not cleat if it was before or after she recorded for Civ6. And also FB profile for Lautaro's VA states that he also has theatrical experience. Both of them live in their home countries and, as we can see from the blog entry of that Spanish recording studio they do remote recording sessions when sound director and others connect via Skype.
Althought I don't know how difficult it is to find in Bamako a theatrical actor fluent in Bambara and a sound recording studio.


I don't understand why native English speaker's dislike Elizabeth's voice. Yes, she speaks RP, but it's an appropriate to her status modern version of English and a lot of leaders use modern variants of their language. And the VA, IMHO, does a very good job of being posh and arrogant. BTW, she is not an actress but a language coach.

So is Catherine The Greate's VA. I yet have to meet a person who speaks this perfectly in Russian - her articulation is crispy perfect and pronunciation of words is etalon. Too bad that all this perfectness is actually the reason why she is miscast - Catherine, being born a German princess, spoke Russian with German accent. But she would be spot on when voicing a noble woman from the start of the 20 century.

Too sum it up: these two voice-overs have the the same impression on me - two higly educated women with high social status, one is just being arrogant and the other flirty.

Augustus' voice actor is a linguistics professor in Montreal and teaches in the same university as the VA for Catherine the Great, who is also a professor. Both personally know each other.

 

[Morningcalm]

@Red Khan, as Zaarin said it would have been easy to find a voice actress doing Elizabethan English, and we have many writings from Elizabeth herself to draw on for quotes too. The best voice actress for Elizabeth I IMO was Rosalind Ayres, an actress who voiced Elizabeth I in Age of Empires III, and she did a better job at showing Elizabeth’s famously fiery personality with just the right amount of class. The Civ 5 voice actress was far too bland and sounds like a commoner trying to imitate a posh person IMO. I’m not hugely impressed with the voice actress for Victoria in Civ VI but I think she did a much better job at conveying Victoria’s personality (which was, to be sure, less fiery than Elizabeth I).

Augustus' voice actor is a linguistics professor in Montreal and teaches in the same university as the VA for Catherine the Great, who is also a professor. Both personally know each other.

He also voiced the Roman units in Civ IV!

 

[Red Khan]

I mean, it would have required almost zero effort to find someone capable of speaking Elizabethan English--and even just reciting Shakespeare in a modern dialect would have been a step up. (For that matter, Elizabeth I was a highly proficient poet herself; she could have quoted her own poetry and speeches.) That being said, her delivery wasn't bad, but it was a little flat--especially when portraying someone who was notoriously mercurial. Part of the reason I hoped Elizabeth would return in Civ6 is that she had a very colorful personality, and her previous portrayals in the franchise have been rather on the bland side.

Thanks for the explanation. I understand you now, same goes for Peter. He left like tons of writings - letters, dairies, decrees etc. and still they weren't used. In fact Peter's speech patterns are far too modern, Russian of that time while almost always intelligible for modern speakers has a very distinctive and recognizable feel (since some of Peter's quotes are famous) and it's a pity that the translator failed to capture it.

I think that was a deliberate choice for Civ5 to use modern version of languages where possible. Maybe they were just afraid of the amount of effort required for the whole project and decided not to increase it furthermore. After gaining some experience and feedback they decided to take it further and now a lot of leaders either speak an old version of language (like Frederick Barbarossa) or have some stylization (like Tamar's Georgian). A native speaker of Georgian said that "it sounds pretty much like medieval Georgian".

Speaking of Barbarossa - as far as I can tell from my basic German on his Civilopedia quote he says something like (modern orthography) "Deutsche Gewalt lebt ewiglich". And when googling the line written in English ("The might of Germany will live forever") only a very similar quote ("Germany will live forever") by one particularly infamous historical figure of 20th century come out. Although some sources state that it was in use since XVII century. Maybe someone who has better knowledge of German language and culture can clarify it?

And @Morningcalm can you please add the following note to Tamar's pep talk

Note: The English line is a translation from her address to the clergy at a Church council she convened at the beginning of her reign from the medieval chronicle The Life of Tamar, Queen of Queens, although the line spoken in Georgian is a back translation from English. The original quote is ნუ თუალ-ახუამთ მთავართა სიმდიდრისათჳს, ნუცა გლახაკთა უდებჰყოფთ სიმცირისათჳს. / nu tual-akhuamt mtavarta simdidrisatŭis, nutsa glakhak’ta udebhq’opt simtsirisatŭis. - "Do not show partiality to the mtavars because of their wealth, and do not neglect the destitute because of their poverty."

 

[Guandao]

So according to the Civilization wiki, the same voice actress voices Arshia Kishk from Beyond Earth and Cleopatra in Civ6. Also, some of the voice actors have pics on the Civilization wiki.

I'm still curious about Kristina's voice actress and why was she credited as Mtag/MTAG only? Was she embarrassed to voice Queen Kristina because of backlash from Swedish fans?

 

[Lord Lakely]

Barbarossa's German is definitely not modern German. It sounds like Lower German to me, which is much closer to Dutch (which makes sense since the German Capital, Aachen is a five minute drive away from the Dutch and Belgian border)

 

[Red Khan]

'm still curious about Kristina's voice actress and why was she credited as Mtag/MTAG only?

Maybe it's just her stage name?

Was she embarrassed to voice Queen Kristina because of backlash from Swedish fans?

Backlash before she voiced her and probably even before Kristina was announced?

Barbarossa's German is definitely not modern German. It sounds like Lower German to me, which is much closer to Dutch (which makes sense since the German Capital, Aachen is a five minute drive away from the Dutch and Belgian border)

It was identified as Middle High German (Mittelhochdeutsch), a period appropriate German for Frederick.

 

[Red Khan]

Addition of Civilopedia quotes to leader's articles on Fandom Wiki started to bear fruits. Somebody with a South Korean IP wrote about origin of Seondeok's quote.

@Morningcalm can you please add the following note to her pep talk.

Note: The quote references an event described in the Samguk Yusa (written in Classical Chinese, which was used by literate Koreans at the time of its composition), a collection of Korean myths and legends, in which Seondeok, after receiving a painting of three peony flowers alongside peony seeds from Emperor Taizong of China, correctly predicted that the flowers would have no scent, because the painting did not depict any butterflies or bees flying around the flowers. Thus, peonies came to represent Seondeok's wisdom and insight.

Also, I forgot to ask you to change Tamar's language spoken.

Speaks modern Georgian with some medieval stylization. For example, the plural form of "heart" in her Attacked line is გულნი (gulni) instead of the modern გულები (gulebi).

And I remind you that you can add latin transcriptions to her lines from Fandom wiki, as well as for Mansa Musa's and Saladin's line.

 

[Kupe Navigator]

On the one hand, I do appreciate this. Taken as a whole, the quality of voice acting in Civ6 is a huge step up from Civ5. However, it's unfortunate when it leads them to hire voice actors who aren't proficient in the languages that they're speaking.

I mean... I like voice acting in Seondok better than voice acting in Sejong the great in civ 5. In Korea voice acting for Sejong is so bad that it basically became a meme.

 

[Zaarin]

I mean... I like voice acting in Seondok better than voice acting in Sejong the great in civ 5. In Korea voice acting for Sejong is so bad that it basically became a meme.

Don't know Korean well enough to comment. Like I said, the quality in Civ6 is definitely superior; I just wish they'd have taken more steps to, for instance, find a native speaker of a Mayan language for Lady Six Sky or find someone with better Akkadian pronunciation (or, better, someone who spoke Sumerian) than the actor who portrays Gilgamesh (his good delivery notwithstanding).

 

[Morningcalm]

Thanks, @Red Khan, updated accordingly, including the transliterations for Mansa Musa, Saladin, and Tamar.

 

[Red Khan]

Also, some of the voice actors have pics on the Civilization wiki.

I guess somebody googled the up. I can say how Tomyris' VA photo came up - I added a link to her interview to article about her and the admin of the wiki just googled up her picture.

I just wish they'd have taken more steps to, for instance, find a native speaker of a Mayan language for Lady Six Sky

To be fair, the problem here is that whoever casts the voice actors usually can't assess how good is VA's language. As a somewhat relatable example: Paul from Langfocus made a video about Caucasian (i.e. from the region of Caucasus mountains) languages. He usually asks in his social media for native speakers and found one, but the guy lied to him that he was a native and fluent speaker. He even looked for more Chechen speakers to review his samples, but none replied. Of course after the video was on Youtube there were comments from native speakers that the guy has an accent and is not a native speaker (discussion here for example), but it was too late.
But Paul at least can speak about his projects publicly, while people doing casting are under NDA. So they basically have to rely on good faith of voice actors and in some cases people at subcontracted sound recording studios.

find someone with better Akkadian pronunciation (or, better, someone who spoke Sumerian)

But who would be a better at Sumerian? It's a long dead language isolate.
For Akkadian you might try to find somebody who speaks Assyrian Neo-Aramaic, but my guess is that it's not an easy task to find a native speaker, let alone an actor who speaks it fluently. There are estimated only 500-800 thousand speakers located in currently not very peaceful parts of the Middle East.