Language translations for leader sayings

[Red Khan]

I found where the quote is taken from - prologue of the Code of Hammurabi, slightly rephrased translation by Leonard William King - "Anu and Bel called by name me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, who feared God, to bring about the rule of righteousness in the land".

Wikisource also has the transliteration of the original in Akkadian and it partially matches the line spoken - "Ḫa-am-mu-ra-bi | ru-ba-am 30 na-’-dam | pa-li-iḫ ili bia-ti | mi-ša-ra-am | i-na ma-tim | a-na šu-bi-i-im". The last part I can not find, although he clearly says "Anu" and "Bel" so it must be the "Anu and Bel called my name" part.

Too bad I couldn't find the source written in cuneiform, it is supported by Unicode and looks really nice -

P.S. Seems that forum engine doesn't support it (it's a frequent problem with surrogate pairs in Unicode) and the pasted text in cuneiform just disappears. But I checked, Fandom's engine does support it.

 

[Red Khan]

The only leader that I can think of (apart from Lady Six Sky and Montezuma) whose voice actor probably doesn't have anything to do with the language he voiced is Gilgamesh.

And now Hammurabi who also speaks Akkadian. Interestingly though, both Gilgamesh and Hammurabi seem to be voiced by Spanish speakers - Jorge Badillo Galván and Jose Daniel Martinez Robles accordingly. I wonder what's the logic behind it.

 

[Zaarin]

And now Hammurabi who also speaks Akkadian. Interestingly though, both Gilgamesh and Hammurabi seem to be voiced by Spanish speakers - Jorge Badillo Galván and Jose Daniel Martinez Robles accordingly. I wonder what's the logic behind it.

Ashurbanipal in Civ5 was also voiced by a Spanish speaker (Nebuchadnezzar may have been, as well, but he's uncredited). It is rather strange, given Spanish and Akkadian have no particular affinity. The most vigorous Assyriology programs are in the US, Germany, France, England, and, I believe, Iran.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Firaxis/2K probably outsources their voice acting work to a studio in a Spanish-speaking country if they can't find a speaker for a language.

 

[Zaarin]

Firaxis/2K probably outsources their voice acting work to a studio in a Spanish-speaking country if they can't find a speaker for a language.

One would think it wouldn't be that hard to reach out to the Assyriology programs at UCLA, University of Michigan, Yale, or Harvard and ask for an Akkadian speaker. They probably could have even found someone to deliver Gilabro's lines in Sumerian.

 

[Red Khan]

Wikisource also has the transliteration of the original in Akkadian and it partially matches the line spoken - "Ḫa-am-mu-ra-bi | ru-ba-am 30 na-’-dam | pa-li-iḫ ili bia-ti | mi-ša-ra-am | i-na ma-tim | a-na šu-bi-i-im". The last part I can not find, although he clearly says "Anu" and "Bel" so it must be the "Anu and Bel called my name" part.

Got some help with this one. The whole quote will be

Ḫa-am-mu-ra-bi ru-ba-am na-’-dam pa-li-iḫ ili (ia-ti) mi-ša-ra-am i-na ma-tim a-na šu-bi-i-im Anum u Bel šu-mi ib-bu-u

Lines 29-34 for the first part of the sentence (although for some reason the word "ia-ti" is omitted), line 45-46 for "Anum u Bel" and line 49 for "šu-mi ib-bu-u" ("called my name") part. Although alternative readings of gods' names are used in the game - Anu instead of Ilu and Bel instead of Enlil. As Wikipedia article about Bel puts it down:

Early translators of Akkadian believed that the ideogram for the god called in Sumerian Enlil was to be read as Bel in Akkadian. Current scholarship holds this as incorrect, but one finds Bel used in referring to Enlil in older translations and discussions.

Also with some help managed to write it down in cuneiform from the source, but as mentioned earlier forum doesn't support cuneiform Unicode characters, so only in Fandom article.

 

[Ferocitus]

This might be of interest to some people here.
The Royal Institution has just uploaded a talk that includes examples of Cree, Navaho, Cistercian sign language and several others.

The Puzzle of Language - with Alex Bellos

 

[Red Khan]

I wonder what language will Kublai Khan speak. Unlike Eleanor he doesn't have a historically accurate neutral language (Occitan) that he spoke.

 

[Kupe Navigator]

I wonder what language will Kublai Khan speak. Unlike Eleanor he doesn't have a historically accurate neutral language (Occitan) that he spoke.

Mongolian like his grandpa

 

[anonxanemone]

Mongolian like his grandpa

But wasn't he a big contributor to the wide spread sinification across Asia?

 

[Kupe Navigator]

But wasn't he a big contributor to the wide spread sinification across Asia?

from this reddit
"
Kublai Khan is thankfully well documented in our history, to the point where some of his writings survive. Furthermore, the Yuan Dynasty kept multilingual records and with the aid of Tibetan Lamas developed the 'phags-pa phonetic script that was used as a standard for languages within.

As we all know, Kublai Khan was a Mongol and a high ranking one at that, meaning his first language was Mongolian. Mongolian at the time was undergoing a radical change from old to middle as we can note from comparing inscriptions and the language in the Mongolian Secret History. As such, he probably used mainly Mongolian for personal matters.

However, we have his poetry, which is written in the literary style of Chinese at the time. The Yuan dynasty and especially Kublai Khan legitimized themselves to the Han by appearing sinicized and adopting Han customs and language to an extent. Kublai Khan's poetry and court records indicate a strong grasp of the language. As anyone who studies China will know, however, "Chinese" is quite a nebulous termas there are dozens of mutually unintelligable languages within China. However, we can assume that the administrative language was the Beijing dialect that would evolve into Mandarin and form the basis for modern standard. It is highly likely his court was expected to know this and Mongolian as well.

The Yuan Khan's straddled the line between Mongolian, Tibetan, and Han culture with the most successful having fused and adopted elements from each. In order to properly administer China, they needed to master the prestige Beijing dialect, in order to conduct clan diplomacy, Mongolian was needed. Some, in order to emphasize they had the mandate of heaven, wrote in literary Chinese. It is possible that some knew classical Tibetan as well, as it flourished during this period."
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/ailnjv/what_languages_did_kublai_khan_speak/

so yeah he could speak Chinese, his native language is Mongolian... so I see no reason why he can't speak Mongolian. He still identified himself as Mongal first, Chinese second.

 

[Red Khan]

so yeah he could speak Chinese, his native language is Mongolian... so I see no reason why he can't speak Mongolian. He still identified himself as Mongal first, Chinese second.

He might be like Gandhi or Wilfrid Laurier - speaking two languages at the same time. Or maybe he even speaks a different language depending on civilization that he leads.
We'll learn soon.

 

[God of Kings]

He might be like Gandhi or Wilfrid Laurier - speaking two languages at the same time. Or maybe he even speaks a different language depending on civilization that he leads.
We'll learn soon.

Catherine d'Medici spoke both French and Italian in-game.

 

[Lord Lakely]

You can hear Kublai speak during the first look. It sounds like Mongolian to me, but the possibility that he speaks both Mongolian and Mandarin seems safe to assume.

 

[Kjimmet]

Snowgigas uploaded Bà Triệu's lines with exeption of her agenda which he's going to upload at later date.

 

[Kupe Navigator]

Snowgigas uploaded Bà Triệu's lines with exeption of her agenda which he's going to upload at later date.

It was said she has a Northern (Hanoi ) accent... fitting considering where she likely lived and acted.

 

[DogeEnricoDandolo]

It was said she has a Northern (Hanoi ) accent... fitting considering where she likely lived and acted.

That comment was me I am everywhere

 

[Kjimmet]

Snowgigas uploaded Kublai Khan ones. He has difficulties on triggering agendas of both leaders for some reason.

 

[Zaarin]

Oof, Kublai's model and animations are bad--maybe the worst in NFP.

 

[Kupe Navigator]

Oof, Kublai's model and animations are bad--maybe the worst in NFP.

He looks like a gnomes!