Philip II speaks with Mexican accent. Shame on you, Firaxis!

[El Castellano]

Here explain why the difference between s and z/c are only given in Spain, with the explanation that it is the "ceceo" and "seseo" and where they are spoken:
http://spanish.stackexchange.com/qu...diferencia-entre-s-y-z-c-solo-se-da-en-españa

 

[Churchdown Yank]

I only ever heard "Mexican Spanish" before I moved to Europe. Now when I hear "real" Thpanish? It thounds thilly.

 

[Stauffenberg]

Being a Norwegian I can't wait hearing how Harald Hardråde speaks. If he speaks Norwegian in Civ 6 it would be wrong since the Vikings spoke old Norse. The closest to old Norse is Icelandic.

I wonder how one can determine the correct language for leaders of ancient civilizations like Sumeria and Scythia.

I also read that French was used in the Russian court as a language in the 18th and 19th centuries. Not sure we want Peter I to speak French in Civ 6.

All languages have evolved through the centuries so what language was spoken when the civ 6 leader was alive might be different from what we think. Since we can't conjure up people from that time period we represent the leaders with the language used today. I therefore expect Harald Hardråde to speak modern Norwegian even though that language is more Danish than old Norse. If he speaks some kind of old Norse I would be impressed. I would only be a little disappointed if he speaks modern Norwegian with an American accent, but I don't think that will happen.

99.9% of the players won't notice the difference whether Philip II speaks with a Mexican or some kind of Spanish accent. Firaxis will have to make some kind of compromise. So I believe they will use languages similar to the modern language used in the civ today or a bit close to the real leader if we have recordings of how the leader actually spoke like for Gandhi and Roosevelt.

If we really would want accuracy we couldn't have used leaders at all since they lived 60-80 years and Civ 6 lasts for 6000 years. Leader policy would change many times during the lifespan of a civilization. For a game, however, having leaders works very well. The main thing is that we can identify ourselves with the civs we play. Firaxis have done a great job with exactly that.

 

[MistyRonin]

Being a Norwegian I can't wait hearing how Harald Hardråde speaks. If he speaks Norwegian in Civ 6 it would be wrong since the Vikings spoke old Norse. The closest to old Norse is Icelandic.

It's a bit off-topic, but we already commented about Hardråde in the leaders conversations thread. Seems that he speaks old Norse with modern Icelandic entonation.

In the mentioned thread you can find the video.

 

[Browd]

Being a Norwegian I can't wait hearing how Harald Hardråde speaks. If he speaks Norwegian in Civ 6 it would be wrong since the Vikings spoke old Norse. The closest to old Norse is Icelandic.

I wonder how one can determine the correct language for leaders of ancient civilizations like Sumeria and Scythia.

I also read that French was used in the Russian court as a language in the 18th and 19th centuries. Not sure we want Peter I to speak French in Civ 6.

All languages have evolved through the centuries so what language was spoken when the civ 6 leader was alive might be different from what we think. Since we can't conjure up people from that time period we represent the leaders with the language used today. I therefore expect Harald Hardråde to speak modern Norwegian even though that language is more Danish than old Norse. If he speaks some kind of old Norse I would be impressed. I would only be a little disappointed if he speaks modern Norwegian with an American accent, but I don't think that will happen.

99.9% of the players won't notice the difference whether Philip II speaks with a Mexican or some kind of Spanish accent. Firaxis will have to make some kind of compromise. So I believe they will use languages similar to the modern language used in the civ today or a bit close to the real leader if we have recordings of how the leader actually spoke like for Gandhi and Roosevelt.

If we really would want accuracy we couldn't have used leaders at all since they live 60-80 years and Civ 6 lasts for 6000 years. Leader policy would change many times during the lifespan of a civilization. For a game, however, having leaders work very well. The main thing is that we can identify ourselves with the civs we play. Firaxis have done a great job with exactly that.

For a detailed discussion of the languages spoken by various leaders, see this thread. Discussion of Harald starts on page 5 of that thread.

 

[EulerMcE]

Being a Norwegian I can't wait hearing how Harald Hardråde speaks. If he speaks Norwegian in Civ 6 it would be wrong since the Vikings spoke old Norse. The closest to old Norse is Icelandic.

at 22:20

 

[Stauffenberg]

Great. That sounds like old Norse and definitely not Norwegian. I'm happy. It could be Icelandic, though, since I don't understand Icelandic.

 

[Al Bundy]

Thank you all for your feedback. I was probably wrong. I still think that there is something unnatural with Philip's accent, especially in the defeat cutscene but maybe I didn't heard it well with Quill's voice in the background, like somebody said, or maybe the actor is trying to mix Old Spanish with modern words, like another member added. Anyway, if so I am glad to be hard-of-hearing. It is a small relief to see everything in order.

Thank you guys!

 

[Stauffenberg]

It's a bit off-topic, but we already commented about Hardråde in the leaders conversations thread. Seems that he speaks old Norse with modern Icelandic entonation.

In the mentioned thread you can find the video.

I know, I just wanted to show that Firaxis have actually done a good job getting the leaders to speak like what we believed they would have spoken. That includes the language of Philip II. It's not like Firaxis have generally done a poor job. Al Bundy might be right that for Philip II they got the accent slightly different from what some would have wanted. However, in general, Firaxis have done an excellent job getting the leaders to speak what we would think they really spoke.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Being a Norwegian I can't wait hearing how Harald Hardråde speaks. If he speaks Norwegian in Civ 6 it would be wrong since the Vikings spoke old Norse. The closest to old Norse is Icelandic.

Firaxis has never been consistent with this. Sometimes they use the modern languages over the one that existed at the time. I tend to be OK with that if we're talking about a still living Civ. It reduces the accuracy, but it still gives the flavor of the Civ. It did bother me that they were almost going to go with Italian for Rome and I'm glad they didn't. So, while they're apparently going with Old Norse and that's good too, I wouldn't mind hearing modern Norwegian since I don't hear the language very often.

I wonder how one can determine the correct language for leaders of ancient civilizations like Sumeria and Scythia.

They do a pretty good job of reaching out to scholars to consult with. Scythia will inherently be a bit of speculation, much like the Huns, but we have a pretty good idea of what the Sumerian language sounded like (it helps that their script was very visual in a way - by analogy, it would be like using a picture of a Bee for the letter B - so we can figure out what the sounds the symbols represent are.

I also read that French was used in the Russian court as a language in the 18th and 19th centuries. Not sure we want Peter I to speak French in Civ 6.

And that's exactly where accuracy loses out. I want the flavor of the Civ more than the flavor of the leader.

Anyway, I always appreciate these threads because they help me learn things. My favorite was the discussion of Alexander in Civ5. The Greek speakers thought he was butchering their language. Turns out he was speaking Attic Greek very accurately and some of the sound shifts that can be seen in Koine Greek through modern Greek hadn't occurred yet. That being said, it seems the op has been thoroughly debunked and that he's not speaking Mexican Spanish. Good job, Firaxis!

 

[Abathorn]

Thank you all for your feedback. I was probably wrong. I still think that there is something unnatural with Philip's accent, especially in the defeat cutscene but maybe I didn't heard it well with Quill's voice in the background, like somebody said, or maybe the actor is trying to mix Old Spanish with modern words, like another member added. Anyway, if so I am glad to be hard-of-hearing. It is a small relief to see everything in order.

Thank you guys!

The only thing maybe you can notice is that the actor is trying to speak in old fashioned way, but the accent is central spain for sure.

I am very happy for the quality level in the actor performance.

 

[phryxolydian]

I am a spanish native speaker, born in Madrid, and definitely the voice actor pronunciation is from the center in Spain and NOT from Mexico

On the defeat scene he says "¿por qué no has abandonado?", which would be normal here in Mexico but, I thought it should be "habéis" instead of "has", in Spain?

 

[elprofesor]

On the defeat scene he says "¿por qué no has abandonado?", which would be normal here in Mexico but, I thought it should be "habéis" instead of "has", in Spain?

"nos" is the direct object, not the subject. The subject (I believe because I can't hear the beginning) is "God", which he is speaking directly to, so the singular second person is appropriate.

The little I've heard from the voice actor sounds like peninsular Spanish to me. The "Yo somos" seems a bit weird, I would expect "Nos somos" instead, but my knowledge of how the Monarch spoke back then is fairly limited.

 

[Abathorn]

On the defeat scene he says "¿por qué no has abandonado?", which would be normal here in Mexico but, I thought it should be "habéis" instead of "has", in Spain?

No, because he says: "Dios, ¿Por qué nos has abandonado?"

Dios, "God" it's the second person, so the verb "haber" in the 2th person is "has". So to use "habeis" in that sentence is wrong in Spain and Mexico.

 

[phryxolydian]

Thanks for clarifying!

 

[Homusubi]

Can anyone link to a clip of Hojo speaking? I'm now interested in whether he speaks in ancient Japanese or modern Japanese...

 

[Balkans]

This reminds me of Niko Belic situation with gta iv - since i speak the native language - i couldn't believe what they did with voice acting - it's almost as they did it with google translate, it's almost ridiculous just how bad it is - but you need to know the language to notice that ... i don't think foreigners noticed anything when he spoke in his "native" language.
Can't say much about this "mexican" accent but these things obviously happen to the biggest and most expensive productions in gaming industry for whatever reasons...

 

[Abathorn]

This reminds me of Niko Belic situation with gta iv - since i speak the native language - i couldn't believe what they did with voice acting - it's almost as they did it with google translate, it's almost ridiculous just how bad it is - but you need to know the language to notice that ... i don't think foreigners noticed anything when he spoke in his "native" language.
Can't say much about this "mexican" accent but these things obviously happen to the biggest and most expensive productions in gaming industry for whatever reasons...

Here the castillian accent is correct, sounds to me like a truly native.

 

[ehecatzin]

I can't hear it (Mexican here so this can't fool me), if anything he sounds like the average Spanish (from Spain) of other videogames. Not like everyday Spanish, but a very correct one, don't know how to explain it. If anything I was dissapointed he sounds like something out of the Assasins Creed spanish dubbing instead of something more unique.

 

[rastak]

There is certainly shame going on in this thread but it isn't with Firaxis.

I see the OP has made himself scarce.