Things units say

[cuchulain]

My Gaelic isn't very good, but one of the things they say is "Ta go maith" which means "Fine" or "ok"

 

[Luso]

What language is Byzantium?
the Celtic I think its Gaelic.

garbageinhere: I dont see why spanish did they're best to whimp Aztec out of History,that shouldn't happened,the same to Mayas and Incas,that was the worst part of Discoveries.

 

[sabo]

What language is Byzantium?
the Celtic I think its Gaelic.

garbageinhere: I dont see why spanish did they're best to whimp Aztec out of History,that shouldn't happened,the same to Mayas and Incas,that was the worst part of Discoveries.

WOuldn't Byzantium be a form of old Greek?

 

[Flouzemaker]

When you select French units, they say:
- "Prêt pour assignation," or: Ready for assignment.
- "À votre service!" or: At your service.
- "Qu'est que je dois faire?" or: What must I do?
- "Nous attendons vos ordres," or: We await your orders.
- "Prêt à l'action," or: Ready for action.
- "Quel est le plan?" or: What is the plan?
- "Oui," or: Yes.
- "Vos ordres?" or: Your orders?
- "De quoi avez-vous besoin?" or: What do you need?
- "Tous présents et dénombrés," or: All present and accounted for.

When you give the orders, the French units respond with:
- "Comme vous voulez," or: As you wish (or literally: Like you want)
- "Allons-y," or: Let's go!
- "Certainement," or: Certainly.
- "Nous y travaillons," or: We're working on it.
- "Aucun problème," or: No problem.
- "Considérez ce travail accompli," or: Consider that task accomplished.
- "Très bien," or: Very well.
- "Nous sommes en route," or: We're on the way.
- "Allons-y," or, you guessed it: Let's go! (they say it twice, with different intonations)
- "Vous pouvez compter sur nous," or: You can count on us.


"Allons-y" might sound a little like "Allez-y" if you're not that familiar with French, but there's a key difference between the two.
"Allons-y" is how people who've been given an order might respond, while, "Allez-y" is what you'd say after giving an order. Say... "Work! Go!" which would become: "Travaillez! Allez-y!"


The Mayans sound like they're talking in one of the Mayan dialects, and the Aztec do sound like Nahuatl.
The mystery is... What are the Babylonians and Sumerians speaking? One thing's for sure: they're not speaking the same language. Did they chose one of the languages thought to be descended from Sumerian (or Babylonian)?.

I'd also be very curious to know which of the very long list of Native American languages has been chosen for the game. I assume it's Navajo since it's the most widely spoken native tongue spoken in North America. But there are still roughly 175 native languages spoken in the US alone (which is a far cry from the estimated 2,000 different languages used in the Americas (North, South & Isles) in the 14th-15th century.

 

[Flouzemaker]

WOuldn't Byzantium be a form of old Greek?

It does sound a little like Greek, but they're definitely not speaking the same kind of Greek as the Greek units use.

The Byzantines spoke what is now called "Medieval Greek" or "Byzantine Greek," though I don't know if that language is still spoken today.
I don't even know if the Greek units speak Mycenaean Greek, Classical Greek (or Ancient Greek), Hellenistic Greek (or Koine Greek), Medieval Greek, Modern Greek (or Romeika), or Standard Modern Greek.
'Course, it also depends a lot on whether or not those languages can still be spoken today (except for Standard Modern Greek, obviously).

I suppose Greek Civ players will have to tell us.

 

[Jastrow]

Sounds like plattdeutsch. Or some other weird dialect of german. "Ick bin sowiet!" (I am ready) Maybe berlinerisch? "Watt kann ich fuer die tun?" (what can i do for you?)

My guess is that it is an attempt to reproduce "middle low German" or some similar dialect. In practice, they probably got someone from near the Dutch-German boarder to read an older text.

 

[Flouzemaker]

i wonder about Aztec or Inca, the Spanish did they're best to whip them out of history, how can that be really Aztec. maybe it's only invented... maybe

The Spanish did their best to completely remove all existence of mesoamerican and south-american languages (and especially their texts and religious artefacts), but in many cases, there was too much stuff to be erased to succeed completely.
One should also consider the fact that the Aztecs and Mayans Empires were City-States, and not one unified country. Thus, numerous different languages were spoken. I'm not positive, but I think there were roughly 150 different languages in northern Mexico alone.

Sometimes, I wish Cortes had failed miserably, and wonder how different the Americas would be today had colonization of the new world been a complete and utter failure.
I suppose that's one of the most appealing aspects of Civilization. (Though I really don't think the Aztecs were THAT psychotic, lol!)

 

[BENdage]

Some turkish units sound like they say "everywhere there's a big turtle" when you select them. Its not, but sounds a lot like...

 

[RedRalph]

My Gaelic isn't very good, but one of the things they say is "Ta go maith" which means "Fine" or "ok"

They say "Go Brea" too

 

[RedRalph]

Some turkish units sound like they say "everywhere there's a big turtle" when you select them. Its not, but sounds a lot like...

I know the thing youre tlaking about

 

[KMadCandy]

Also I know the persians speak textbook farsi, without any dialect, very unnatural my father said!

hubby noticed that too. he was born in the US, and learned arabic and farsi here. even tho his teachers were native speakers, he never lived in the culture to be surrounded full-time, so basically he learned textbook. and altho he hasn't listened that much, some of the things he's heard he's laughed at how it sounds like it could have been taken directly off the training tapes from his classes.

 

[Lacaixa]

My guess is that it is an attempt to reproduce "middle low German" or some similar dialect. In practice, they probably got someone from near the Dutch-German boarder to read an older text.

I think you're right . It sounds somewhere between Dutch and German. I would have thought they would perhaps have gone for an old High German dialect to bring in Austria and Switzerland which also have representatives on the city list.

 

[Lacaixa]

Here we go...

Mannu, why do you say this. Wasn't it a fair question ?

 

[CorneliusScipio]

I guess it goes without saying that the Romans speak in Latin. The only ones I can remember now are "Ita" (Yes), and "Quid consilium est?" (What's the plan?).

 

[se7en]

As long as this thread is here ... I wonder what language the Sumerians, Egyptians, and the Babylonians are speaking. I think those are dead languages aren't they? Are they just speaking made up gibberish or something?

The Egyptians are speaking Arabic.

 

[Evil Twin]

The Egyptians are speaking Arabic.

That annoys me no end.
I'd sooner have them speaking Goa'uld.

 

[Comrade Aart]

There is actually an "error" in one of the Dutch phrases. Even though workers and settlers are not military units, they still say:
"Deze militair meldt zich."

(Literal translation: "This soldier reports himself." In babelfish it is even funnier )

 

[Figaro]

Aincient (Classical) Greek is not generally spoken per se, but like Latin its often studied as an academic subject, and plenty of texts have survived (viz Homer etc.) so we have a decent idea of how it would have sounded. Its relation to Modern Greek I suspect is roughly equivalent of Latin to Italian. The Byzantines I assume speak some mid-way version.

 

[Spearthrower]

I've studied ancient Greek - it's pronunciation is pretty similar to modern Greek, at least to an outsider's ear - a better comparison would be the difference in sound between Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese.... some sounds are harder and more enunciated.

 

[Lacaixa]

Spearthrower...... can you pinpoint the HRE dialect ?