Translation of the leaders' speeches

[spicytimothy]

I'll get us started.

China - Wu Zetian
"Greetings. I am Female Emperor Wu Zetian. China seeks peace in order to achieve independent development. If others don't cross me, I do not cross others."

There are 2 minor errors tho. It seems that they used "我" as "I", which is actually contemporary Chinese. In ancient China, the emperor refers to himself as "朕". Also, Ancient Chinese never called the country "中國" or "China". In Wu Zetian's time, she would have most likely said "大周", or "The Great Zhou Dynasty". OR in the very least "The Great Tang"... It's a ridiculously small thing but it's the small things that makes it authentic...

****

Thanks to Mercade for summarizing what we have so far:

America - Washington: The people of the United States of America welcome you.
Arabia - Harun al-Rashid: [...] I am Harun al-Rashid, caliph of Arabia [...]
Aztec - Montezuma:
Babylon - Nebuchadnezzar:
China - Wu Zetian: Greetings. I am Female Emperor Wu Zetian. China seeks peace in order to achieve independent development. If others don't cross me, I do not cross others.
Egypt - Ramesses II:
England - Elizabeth I: We are pleased to meet you.
France - Napoleon: Welcome. I am Napoleon, of France, the smartest soldier in world history.
Germany - Bismarck: In the name of the great people of Germany, I welcome you.
Greece - Alexander: Hail (stranger?), I'm Alexander, son of Kings and grandon of Gods.
India - Ghandi: On the behalf of the Indian people, I extend a hand of friendship to you.
Iroquois - Hiawatha:
Japan - Oda Nobunaga: I should like to extend greetings to your good self of heroic prestige, and in addition, fair and equitable coordination will be cordinally appreciated.
Ottoman - Suleiman:
Persia - Darius:
Rome - Augustus: Greetings. I am Augustus Caesar, emperor of Rome and Pontifex Maximus. If you are a friend of Rome, that's welcome.
Russia - Katerina: I greet you, stranger. If your mind and tact equal to your attractiveness, we will get along remarkably.
Siam - Ramkhamhaeng: Greetings. My name is Por-khun (Lord) Ramkamhaeng. I am glad to have you in Siam.
Songhai - Askia:

 

[Ergo Sum]

Napoleon says: Welcome. I am Napoleon, of France, the most intelligent (general?) of world history.

I only learned through class so I am not 100% that he's saying general, it sounds muddled to me. But it's something about military.

 

[I tech faster]

Napoleon says: Welcome. I am Napoleon, of France, the most intelligent (general?) of world history.

I only learned through class so I am not 100% that he's saying general, it sounds muddled to me. But it's something about military.

That's pretty much that but he defines himself as a "militaire" which can be translated in english as a soldier or a warrior. A bit awkward though, general would have been more appropriate.


Germany - Bismarck says: In the name of the great people of Germany, I welcome you.

 

[kaltorak]

Very interestnig notes spicytimothy.

Izzy says in spanish: hey, where's my civ

 

[Mercade]

Napoleon says: Welcome. I am Napoleon, of France, the most intelligent (general?) of world history.

That's pretty much that but he defines himself as a "militaire" which can be translated in english as a soldier or a warrior. A bit awkward though, general would have been more appropriate.

Napoleon says: Welcome. I am Napoleon, of France, the smartest soldier in world history.

It's not that uncommon for great generals to describe themselves as "just a soldier doing his duty". And it's fitting enough for him to state he's the smartest of all military personnel, not just generals. For easy reading I'd just say "smartest" instead of a more literal "most intelligent".

 

[Mercade]

If they're going to be doing more talking in their native language than just the greetings, I certainly hope that in-game subtitles will be provided

 

[henryMCVII]

Wonder what language Ramses is speaking. To me it sounds influenced by Arabian now. But as far as I know, nobody knows how Ancient Egyptian language was spoken. "We" can read the sense of the hieroglyphes; but we don't know how they had *sounded*: not just the intonation is obscure - there not even are written vocals.

 

[J-man]

Wonder what language Ramses is speaking. To me it sounds influenced by Arabian now. But as far as I know, nobody knows how Ancient Egyptian language was spoken. "We" can read the sense of the hieroglyphes; but we don't know how they had *sounded*: not just the intonation is obscure - there not even are written vocals.

I think it's Arabic. Ramses didn't speak that language of course but we can't blame Firaxis for not knowing how ancient Egyptian sounded.

 

[Olleus]

Augustus says something along the lines of:
"I greet you. I am Augustus, the Emperor and Pontifex Maximus of Rome. If you are a friend of Rome, that's great"

Pontifex Maximus was head priest of Rome and could probably be loosely translated as Pope, as that is one of the title that the modern day pope has.

 

[Rhye]

Augustus's intonation is irritating. Sounds like Super Mario

 

[Ahriman]

Am I the only one who thinks it weird that Washington has a modern American accent (and a slightly southern one, at that)?

American colonists in 1770s were English - half were born in England.

I mean, I understand why they went the way they did, I just think its funny.

 

[Al-Iskander]

Katerina (not Catherina!) says:

"I greet you, stranger. If your mind and tact equal to your attractiveness, we will get along remarkably."

More than a little flirtatious.

(And since we're tossing around complaints here, I miss the Mongols )

 

[Ahriman]

Elizabeth translates as:
"Help me, I have a giant stick up my butt, and can't get comfy on this stupid throne."

 

[Gre_Magus]

Augustus says something along the lines of:
"I greet you. I am Augustus, the Emperor and Pontifex Maximus of Rome. If you are a friend of Rome, that's great"

Pontifex Maximus was head priest of Rome and could probably be loosely translated as Pope, as that is one of the title that the modern day pope has.

I'd translate "es gratus" as "you're welcome." It's pretty funny that he's speaking Roman with an Italian accent. He's also more or less using Italian word order - "si tu es Romae amicus" instead of Classical Latin, "Si tu Romae amicus es..." Oh well, that's just me quibbling. Better an Italian accent than an American or English one!

 

[warpstorm]

Am I the only one who thinks it weird that Washington has a modern American accent (and a slightly southern one, at that)?

His accent seems about right for the Pope's Creek part of Virginia where I worked for about 20 years. Everyone there had a similar accent.

 

[PieceOfMind]

Am I the only one who thinks it weird that Washington has a modern American accent (and a slightly southern one, at that)?

American colonists in 1770s were English - half were born in England.

I mean, I understand why they went the way they did, I just think its funny.

Yes I too got that impression. It is just nowhere near what I had imagined Washington sounding like.

Elizabeth translates as:
"Help me, I have a giant stick up my butt, and can't get comfy on this stupid throne."

Ha ha. I see what you mean. She really doesn't sound very pleased to meet you at all. She can barely say the words fluently.

 

[Ahriman]

His accent seems about right for the Pope's Creek part of Virginia where I worked for about 20 years. Everyone there had a similar accent.

Its the accent they have now. Its not the accent they had 250 years ago.

 

[Babbler]

Wonder what language Ramses is speaking. To me it sounds influenced by Arabian now. But as far as I know, nobody knows how Ancient Egyptian language was spoken. "We" can read the sense of the hieroglyphes; but we don't know how they had *sounded*: not just the intonation is obscure - there not even are written vocals.

I think it's Arabic. Ramses didn't speak that language of course but we can't blame Firaxis for not knowing how ancient Egyptian sounded.

It's close enough, given they are in the same family or so. I'm wondering if it's Coptic, Egyptian's direct descendant.

Am I the only one who thinks it weird that Washington has a modern American accent (and a slightly southern one, at that)?

American colonists in 1770s were English - half were born in England.

I mean, I understand why they went the way they did, I just think its funny.

Meh. Probably all the leader are speaking modern dialects, rather than period accents. It's seems like a reasonable translation convention for a small line to give some flavour.

 

[Me,myself,and,I]

Am I the only one who heard Washington talk and thought that my brother had been watching Bill Clinton talk? Washington should have a 1770s Virginian accent.

Augustus is saying: Greetings(Approximately), I am Augustus Caesar, emperor of Rome and Pontifex Maximus. If you are a friend of Rome, that is thankful(or fortuitous or fortunate).

 

[Kimuyama]

It's close enough, given they are in the same family or so. I'm wondering if it's Coptic, Egyptian's direct descendant.

I thought so too, remembering that i saw a documentary sometime about some French guy using Coptic to kinda "reconstruct" the Egyptian Language.

And i also think Washington's dialect sounds kinda weird

EDIT:
And i really hope they fix Wu's sleeves