Translation of the leaders' speeches

[thelibra]

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.

Indeed. Especially since Washington himself was born and raised in England and didn't even come to America until he was already an officer in the British Army.

 

[Ahriman]

Indeed. Especially since Washington himself was born and raised in England and didn't even come to America until he was already an officer in the British Army.

Are you sure that's true? I thought he was born and spent most early life in Virginia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_washington
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_life_of_George_Washington

 

[The Kingmaker]

Shouldn't Darius refer to himself as "shahanshah" instead of "malik?" Not that I'm an expert on Old Persian/Farsi or anything.

 

[astrognash]

Indeed. Especially since Washington himself was born and raised in England and didn't even come to America until he was already an officer in the British Army.

This flatly contradicts everything I've ever been told about him, as well as everything I've ever read about him.

 

[lifelessgamer]

Does anyone here wanna try to find Siam? I've tried everything I can think of but no luck so far. I bet the name was misspelled or has a number at the end.

On another note: Its nice of people to join mostly to tell us the proper translation

 

[Bastian-Bux]

Hint about the russian empress: if you want to write her in latin letters you should write: Jekaterina Alexejewna. Or you could call her by her name she was (first) baptized with: Sophie Auguste Friederike von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg.

 

[Ituralde]

I wondered about Catherine myself. Would she be speaking Russian fluently? Should she have a German accent? Not that it matters much to me, just out of curiosity.

 

[Nicolas10]

I wondered about Catherine myself. Would she be speaking Russian fluently? Should she have a German accent? Not that it matters much to me, just out of curiosity.

Well, just as George Washington should be speaking in some sort of British accent, I'm pretty sure that Catherine spoke French in her court... She certainly wrote in French, publishing ideas and literature and corresponding with Voltaire and the like.

That said, she certainly could speak Russian, and I think a St. Petersburg, aristocratic accent would be ideal, given that as the "Russian" civ, she needs to sound like a Slav, rather than a Western European.

 

[ShiroKobbure]

Its very disappointing Ramsses is speaking Arabic.
I hope they find someone who speaks at least coptic, if not an older version of the language. Having Ramsses II speaking Arabic, would be like Montezuma speaking Spanish execpt Ramsses about 2000 years before Arabic was spoken in the region.

 

[Krzowwh]

Why is nobody commenting on how Elizabeth does not speak with Early Modern English pronunciation?

 

[Buccaneer]

I, too, am very disappointed about Rameses. Enough is known linguistically about Ancient Eygptian to at least piece together a simple greeting.

 

[astrognash]

I, too, am very disappointed about Rameses. Enough is known linguistically about Ancient Eygptian to at least piece together a simple greeting.

Yes, but it's my understanding that they will be saying much more than just greetings.

 

[ShiroKobbure]

We can read ancient Egyptian, their stories and trade agreements, so the pronunciation may not be 100% right (who would know though) they could still make him say almost anything they want, if they do the research.
Also some people speak Coptic, the final evolution of the language. I think Coptic would be a much better choice than Arabic.

 

[Buccaneer]

I think that's a good point, the pronounciation, syntax and grammar does not have to be close for an ancient language - but an anachronistic language (like a pharoah speaking Arabic) should NOT be used.

 

[supersoulty]

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.

I realize I am very late getting in on this one, but...

This is one of the more annoying aspects of watching historical pieces, for those who are more familiar with the history of the English language, and linguistics in general. People assume that since Britain is the parent country, obviously the people who came directly from there, in the early days, sounded what we think of as British. Not true. In fact, the British people of that era would have sounded closer to what we think of as "American". Many of the British dialects that we have today didn't even exist prior to the 19th century. In addition to that, if you have one group of people who branch out from the main group, as American settlers did from the British, and then from each other, it is actually the manner of the English (in this case) spoken by the splinter group that tends to change the least. This is because spoken language is under the constant influence of various factors, and thus in a constant state of flux, while a splinter group that manages to hang onto their language is usually under far less influence, because they are generally isolated by various factors.

So, indeed, the Americans of that era would have sounded perfectly "American" to us, while the British... also would have sounded pretty "American," for the most part. British pronounciations then continued to change in Britain, as people moved around alot... and some other things happens as well, that are both unusual in the broad history of languages, and which I won't get into, but if you are interested, look up the "Received Pronunciation", and these things gave British English its particular sounds. While, in the United States and Canada, there were changes, and in some dialect regions, major shifts, but for the most part, English here as maintained more of its original character from the people who first came here. For an example of media that actually gets it right, watch the John Adams miniseries.

 

[Morningcalm]

Ummm....you guys realize there's already a thread I made which has the translations for nearly all the leaders, right? XD

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=398606