What language is Ramses II speaking?

[Maniacal]

As per title, what language is Ramses the II speaking in the diplomacy screen? Considering Egypt has spoken Arabic for hundreds of years and before that various other languages like Greek were dominant. I havn't ever heard of anyone speaking ancient egyptian...

 

[RohirrimElf]

As per title, what language is Ramses the II speaking in the diplomacy screen? Considering Egypt has spoken Arabic for hundreds of years and before that various other languages like Greek were dominant. I havn't ever heard of anyone speaking ancient egyptian...

there is a long post with the same topic already

 

[Maniacal]

Do you remember the name of it? I can't find it

 

[Duke of Pie]

Do you know how hard it is to find an actor that speaks Egyptian? I believe he is speaking Arabic.

 

[Monyu]

I think the Ancient Egyptian language is called coptic or something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6dcDh4HSkw

 

[bjbrains]

The amount of people who speak coptic is in the hundreds. And it's not 'ancient egyptian' really. It's a derivative of it (which obviously has changed in the last few thousand years). It's quite possible that they couldn't find an actor who could speak coptic.

 

[Randarkmaan]

Do you remember the name of it? I can't find it

I made it... It is called "what language does Ramessess II speak?" (and yes, I did misspell Ramesses)

And to spare you having to read it... he speaks Egyptian Arabic.

I think the Ancient Egyptian language is called coptic or something.

Coptic is not ancient Egyptian (And I belive there are several ancient Egyptian languages), though it is the closest (though some 3000 years removed) living relative of what Ramesses II would have spoken.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Coptic would be roughly the equivalent of having Augustus speak Italian. Still, Egyptian Arabic is the equivalent of having a Celtic civ speak English. Honestly, though, I don't blame them. It's not an easy language to find and the guy who does the voice plays his part well.

 

[jtb3566]

I made it... It is called "what language does Ramessess II speak?" (and yes, I did misspell Ramesses)

And to spare you having to read it... he speaks Egyptian Arabic.



Coptic is not ancient Egyptian (And I belive there are several ancient Egyptian languages), though it is the closest (though some 3000 years removed) living relative of what Ramesses II would have spoken.

I don't think you read your own thread. I'm 90% sure 2kgreg posted in that thread that Ramesses is speaking Aramaic IIRC.

 

[Louis XXIV]

No, that was Darius I, since Aramaic was the official language of the Persian Empire (even though, natively, Persians speak Farsi).

 

[Maniacal]

Huh, didn't know that Coptic was the closest living language to the ancient Egyptian ones, I knew they are there own sect of christianity that is almost entirely only in Egypt. I was going to say that if he speaks Egyptian Arabic i might be able to understand a few words, then I remembered half the arabic I learned is only spoken by Bedouin in Jordan, apparently good night and good morning are different depending where you are and whom you ask.

At least aiwa and la (yes and no) will be the same.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Here is a good example of Egyptian Arabic. link

It starts off with Assallam Aleikum, just like Ramesses does in the video.

BTW, wikipedia says there are 500 Coptic speakers in the world. Since they apparently had trouble finding Nahuatl, Coptic would be extremely difficult for their resources.

 

[superdudeman]

Sounds like Finnish to me. But that's probably not it. A Finnish speaking Egyptian pharaoh would be pretty awesome though.

 

[CivOtaku]

Sounds like Finnish to me. But that's probably not it. A Finnish speaking Egyptian pharaoh would be pretty awesome though.

Finnish? Where are you from?

 

[Sphinx]

Sounds to me like a soap opera star (somewhere in latin america )

 

[asaegyn]

No, that was Darius I, since Aramaic was the official language of the Persian Empire (even though, natively, Persians speak Farsi).

== edit == had initially written that Louis XXIV was wrong, but I just checked and he is in fact correct! Ooops... I was under the impression that Avestan was the language of the Achaemenid empire...

I have no clue what Egpytians during the reign of Ramesses II would have spoken...
According to wiki, it is "Ancient Egyptian" (with Egyptian being the name of the language of the indigenous Egyptians before the arab invasions) or Akkadian, which is the extinct Semitic language of Babylon for that same time period. (in fact, the oldest Semitic language known, borrowing its writing from Sumerian --- Sumer! a civilization sorely missed in release 5...._

 

[Solver]

Finding Nahuatl speakers is actually easier, that language is still spoken today by a few million, though it's different from what it was 500 years ago of course. Whereas actual Ancient Egyptian isn't spoken by anyone today, very few people speak Coptic, and even that has very fair differences from Egyptian.

Interestingly, Montezuma's greeting has three things that do not seem appropriate for him to actually say.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Egypt spoke "Egyptian". It's language evolved over time until it was preserved in church tradition in the middle ages as Coptic. The Ancient language was rediscovered and we have a pretty good idea of what it sounded like, but our knowledge isn't perfect.

Sumeria spoke Sumerian, which I believe we've managed to reconstruct. However, it's a language that was preserved mostly in geographic and religious words in Akkadian. Akkadian was the language of the Babylonian and Assyrian Empires. Over time, thanks to the Aramaic invasions and their rise in importance as commercial traders, Aramaic became a common language throughout. Darius I decided it made the most sense to use it as the official language. Old Persian (which isn't technically Avestan, but related) would have been used by the Persians during Cyrus' reign, but Aramaic was official from Darius until the end.

EDIT: I know Montezuma says "Imperio" which is borrowed from Spanish. What others shouldn't he say?

 

[Solver]

EDIT: I know Montezuma says "Imperio" which is borrowed from Spanish. What others shouldn't he say?

Yep, one is that he calls himself imperio or somesuch, as opposed to tlatoani. Second thing is, he says he's the ruler (emperor) of "Azteca". The word meant something else then, the people in what we know as the Aztec Empire called themselves "Mexica". Finally, there's the name itself - it's pronounced in the video as Moctezuma. That and Montezuma are altered versions of the name, easy for Europeans to pronounce, his name was actually Motecuhzoma or, in full, Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I give them credit for Moctezuma. At least it's closer (the name is listed as Montezuma, I'm glad they didn't just say that). By contrast, that makes it clear that they should have said "Mexica" and had it translate as "Aztecs". Is Imperio Emperor or Empire? If it's the former than I agree, Tlatolani would be more appropriate.

BTW, you know a lot about the Aztec language.