Why do Roman soldiers speak with English accents?

[Oleg Mongol]

I thought CA actually cared about historical accuracy, from the sounds of the different european armies in Empire TW, why don't the Romans speak in Italian or something? Atleast Italian accents

[Shadow of the SPQR]

Nobody can know how their accents sounded. It is very likely ancient romans sounded completely different than italian. Thus, I excuse it.

[[OTS]EchoZenLogos]

If I had to guess, it would be because most of the people playing the game are more familiar with english accents, and Rome is the primary faction (as well as the introduced one) that you play as in this game (though I am a noob still). Or maybe they thought there was enough variety in accents already, without worrying too much about historical accuracy.

Also, the Romans did not speak Italian - they spoke Latin. Though I admit many languages derive from Latin nowadays. Oh, and considering the size of the Roman Empire at certain points, there was bound to be a huge variety in accents across the breadth and scope of it, so I don't really see the issue.

[Migz - DH]

I encourage you to read through older threads discussing this same question,

Here are five I found really quickly:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/666826251170003266/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/864978762487871835/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/558747922965033321/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/558751813683825317/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/214950/discussions/0/616188473150238141/

[g]

i think they gave them the british accent to sound sophistaced and advanced. ca is a british team i believe, so they were sort of licking their own balls on that one. either way-mama mia!

[Oleg Mongol]

Originally posted by PrometheanEcho:

If I had to guess, it would be because most of the people playing the game are more familiar with english accents, and Rome is the primary faction (as well as the introduced one) that you play as in this game (though I am a noob still). Or maybe they thought there was enough variety in accents already, without worrying too much about historical accuracy.

Also, the Romans did not speak Italian - they spoke Latin. Though I admit many languages derive from Latin nowadays. Oh, and considering the size of the Roman Empire at certain points, there was bound to be a huge variety in accents across the breadth and scope of it, so I don't really see the issue.

Thanks for correcting me on the language. I just feel it's kinda cheap that the Romans don't look like they're from the mediteranean, or even sound like it.

[Vargas78]

Most mediterranean accents sound a little similar because of the way they pronounce vowels. I'm sure a Roman accent would have sounded more like an Italian, Spanish, Portuguese or even Greek accent than it would a British accent.

They all pronounce A, E, I, O, U, in the same way, it is thought that for Latin it would have been the same. Whilst in English it can sound different. For example E for Elephant sounds like 'Eh' whilst E for Evil sounds like 'Eee'. In romance languages its always the same.

That said, i think the British/English accent suits them for the game.

[SuperGorp]

So what the hell do you want, do you want them speaking in Latin and using subtitles? How many TW gamers speak fluent Latin? And with an Italian accent, please, I don't want my Generals sounding like Chico Marx.

[MANWHATADONGA]

Good one SuperGorp good one

[LeadStarDude]

Did you ever consider that CA is a British developer & they all have an English accent.

[Berserk Breton]

There are lots of English accents.

If you are picking an accent somewhere on the continuum of "most imperial/arrogant sounding", you might pick someone who has a well spoken accent, or really a lack of accent, clear of dialect, that other people might perceive as "posh" or "received/intentional" or "precise". You would, I suppose, pick whatever is most likely to hold up the character for speakers of that language. The cultural legacy of the Empire really doesn't hurt in this, doesn't hurt at all. A very posh precise English accent evokes Empire probably because of the representation of the British officer in drama, and on that note, almost every decent English language drama about Rome ever made has them speaking in English accents.

It is only good theatrical sense from a producer somewhere, I think you would do just the same with French, probably German, and I guess other languages, too.

Besides which, you would have to go out of your way to make your whole game in a foreign accent, if you were going to go to extra expense to randomly make your whole game in eg: an American or Australian accent there would have to be some kind of sane reason for that, yes? I can't think of one. Why doesn't everyone in Call of Duty sound like they're from Tonypandy?


(actually, that would be fricking hilarious - I would actually buy that)

Originally posted by Democracy:

Originally posted by PrometheanEcho:

If I had to guess, it would be because most of the people playing the game are more familiar with english accents, and Rome is the primary faction (as well as the introduced one) that you play as in this game (though I am a noob still). Or maybe they thought there was enough variety in accents already, without worrying too much about historical accuracy.

Also, the Romans did not speak Italian - they spoke Latin. Though I admit many languages derive from Latin nowadays. Oh, and considering the size of the Roman Empire at certain points, there was bound to be a huge variety in accents across the breadth and scope of it, so I don't really see the issue.

Thanks for correcting me on the language. I just feel it's kinda cheap that the Romans don't look like they're from the mediteranean, or even sound like it.

FYI, not all Romans looked like modern day Sicilians etc. - indeed even now, there are plenty of Italians who look like they could be from anywhere in Europe. If anything the Roman military in the game might lack enough fair haired persons for the Romans of antiquity, and that's ignoring intake from other peoples as well, making the Roman military more "diverse" still.

[ElPrezCBF]

If cost is an issue, maybe they should at least have gotten accent only for rome as a compromise. After all, it was the romans vs the rest of the bar bar babaric world at least in their ancient minds.

[Berserk Breton]

There is accent for Rome. An English accent that sort of makes sense for imperials. I would kind of be interested to play with Italian accents, I think Italian accents would sound great speaking Latin and Greek, much better than somebody trying to "do an Italian accent in English". The first might sound more authentic and atmospheric, and a bit less like a comedy vampire or a Mario brother.

[EFREM]

nope. nope. nope. there is no gain in make silly comparisons with italian language. it would be as reckless as saying modern Greeks speak as V century Athenians... see the treatise on original ancient Greek pronunciation by Erasmus of Rotterdam for the Greek question and for the Latin language google "pronuncia restituta". italian comes from ecclesiastica pronuncia that was the Latin of 4th century late romans used to speak. the daecay of ecclesiastica determined the birth of italian and all the neolatin languages in europe.
CA should use the pronuncia restituta or current english in order not to make not historical and offensive pidgin english-italian. that would sound really horrible to any ears

[Jambie Lionheart]

The Romans common language as far as I know what Latin. So unless you want to translate every word of the game into english, maybe just shut up and deal with the english accent or hire a bloody Arab :)

[Jonboy]

I really love this debate. I enjoy it EVERYTIME it crops up.