Why do the Romans and Greeks have British accents?

[Salvus]

Like considering the developers seemed to make at least a half-hearted attempt at applying semi-semi-accurate regional accents to the various factions. For example the Gaetulai who, according to wikipedia, were berber people, have a middle-east-ish accent, and being that they were from north africa, its close enough and satisfactory none the less...and all the northern tribes have a sort of harsh, german-ish kind of thing heppening, which works for the most part. That same accent seems to drift ever eastwards into the steppe people territory and perhaps starts to become a stretch I admit... And all the middle east guys have that same middle east accent as the gaetuli, and so far I'm diggin it and appreciating the token effort for authenticity. Then I make contact with my first Greek faction, and shortly after the Romans....and they're speaking to me with British accents and I'm wondering to myself 'Why did they bother making an effort at being semi-semi-authentic with all the other people then??' Unless they actually think Romans and Greeks spoke in English accents...... Anyway, for me the token effort was all for naught! Haha! But this is a just a light note and not a legit complaint of any real seriousness! Just more of a curiosity. I'm definately liking this game and I forgive CA for this minor enigma. CA are of course Brits, I'm guessing they couldn't resist!! LOL! And yes!! I realise that none of these people were speaking English either! LOL.

[Commandroid]

Go back and watch Aladin. The amount of 'racist' stereotyping is insane, and funny.

[Malus131]

Цитата допису kayboers:

Howdie Julius Caesar, my name is good'ol Brutus, and I'm telling you homie, after som'stabbin and grabbin you'll be one hell of'a dead guy. hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh

Quite simply, LOL

[Ammianus Marcellinus]

Цитата допису Psilio:

(only read the title of first post)

The United States were founded with many of the Roman traditions in thought. The government and their buildings (the White House being the first I think) were created on Roman traditions (republic/democracy, senators, president (emperor) and stuff. They even use Latin on the buildings and many other things.

So in movies/games and stuff they have mostly tried to use British accents since it sounds more 'ancient' and better translates from Latin than the simplified and rather crude US language. British kind of 'demands more respect' than American.

That is just my thought, though. Have no idea really. But for me it would sound a bit strange with a general inspiring his troops in English with an Italian accent.

If it was done in pure Latin or ancient Greek it would be great though (with subtitles) :)

Well, most of the modern nation states have institutions which are based on roman models of law and government. Lot of invention of tradition never the less. USA just another state using enlightenment models of government. The problem with Roman history is that you are able to substantiate practically any model of government. Whether your interested in civil democracy or outright despotism and dictatorship, Rome has everything on offer. Gracchus or Theodoius the Great, everything is possible. Even Hitler was fascinated by Roman images and ideas of power. Not to mention mussolini. Were do you think the term 'Fascism' originates from: from the fasces, that, the reedbundles with axes carried by the lictores. A symbol of potestas (power). By the way, Republic is not the same as our modern understanding of the word republic. In Roman times it meant 'The common good' without the 'democratic' connotation. It was a oligarchy with collegiality and carefully instituted checks and balances between the different ordines (orders) and different types of citizens within the Roman Res Publicay. It was frail....and it was certainly not democratic. Our idea of democracy is a 18th and 19th century invention based on an ideal image of the Roman past.

The fact that an british company chooses a british accent for its Romans tells us something about modern culture. Clearly 'British language' is identified with 'imperialism' and 'cultural sophistication'.

There's your lecture

[Bruenor]

The spanish version is even funnier, all units sound like they have brain damage and speak american english

[Astalas]

Цитата допису Hurk:

ALL the voice acting sounds like 150 lb geeks who sit behind desks all day trying to do their own voice acting. Clearly CA did not spend money on the Voice Acting for Rome 2

+1 Ive thought this since day one. Seems like they just had the employees do it. There's even a unit voice who sounds like that really annoying skinny, red headed, Brit from all their stupid update videos. Like, a "peasant" type unit.

[Malus131]

Rather an annoying brit than an irritating septic...

[Cakefish]

Makes more sense than American accents. America was never part of the Roman Empire but Britain was. Besides, Romans didn't even speak English anyways, they spoke Latin. A games a games a games a game - it's not claiming to be 100% historically accurate because it never can be.

RULE BRITANNIA BRITANNIA RULES THE ROMANS

[pieisgood2]

Цитата допису Malus131:

Цитата допису kayboers:

Howdie Julius Caesar, my name is good'ol Brutus, and I'm telling you homie, after som'stabbin and grabbin you'll be one hell of'a dead guy. hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh

Quite simply, LOL

not sure why everybody hates on american accents so much. sure the southern accent is horrible, but have you heard a Liverpool accent. is that even english they are speaking lol

[Malus131]

Цитата допису pieisgood2:

Цитата допису Malus131:

Quite simply, LOL

not sure why everybody hates on american accents so much. sure the southern accent is horrible, but have you heard a Liverpool accent. is that even english they are speaking lol

Yes, yes it is english........


Nah, just messing with you :D

[pieisgood2]

engrish lol

[CoD4Mike]

..... it is just the tip of the iceberg... and yes it is annyoing as hell, thats why I kill them first in every camp. can't stand the british accent in this regions.

[Yggdrasil]

By Jove, old boy, but the enemy AI just folded!

[Richon]

Цитата допису Fluke:

I stopped playing TWR 2 shortly after release,but I do remember the original romans in 1 had american accents hahha.

mario and luig,now theres a good idea :)

And they were really pathetic American accents, too. Made the Romans sound like total whimps.

We don't know what any Latin accent sounded like. In fact, until relatively recently (a couple hundred years ago), we didn't even know how the Romans pronounced their words. Names like 'Caesar' and 'Cicero' were pronounced differently by scholars based on the country of the scholar's origin. In England you would pronounce them 'Seezer' and 'Sisserow', in Italy, 'Cheyzer' and 'Cheecherow', etc. Later, we discovered Greek transcriptions of known Latin names and works, which gave us a better understanding of Classical Latin pronunciation. I don't have a viable Greek font available right now, but essentially the Greek transcriptions spelled the names 'Kaisar' and 'Kikero', and since we *do* know how Classical Greek was pronounced, we were able to extrapolate Classical Latin pronunciation. But pronunciation and accent are two different (though related) concepts. You *need* living speakers (or at least audio recordings of living speakers) to know what an accent was like. We have nobody to tell us what accents existed in ancient Rome (and there were problably many. I'm sure that even after Oscan died as a language, the Samnites in Campania still had a hint of an Oscan accent to their Latin). So voice actors often portray Romans as having accents native to their own countries. When Americans portray Romans, it is usually with American accents (and rarely with pleasing results). When Englishmen portray Romans, it is usually with English accents (which I find sounds very nice).

One reason why I very much appreciate Romans being portrayed with English accents is because of the imperial association. Rome was the West's longest-reigning empire, and England/Britain was the world's largest empire. Both the names Rome and Britannia evoke thoughts of Empire when heard. So since we do not know the *real* accents used by Romans, the very imperial-sounding accents of the English work quite well, in my opinion. In fact, it is a common joke between my roommate and I that 'You must speak Latin like any true Roman would: with an English accent'

As for the Greeks, they definitely should not have the same accent as the Romans. What accent they *should* have, I don't know. But it definitely shouldn't be the same as the Romans.

[Malus131]

*claps, takes off hat aswell* Bloody excellent point you put across there mate, good job, not that you need the likes of me to tell you, but, there it is.

[Pedriquete]

Цитата допису Salvus:

Like during the height of the British Empire, you didnt have Politicians stabbing each other in the streets, and you didn't have rogue British generals or Admirals marching(or sailing) on London. There were no gladiators, or anything like the Gallic Wars(The Spanish Conquests of Central and South America were kind of like the Gallic Wars) Actually, the Spanish Empire reminds me alot more of the Romans Empire than the British Empire. Like, when I think of the Roman Empire...I think of it more like a mafia sort of society, with codes of honor, and family fueds, and betrayals, and vicious reprisals... They were a mediterranean society, not a Northern European one...

I think you are spot on there my friend. I think the only common thing the British and Roman Empires share is the strength of their respective legacies.