how refreshing would it had been if the Romans actually spoke in Latin?

[mettlegear]

I'm at the vomit point of hearing Romans portrayed as British English speakers, whether in movies, tv, or games...why can't we ever hear Romans speaking what they actually sopke, aka Latin? The examples are too few and far betwen.

[FatBoi®]

because Latin is a dead language and not a lot of people still speak Latin. It is rare to find someone who can speak Latin.

[mettlegear]

Originally posted by FatBoi♔:

because Latin is a dead language and not a lot of people still speak Latin. It is rare to find someone who can speak Latin.

I suppose that is a good point to an extent, but Latin was taught as a language class at my high school, so there are still people who know it well enough to teach it. Plus there are tons of historical experts that could have translated a script, and any decent actor should be able to act his way through it, so I don't know.

[Corlain]

I was wondering why they didn't do it in this game. It sounds stupid listening to them talking English. I guess some people's heads would explode if they had to read subtitles.

[Gaius]

I guess most people don't like reading subtitles and furthermore, no one knows exactly how Latin was really pronounced back then. The pronunciation we learn in school is known to be only partially correct. Personally, I would love to hear more Latin in games and movies.

[Jax]

For me reading subtitles is not a problem, but there's a LOT of people that can't do it, especially those that never had to read subtitles - native english speakers.

Also, finding people that speak latin might not be a big deal, but finding good voice actors that speak latin might be a bit tricky.

[Twelvefield]

On the extras for Rome, that great, great HBO series, Kenneth Cranham (Pompey Magnus) points out that Brtitish actors love doing Roman history pieces, since a) they get to work, and b) they get some sun.

I suppose the fad for using British actors in Roman pieces must go back all the way to Kit Marlowe, Wm. Shakespeare, and the flourishing of the English stage play as an art form.

[Beefy]

Originally posted by FatBoi®:

because Latin is a dead language and not a lot of people still speak Latin. It is rare to find someone who can speak Latin.

Sorry for reviving a dead thread, but I literally just googled to see if you can play this game in Latin.

I don't think it's accurate to say there aren't Latin speaking actors out there. In Italy we have full length movies that are filmed in Latin. Students learn Latin in school like a regular subject, similar to how kids take Spanish in the US. Most don't speak natively, but they do use Latin expressions in their day to day conversation. Even outside of Italy, you can see in Netflix the 2020 TV series Barbarians (which I think is German or Austrian, I know for sure Crytek is German), it had the romans speaking Latin and the Barbarians speaking German. Going on to even more mainstream, Tom Hiddleston, the English actor popular for his titular role in Loki, also speaks Latin (to a certain extent) and pronounces it almost to a tee (minus a slight tone of British accent but come on, we still debate on what actual roman pronunciation was like today and I still think it's really good). He actually has a scene where he travels back in time to Pompeii and speaks Latin to the locals. People who study and are formed in the Classical school for acting learn how to pronounce Latin and Greek reading. Main point is if they wanted to invest into looking for good Latin voice actors, they would had been able to find them. It's mostly a choice of not seeing it important or probably what most people are saying here of thinking people don't want to read subtitles.

[Twelvefield]

Ordinarily, I don't like seeing dead threads come back to life, but you've made some excellent points!

[vukotlak]

I don't want to read subtitles. When i read subtitles i am not watching what happens on the screen aka Facial expresion, gesture, Action or any other important stuff. Talking is not the only way of commuication and when you force people to read subtitles you also force em to miss out a portion of the other important Communication devices.

[Beefy]

Originally posted by vukotlak:

I don't want to read subtitles. When i read subtitles i am not watching what happens on the screen aka Facial expresion, gesture, Action or any other important stuff. Talking is not the only way of commuication and when you force people to read subtitles you also force em to miss out a portion of the other important Communication devices.

I mean point is I'd still like to have the option. No one wants to eliminate the ability you have to see it in English. Right now you can change the dialog to Italian, French, German, Russian, Spanish or English, I don't see why not adding something like the authentic Latin they'd be speaking yk? I mean most jrpgs have a Japanese or English dialog options. It's just that it's not common to see stuff like ancient Greek, Hebrew or Latin being represented the same way. For some of us, it adds even more immersion because I'd love to hear how actual Romans would talk to each other and/or if you speak a Latin based language, you'll be able to catch the roots of a lot of your own language. And even if I can understand the language, I always add subtitles to shows, games and movies cause it helps me confirm if I misheard something in the dialog.

TL:DR, "Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion, man." - The Dude

[vukotlak]

Originally posted by Beefy:

Originally posted by vukotlak:

I don't want to read subtitles. When i read subtitles i am not watching what happens on the screen aka Facial expresion, gesture, Action or any other important stuff. Talking is not the only way of commuication and when you force people to read subtitles you also force em to miss out a portion of the other important Communication devices.

I mean point is I'd still like to have the option. No one wants to eliminate the ability you have to see it in English. Right now you can change the dialog to Italian, French, German, Russian, Spanish or English, I don't see why not adding something like the authentic Latin they'd be speaking yk? I mean most jrpgs have a Japanese or English dialog options. It's just that it's not common to see stuff like ancient Greek, Hebrew or Latin being represented the same way. For some of us, it adds even more immersion because I'd love to hear how actual Romans would talk to each other and/or if you speak a Latin based language, you'll be able to catch the roots of a lot of your own language. And even if I can understand the language, I always add subtitles to shows, games and movies cause it helps me confirm if I misheard something in the dialog.

TL:DR, "Yeah? Well, you know, that's just like uh, your opinion, man." - The Dude

True true an option would be nice. But you also have to think economicly. There are literaly just a few individuals who would switch to latin language but the devs had to pay for Voice actors and the studio to record it. It has to be on the same high level of quality as the other languages. So you canno't just call a prof and let him translate everything and record it.

[Herodotus]

Originally posted by FatBoi®:

because Latin is a dead language and not a lot of people still speak Latin. It is rare to find someone who can speak Latin.

Ehhhh, Latine loqui possum et vivo XD Ita, verus est, magister non sum, sed bene latine legere intellegereque possum XD

Aka: I am able to speak in Latin and am alive XD Yes, it is true, I am not a master, but I am able to read and understand well XD

(Sorry, had to show off lol)

[Herodotus]

People will say that you are silly for wanting such a thing, but man, as a Latin student and ancient Roman history nerd, I'd absolutely LOVE to see such a thing! I play most games with subtitles anyway, so it wouldn't be that off-putting to me at least.

[MAXE]

Originally posted by FatBoi®:

because Latin is a dead language and not a lot of people still speak Latin. It is rare to find someone who can speak Latin.

Alot of the main languages springs from Latin .. so to say it is dead is kinda uhhm not entirely true ..

Latin is still used in surgery and on the hospitals to have a better understanding of the protocols/patient journals so that the doctors make less mistakes !