Warning: DO NOT BUY CIVILIZATION 5

[Exoma]

If you've ever played the older Civilization games, the Persian warriors and workmen always spoke Farsi! And very beautiful, fluent Farsi!

Unfortunately, I just saw the video of Darius speaking in this game. And he's speaking Arabic.

Here is the link to the video. You'll need a flash codec to play it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NUYC6TU9

He starts off by saying "Salaam aleyk" and he starts introducing himself in Arabic.

I have NO idea why they would randomly start having the Persian factions in this game speak Arabic. It's such an insult to Iranian history, and our culture.

This is Firaxis' email: usa@take2support.com.
And their phone number: 1-866-219-9839

I've never been so offended in my life.

 

[Exoma]

This is the best I can do from what I hear in the video (Since the video is unavailable right now on megaupload)

Darius The Great:

"Shlam Aleykh, Ana darihoosh. Malek malkaya baresh raba. Le'hen feneyehdat!

 

[Jaguar]

This is the best I can do from what I hear in the video (Since the video is unavailable right now on megaupload)

Darius The Great:

"Shlam Aleykh, Ana darihoosh. Malek malkaya baresh raba. Le'hen feneyehdat!

what the hell.

Im allready dissappointed in the game because of:

1.You cant choose the governmental form and religion anymore (loved that feature)

2.Steam

and now THIS ! sucks big time...

I guess thats what happens if americans create a history game

 

[Exoma]

what the hell.

Im allready dissappointed in the game because of:

1.You cant choose the governmental form and religion anymore (loved that feature)

2.Steam

and now THIS ! sucks big time...

I guess thats what happens if americans create a history game

Well, a representative just told me that the language (although sounds VERY VERY CLOSE TO ARABIC) is actually Aramaic being spoken!

So that's not TOO bad! Since Aramaic was spoken through out Iran at that time.

Still sucks it's not Old Persian though. Also, screw STEAM! I'm gonig iwth Amazon.ca for my physical copy! HAhah!

 

[Fatso]

Well, a representative just told me that the language (although sounds VERY VERY CLOSE TO ARABIC) is actually Aramaic being spoken!

So that's not TOO bad! Since Aramaic was spoken through out Iran at that time.

Still sucks it's not Old Persian though. Also, screw STEAM! I'm gonig iwth Amazon.ca for my physical copy! HAhah!

We're not Assyrians. And if you're ok with the character speaking Aramaic you should be ok with him speaking Arabic, because that language was also spoken in parts of the empire.
He should be speaking Persian. Why would they have him speak Aramaic? Its like they went out of their way to do this.

 

[Sly]

Yeah Aramaic or Arabic doesn't matter. A complete disappointment! We should all send them angry mails.

 

[Sly]

They haven't yet revealed most of the voices in their official site.

Look under "Civilizations".

http://www.civilization5.com/

 

[deerouz]

Well, a representative just told me that the language (although sounds VERY VERY CLOSE TO ARABIC) is actually Aramaic being spoken!

So that's not TOO bad! Since Aramaic was spoken through out Iran at that time.

Still sucks it's not Old Persian though. Also, screw STEAM! I'm gonig iwth Amazon.ca for my physical copy! HAhah!

That representative needs a history lesson. The ancient language of Iran was Pahlavi (well, technically Pahlavi was a way to write old Persian, but nevertheless).

Correction: I didn't know Darius had made Aramaic the official language of empire. Should check wiki next time before posting! That said, it is like Persian being the official language of Indian royal courts in middle ages while the common language of India was Hindi.

 

[Sly]

Here is how he sounds now, they've put it up:

http://www.civilization5.com/#/civilizations-all

Sooooooooo disappointed.

We should all e-mail them. This time they blew it.

 

[pejman161]

I am downloading it rite now and I will check if they speak farsi

 

[Pooya]

I am downloading it rite now and I will check if they speak farsi

i am not trying to blame you or anything, but thats the EXACT reason why EA doesnt include Iran or people simply dont care much,
when i was working at EA i asked our production manager why you never include Iran? he said " in your country everone just copies our game and we make no $$ so why waste time on it "
bottom line is its a business !

 

[Behrang(ISP)]

I've been sick the past few days and inbetween conf. calls and working with clients from home I was playing CIV IV. I think their officies are right near where I work in Sparks, MD.

 

[Behrang(ISP)]

LOL... they are less than a mile away from me...

Firaxis Games
10 Loveton Circle
Sparks, MD 21152

I might have to walk into their offices and see what they say.

 

[Sly]

LOL... they are less than a mile away from me...

Firaxis Games
10 Loveton Circle
Sparks, MD 21152

I might have to walk into their offices and see what they say.

Man do that. Why not? I would go with you if I was there.

Although they've already said it's because Darius made Aramaic the official language of the Persian empire and Aramaic is the closest to what they spoke at that time.

Probably you will hear it from them if you go there too.

The answer to that could be, Aramaic was probably the language they used when they wanted to communicate with other civilizations. But the damn Persian farmer who was going to say yes to an order from his boss, would definitly say yes in Persian and not in Aramaic.

 

[Zopyrus]

What is THIS SHIT!

Raul Madrid jaan, so all other nations EA include make in the game sells? There are also alot of Iranians living abroad with PS3/X360 that buys the game. But anyway, it's not the same.. I don't think most people buy FIFA because of one country - it's just a lack of interest from their(EA) side or something else.

But this is Civilization and they have included our great leader and kingdom. They could have AT LEAST made the language correct.. I rather they remove Persia from CIV.

 

[The_Referee]

That representative needs a history lesson. The ancient language of Iran was Pahlavi (well, technically Pahlavi was a way to write old Persian, but nevertheless).

Correction: I didn't know Darius had made Aramaic the official language of empire. Should check wiki next time before posting! That said, it is like Persian being the official language of Indian royal courts in middle ages while the common language of India was Hindi.

WOW.

Also like Turkish being the lanauge of court in Iran or Persian being court language of Ottomans.

Good thing to know deerouz Jaan.

 

[pendar]

calm down folks. That is not Arabic. It sounds like Assyrian, or possibly Aramaic. It might be historically debatable whether that would have been the language Darius would speak with (he would probably be speaking Old Persian, which I'm not quite sure how it sounds like). But Aramaic or Assyrian would definitely be languages widely spoken in parts of the Persian empire, methinks.

 

[Dr Strangemoosh]

Civilization is one of the best games of all time. Dameh sid meier garm for creating such a masterpiece. i forgive them a few shortcomings here and there.

 

[Sly]

calm down folks. That is not Arabic. It sounds like Assyrian, or possibly Aramaic. It might be historically debatable whether that would have been the language Darius would speak with (he would probably be speaking Old Persian, which I'm not quite sure how it sounds like). But Aramaic or Assyrian would definitely be languages widely spoken in parts of the Persian empire, methinks.

Still, it doesn't mean to change a language of a whole empire to a language being spoken in just parts of it. It's like trying to show the image of today's Iran by having "lori" as their language. It's nothing against "Lori" but the correct one should be persian.

 

[pendar]

Still, it doesn't mean to change a language of a whole empire to a language being spoken in just parts of it. It's like trying to show the image of today's Iran by having "lori" as their language. It's nothing against "Lori" but the correct one should be persian.

Sly Jan,
You would totally be right, except that I don't think it's a total 'given' what language Darius would have presumably spoke. I guess it's a matter for historians to discuss. Here's what I found on this Iran Chamber article:

The language in greatest use in the empire was Aramaic. Old Persian was the "official language" of the empire but was used only for inscriptions and royal proclamations.
(http://www.iranchamber.com/history/achaemenids/achaemenids.php)

Personally, I am quite grateful to the developers for their attention to details (as far as I can see from the game demos) regarding the costumes and architecture. Heck, I'm happy they keep including Persia in the games at all. It's not like they get even 1% of business in Iran, and even from the historic/cultural standpoint it is not uncommon for western companies to totally ignore us.