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A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

MY TEETH TEH YER NECK, DUHVUHKIIN

 1 

Aaliizah
October 6, 2014

Don't get me wrong, Daniel Riordian does an OUTSTANDING job on his voice acting. Seriously, some of these lines give me chills. Unfortunately, it seems Bethesda didn't think to educate their voice actors on the pronunciation of their own language, so there are a number of... discrepencies. Here's what I found:

"Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi."

  • Do was pronounced like the English word "do" when it should sound like the English word "doe".
  • Hi was pronounced like "high" instead of "he".
  • He also may be mispronouncing the word losei, but since that word in general is kind of a mystery, I'm just going to leave it alone.

"Sahloknir, krii daar joorre."

  • He forgot the last -re sound.
  • He sort of added a syllable to Sahloknir, but that's kind of a tough one, so I forgive him.

"Faal Kel? Nikriinne! RAAAAAAAAGHHH!"

  • Again, the plural syllable was dropped.
  • It sounded like he said kill instead of Kel.

"Bahloki nahkip sillesejoor."

  • Didn't pronounce the -se in sillesejoor at all.

"Nivahriin joorre! What have you done? What twisted words have you created? Tahrodiis Paarthurnax! My teeth to his neck!"

  • He forgot the plural syllable in joorre again. Silly Alduin. 
  • The -nax in Paarthurnax was pronounced like "ox" instead of like "axe".

"But I am Al-du-in, firstborn of Akatosh! Mulaagi zok lot! I cannot be slain here, by you or anyone else!"

  • Don't even get me started on this one.
  • He says mulaagi like "muhlaagi" when it should be "moolaagi".
  • He actually says zok right. Good job, Alduin.
  • He says lot like the English "lot" when it should rhyme with "boat".

"Suleyki mulaag, Paarthurnax. My power has waxed, while yours has waned."

  • Suleyki was "suleck" when it should have been "sulake".

"Zu'u lost daal."

  • Lost was pronounced like the english "lost" when it should rhyme with "most".

"Dii kiirre fen alok!"

  • Didn't pronounce the plural syllable in kiirre.
  • Alok was pronounced like "a lock" when it should rhyme with "a bloke".

"ZU'U UNSLAAD! ZU'U NIS OBLAAN!"

  • It sounded like "unslaad" when it should've sounded like "oonslaad".

"Pahlok joorre! Hin kah fen kos bonaar."

  • There are two things wrong with the way he said pahlok:

            1) He made a "b" sound instead of a "p" sound.

            2) The second half of the word sounded like "lock" when it should rhyme with "joke".​

  • Didn't pronounce the plural syllable in joorre.​​

"Zu'u Alduin, zok sahrot do naan ko Lein."

  • Zok is "zock" when it should rhyme with "oak".
  • Sahrot is pronounced "suhrut" when it should sound like "saw wrote".

"Nust wo ni qilaan fen kos duaan."

  • The pronunciation in this sentance is actually really great (he even gets the q!); his only mistake is the word wo, which he pronounces like the dovah word wah when it should sound like the informal English exclamation "woah".

"Zu'u lost kriaan hi ont, nu hin sil fen nahkip suleyki!"

  • Lost is said like English "lust" when it should rhyme with "most".
  • Hi is said like "high" when it should sound like English "he".
  • Suleyki was "suleek ee" when it should have been "sulake ee".

"Zu'u ni faas gaaffesejul."

  • Gaaffesejul​ got butchered.

            1) He didn't pronounce the plural syllable in gaaffe-. Or, rather, he did, but kind of blended it with the affix -se. The end result was "gaafes".

            2) He pronounced the "j" in jul as a "y" sound when it should have just been a "j" as in joor.

"Dovahkiin, you should not have come here. Nu hin sil dii."

  • Hin rhymed with English "shin" when it should rhyme with English "mean". (I am in love with this line.)

"Alok, Vuljotnaak/Nahagliiv/Viinturuth. Tiid boaan."

  • Alok was pronounced like "a lock" when it should rhyme with "a bloke".

  • Nahagliiv is pronounced funky a couple of times. Alduin gets confused when the word ag comes into play (and I don't really blame him; two "ah" sounds next to each other is kind of tricky). Nah should rhyme with "maw", ag should rhyme with "bag", and liiv​ should sound like "leave".

 

If you catch any that I missed, feel free to post them here!

by Aaliizah
October 6, 2014

Don't get me wrong, Daniel Riordian does an OUTSTANDING job on his voice acting. Seriously, some of these lines give me chills. Unfortunately, it seems Bethesda didn't think to educate their voice actors on the pronunciation of their own language, so there are a number of... discrepencies. Here's what I found:

"Ful, losei Dovahkiin? Zu'u koraav nid nol dov do hi."

  • Do was pronounced like the English word "do" when it should sound like the English word "doe".
  • Hi was pronounced like "high" instead of "he".
  • He also may be mispronouncing the word losei, but since that word in general is kind of a mystery, I'm just going to leave it alone.

"Sahloknir, krii daar joorre."

  • He forgot the last -re sound.
  • He sort of added a syllable to Sahloknir, but that's kind of a tough one, so I forgive him.

"Faal Kel? Nikriinne! RAAAAAAAAGHHH!"

  • Again, the plural syllable was dropped.
  • It sounded like he said kill instead of Kel.

"Bahloki nahkip sillesejoor."

  • Didn't pronounce the -se in sillesejoor at all.

"Nivahriin joorre! What have you done? What twisted words have you created? Tahrodiis Paarthurnax! My teeth to his neck!"

  • He forgot the plural syllable in joorre again. Silly Alduin. 
  • The -nax in Paarthurnax was pronounced like "ox" instead of like "axe".

"But I am Al-du-in, firstborn of Akatosh! Mulaagi zok lot! I cannot be slain here, by you or anyone else!"

  • Don't even get me started on this one.
  • He says mulaagi like "muhlaagi" when it should be "moolaagi".
  • He actually says zok right. Good job, Alduin.
  • He says lot like the English "lot" when it should rhyme with "boat".

"Suleyki mulaag, Paarthurnax. My power has waxed, while yours has waned."

  • Suleyki was "suleck" when it should have been "sulake".

"Zu'u lost daal."

  • Lost was pronounced like the english "lost" when it should rhyme with "most".

"Dii kiirre fen alok!"

  • Didn't pronounce the plural syllable in kiirre.
  • Alok was pronounced like "a lock" when it should rhyme with "a bloke".

"ZU'U UNSLAAD! ZU'U NIS OBLAAN!"

  • It sounded like "unslaad" when it should've sounded like "oonslaad".

"Pahlok joorre! Hin kah fen kos bonaar."

  • There are two things wrong with the way he said pahlok:

            1) He made a "b" sound instead of a "p" sound.

            2) The second half of the word sounded like "lock" when it should rhyme with "joke".​

  • Didn't pronounce the plural syllable in joorre.​​

"Zu'u Alduin, zok sahrot do naan ko Lein."

  • Zok is "zock" when it should rhyme with "oak".
  • Sahrot is pronounced "suhrut" when it should sound like "saw wrote".

"Nust wo ni qilaan fen kos duaan."

  • The pronunciation in this sentance is actually really great (he even gets the q!); his only mistake is the word wo, which he pronounces like the dovah word wah when it should sound like the informal English exclamation "woah".

"Zu'u lost kriaan hi ont, nu hin sil fen nahkip suleyki!"

  • Lost is said like English "lust" when it should rhyme with "most".
  • Hi is said like "high" when it should sound like English "he".
  • Suleyki was "suleek ee" when it should have been "sulake ee".

"Zu'u ni faas gaaffesejul."

  • Gaaffesejul​ got butchered.

            1) He didn't pronounce the plural syllable in gaaffe-. Or, rather, he did, but kind of blended it with the affix -se. The end result was "gaafes".

            2) He pronounced the "j" in jul as a "y" sound when it should have just been a "j" as in joor.

"Dovahkiin, you should not have come here. Nu hin sil dii."

  • Hin rhymed with English "shin" when it should rhyme with English "mean". (I am in love with this line.)

"Alok, Vuljotnaak/Nahagliiv/Viinturuth. Tiid boaan."

  • Alok was pronounced like "a lock" when it should rhyme with "a bloke".

  • Nahagliiv is pronounced funky a couple of times. Alduin gets confused when the word ag comes into play (and I don't really blame him; two "ah" sounds next to each other is kind of tricky). Nah should rhyme with "maw", ag should rhyme with "bag", and liiv​ should sound like "leave".

 

If you catch any that I missed, feel free to post them here!


paarthurnax
Administrator
October 7, 2014

Yup, Alduin's dialogue does throw quite a wrench into establishing a standard pronunciation for the language. One interesting thing to look at is Alduin's dialogue in other languages. For example, here are the German, French, and Japanese voiceovers for the same scene. Each is clearly influenced by their own language.

by paarthurnax
October 7, 2014

Yup, Alduin's dialogue does throw quite a wrench into establishing a standard pronunciation for the language. One interesting thing to look at is Alduin's dialogue in other languages. For example, here are the German, French, and Japanese voiceovers for the same scene. Each is clearly influenced by their own language.


Sahkrahfaas
October 8, 2014

That "Nahgehliiv" made me laugh. The way it translates into "fury yes wither" was priceless.

And Alduin calls himself great... He can't speak his native tongue properly.

I think he either put a glottal stop into or elongated the ii in Viinturuth. I'd let him off with a glottal stop but you don't say "iiiiiiz slen nus!" or "Nahagliiiiiiiv!" in that context...

Funky diiiiiiiialogue is so much fun to criticiiiiiiise :)

 

by Sahkrahfaas
October 8, 2014

That "Nahgehliiv" made me laugh. The way it translates into "fury yes wither" was priceless.

And Alduin calls himself great... He can't speak his native tongue properly.

I think he either put a glottal stop into or elongated the ii in Viinturuth. I'd let him off with a glottal stop but you don't say "iiiiiiz slen nus!" or "Nahagliiiiiiiv!" in that context...

Funky diiiiiiiialogue is so much fun to criticiiiiiiise :)

 


Aaliizah
October 14, 2014

It iiiiiiiiiis. :) A lot of Alduin's pronunciations make me laugh, to be honest. Ruth wah vonmindoraan meyye!

Thanks for showing me those voiceovers! They're fascinating. I've tried looking up dovah dialogue in other languages before, but came up empty-handed. You're absolutely right about the actor's native language having an effect on the Dovahzul pronunciation. I've noticed that the Spanish voice actor for Paarthurnax sounds exactly like the English one, and after discovering through IMDb that Charles Martinet is fluent in Spanish, I have a nagging suspicion that Martinet does both the English and Spanish voiceovers. Unfortunately, doing a search for a list of the Spanish voice actors yielded no results. At least, nothing that I could find. Vomindok. I guess I'll always wonder.

by Aaliizah
October 14, 2014

It iiiiiiiiiis. :) A lot of Alduin's pronunciations make me laugh, to be honest. Ruth wah vonmindoraan meyye!

Thanks for showing me those voiceovers! They're fascinating. I've tried looking up dovah dialogue in other languages before, but came up empty-handed. You're absolutely right about the actor's native language having an effect on the Dovahzul pronunciation. I've noticed that the Spanish voice actor for Paarthurnax sounds exactly like the English one, and after discovering through IMDb that Charles Martinet is fluent in Spanish, I have a nagging suspicion that Martinet does both the English and Spanish voiceovers. Unfortunately, doing a search for a list of the Spanish voice actors yielded no results. At least, nothing that I could find. Vomindok. I guess I'll always wonder.


paarthurnax
Administrator
October 15, 2014

Charles doesn't seem to be listed under the Spanish audio credits here. It's possible that the foreign language actors had the original English audio to work from, and the Spanish voice actor happened to do a very talented impression.

I play the German version of Skyrim myself, and I find the German voiceover for Paarthurnax to be very good, and in some ways more authentic than even Charles's performance. Like the other foreign language voiceovers, it's also much influenced by German, so "w" is pronounced as "v," "th" is pronounced as "t," etc.

by paarthurnax
October 15, 2014

Charles doesn't seem to be listed under the Spanish audio credits here. It's possible that the foreign language actors had the original English audio to work from, and the Spanish voice actor happened to do a very talented impression.

I play the German version of Skyrim myself, and I find the German voiceover for Paarthurnax to be very good, and in some ways more authentic than even Charles's performance. Like the other foreign language voiceovers, it's also much influenced by German, so "w" is pronounced as "v," "th" is pronounced as "t," etc.


DovahKiinZaan
October 25, 2014

I personally only play the English version but I'm sure durnehviir shares the same problem as alduin

by DovahKiinZaan
October 25, 2014

I personally only play the English version but I'm sure durnehviir shares the same problem as alduin


Zauniglom
October 25, 2014

The French version seems okay, only watched a bit of it though.

by Zauniglom
October 25, 2014

The French version seems okay, only watched a bit of it though.


In Sil Ah
November 3, 2014

I, (personally) so don't kill me, think that would there have been an Afrikaans Translation, it would have sounded very close, although certain people  could easily have ran over the words like a jet powered tricycle with spinning wheels and dice on the handles. Just saying.

 

by In Sil Ah
November 3, 2014

I, (personally) so don't kill me, think that would there have been an Afrikaans Translation, it would have sounded very close, although certain people  could easily have ran over the words like a jet powered tricycle with spinning wheels and dice on the handles. Just saying.

 

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