Y'know, for people that basically live in pseudo-Germany, you don't hear Kruber and Saltzpyre speak a lot of Reikspiel

Fatshark Lounge
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We always hear Bardin speak about Raki and Dumi and Kerillian speaking in her indecipherable excuse for a language about glaikit mayflies and Rhana Dhandras and what not, but you never hear Kruber and Saltzpyre speak in the glorious tongue of Sigmar himself.

Fatshark, what the F.

This makes me sehr böse to be honest. We cannot just let this stand.

We cannot have proud sons of the Empire be disrespected like this. They cannot be reduced to having to speak another language than that of the Lord Sigmar himself. We need Dan Mersh and Tim Bentinck screaming incoherently at the top of their lungs.

…that makes me think, actually.

Are everyone already speaking Reikspiel with eachother?

I mean, we, the players, hear it as English, but we already know that English doesn’t exist in Warhammer, considering that, you know, England doesn’t exist either (wow, just like in real life).

So, they must already be speaking Reikspiel with each other, right?

I mean, the chances of the Imperials knowing how to speak Khazalid (perhaps with the exception of Saltzpyre) or Eltharin are pretty slim, so they have to be speaking something else, correct?

And considering 3/5ths of the Stud Squad are Imperials (Sienna is Estalian by birth, but I’m pretty sure she had to learn Reikspiel to study at the Colleges of Magic), and that 1/5th of them is a Dwarf, someone with close ties to the Empire and someone who most likely knows how to speak the language, Reikspiel is the most likely candidate, I think.

(That or Battle Tongue I guess, but I don’t know if Battle Tongue is still canon.)

Though, that kinda raises the question as to how Kerillian learned how to speak Reikspiel if she was secluded in a forest for most of her life. Perhaps she spied on human trespassers in the forest long enough for her to learn the language? Impossible to know with the Elves…

Oh well. Guess we might never know. Have a not terrible Taalstag mein Kameraden. Deus Sigmar.

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I’ve always thought that what sounds like English to us is actually Reikspiel. Since it’s a fantasy world, they can get away with a little language blending.

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English is a western Germanic language. It was brought to England by Anglo Saxon settlers in the mid 4th century. In case you want to know :grin:

And on Kerillian… we do know (correct me if I’m wrong) that she could be “old”, comparing her to a humans lifespan. I would imagine that, with all of her collected experience, she would or could be very wise, and i would not be surprised if she knew more than a few languages :+1:

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Citizens of Empire speak Reikspill, and other races speak it as well when communicating with them.
So yes, our characters are all speaking in Reikspill, Bardin and Kerillian included. It is rare but not unknown that the other races learn to speak it. Some Ogres use it and even some goblins which had the chance to learn it (Skarsnik for instance).

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Albion is still around, land of giants and magic. It’s apparently where the gods lived(wow, just like real life) before the gates broke and released chaos.

Also, isn’t glaikit Scottish?

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Therein lies @LordRhinark’s point. Indecipherable excuse for a language :stuck_out_tongue: kidding, of course, but funny nonetheless.

Either way, I feel like the Reikspiel (while technically unheard by us) is being spoken. That being said, I wouldn’t mind every single phrase being entirely voiced in German; I’m rather fond of the language and would love to go through the game entirely immersed in the Reikland!

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As far as I know it’s not very defined.

Its’s to note that there is old reikspiel (Unberogen / Sigmar spoke this) and new reikspiel.
New reikspiel also is quite different in every province but the one of Reikland is “official”.
There is also old worlder spoken in the southern realms descends from old reikspiel and it’s also different from nation to nation.

Now in the lore it’s usually English with many German parallel words and other German words thrown in with the special distinction on the usage of the old English “thou” and “thine” (2nd, singular),

But since this is historically inspired and the lore written by soon leaving islanders for islanders it would be very much possible that they basically are just enlishisised versions of German, Spanish and Italian. Just like every media dose with Bretonnian and Kirslevite (French and Russian).

Do the heroes speak reikspiel in game?
No not in my opinion there are not enough German words and thou is not used to my knowledge.

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I’d say, yep, translation convention is in effect. The characters are speaking Reikspiel (which, to my knowledge, resembles German or a medieval version of it, so hardly understandable by most players), but we hear it as plain English. As for the two non-humans scattering their own terms in their speech, that’d probably be their thing even if we did hear Reikspiel: Bardin using Khazalid terms when he’s used to them, when he’s fairly certain the other still understand it, and/or when when stress causes him to drop momentarily into his native language; and Kerillian using Elvish terms for similar reasons or whenever she thinks there’s no adequate translation. While in English, both sound quite native speakers, Kerillian still speaks with a clearly discernible accent (scottish, if anyone is still wondering) and I think Bardin also has some idiosyncrasies besides dropping Khazalid terms every now and then. In Reikspiel, both would probably have a similar style, though possibly even clearer accents (well, Bardin at least; I think Kerillian would have enough experience and perfectionism to attempt to hide most of her accent).

And of course, there’s the actual technical reasons: While Reikspiel resembles German or Medieval German (more likely, the latter, and as such, very hard top understand even to native German speakers), it’s not the same. Afaik, it’s not a completely constructed language, but rather a general style and a smattering of words stolen from an existing language and tweaked a bit. So it’d be practically impossible to write the whole game in good Reikspiel, even harder to get actors that sound fluent, and a ton of fan debates and backlash waiting if it was attempted. And of course, subtitles would be a must for anyone but the most invested Warhammer nerds.

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I gotta say, as german who plays with english sub and dub I am really happy they don’t throw in more Reikspiel than now.
The guys from Games Workshop admitted in a dev blog entry some months ago they just played around with words sounding gothic german not realizing what they actually created. Thus they created words which sound really hilarious for us germans.
Still, after a few years into Warhammer, they still give me giggles.

edit:
Oh and btw, it is not even medieval german. It is just weird and more or less false modern german.
Just like you gave someone a german dictionary with the mission to create some new pokemon names.

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Like the name of first DLC… translation to Swedish is pretty gud. Bög, lmao

But yea, funny things like that happen all thr time in video games. I remember on FFXIV when I got the mission, “My first hora”. Nearly spit out my drink.

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Man that is really really interesting everyone thanks! :heart::+1:

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@brybry4200 Ye, but Anglo-Saxons don’t exist in Warhammer either.

The first, and only time, that “the Germans” (which is to say the Imperials) journeyed to Albion (which is to say the Warhammer equivalent of Britain) was some time after the Great War Against Chaos in 2302 I.C, when men of the Empire established the province of Neuland.

However, Neuland hasn’t exactly evolved into a sovereign state with its own language and all that, so for now, English doesn’t exist.

And yes, Kerillian is old (I made a thread about it myself and came to the conclusion that she is around 280 - 300 years old), but if she spent most of her life secluded in Athel Loren, the only times she could’ve learned the language was from human trespassers in the forest.

@Angerblaze I’m not so much surprised as to someone else other than an Imperial speaking Reikspiel, it’s just that there isn’t really that great of an explanation as to why Kerillian, someone who spend her life mostly secluded in Athel Loren, would be able to speak the language of the Imperials almost fluently.

@SmokerT69 Silly small brain twink main. Albion, much like the Skaven, don’t exist. It’s just a fairy tale told by bards lacking originality and should be disregarded much like the rumors of the aforementioned “Ratmen”.

Suggesting that the mighty Taal and Ulric not only settled but actually lived there is absolutely H E R E T I C A L and should warrant at least 3 hours worth of flagellation as punishment.

Also Scotland doesn’t exist either (wow, just like-), so until stated otherwise, “glaikit” is elf-speak.

@Torantolis Yeah, that’s basically why I made this thread in the first place. I was checking the Steam page for the upcoming Winds of Magic DLC and saw that the game features Interface and Subtitles in German, but only features Full Audio in English.

That struck me as odd considering, you know, the obvious.

German Kerillian would sound hilarious I bet.

“Holzfuß, können sie nicht sehen das ist der Weg?”

@Haxorzist Well, they have to be speaking something.

If not Reikspiel, what then?

Lorewise, at least.

@Yzneftamz Certainly, I’d expect Bardin and Kerillian to throw in Khazalid or Eltharin here and there regardless of what language they were speaking.

I’d also expect Kruber and Saltzpyre (maybe even Sienna) to throw in some Reikspiel, but to my U T M O S T D I S A P P O I N T M E N T, they do not.

I know Reikspiel isn’t a full language (as languages in fiction, barring perhaps LotR and a select few others, rarely are) and I’m not suggesting the entire game to be voiced in Reikspiel simply because “muh immersion”, but it’d be nice for Kruber to exclaim “Scheiße!” or Saltzpyre to scream “Für das Reik!” every now and then.

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So is this in the lore, about Kerillian spending most her life in the forest @LordRhinark? I’m just getting into warhammer lore, but I kind of want to imagine that Kerillian has been all over the world. Doesn’t she say a line during gameplay, along the lines of “iv been to lands and empires you have never seen / experienced before? I swear I can remember hearing that in there convos with each other

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To be fair, we have almost no information on Kerillian’s past, beyond her seeing a Spellsinger at some point and then that event “changed her fate forever” or something edgy like that.

She once mentioned that she went to Karak Zorn, the Dwarf Hold that Bardin is looking for, but it could just as well have been to mock as it was something she actually did.

Much like anything else that has to do with the Elves, they always have to be so ir r i t a t i n g l y c r y p t i c a b o u t e v e r y t h i n g.

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I :heart: Kerillian even more now

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I’ll see if I can find any info about it on the wiki. But I’m almost positive the “old ones” had their summer houses there.

Also, I’m assuming other languages are just taught to the superior races, elves and dwarfs. They’re not exactly on good terms, but they are able to communicate with one another. The wood elves are the faction that split off from the high elves when their colonies fell right? Being in such proximity to Brettonian and the Empire, I’m sure they know the language.

She’s also slayed an entire Nulh regiment at hogarts bridge or something like that. Probably butchered the names there, I don’t remember mayfly countries and words that well. None the less, she seems to be pretty well traveled

Ah, I see you too are a man of culture.

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You’re right. They did, apparently, build homes in Albion.

Certainly seems a bit weird when all their servants were hanging out in Lustria, but I guess the Old Ones didn’t have much trouble travelling the continents when they had already achieved space travel.

Reikspiel is almost definitely taught in Dwarf Holds considering the close alliance between the Karaz Ankor and the Empire (at least those that trade with the Empire regularly like Karak Norn and Karak Ziflin), but I have my doubts when it comes to the Elves.

As obsessed as they are with themselves, I’ve a feeling that it’s only diplomats, Elves in positions of power, or simply Elves with an interest for the outside world, that learn to speak Reikspiel (or any language other than Eltharin for that matter).

And that’s just for the High Elves. For the Wood Elves? I find it even less likely.

Sure, they live close to Bretonnia and the Empire, but to call the relationship between the Wood Elves and the Nations of Man “not exactly on good terms” is an understatement, considering the Elves’ habit to hunt, kill, enslave, or even eat, Humans.

The Wood Elves don’t really think of the Humans as people as they do them animals (hence, why Kerillian acts so condescending and superior to all the “mayflies” around her).

They don’t have schools in Athel Loren either (at least I don’t think they do), so any language they actually learn (other than Fan-Eltharin I guess?) will only be learned through outsiders.

Then again, Elves, being the “big brainies” that they are, GW might just use the excuse that Elves can learn new languages within minutes just by hearing others talk it.

As if they weren’t Mary Sues already.

Small hunch here, but I doubt just killing a bunch of Nuln bois on a bridge means you learn their language.

Considering it was a Nuln regiment, the bridge has to be located relatively close to Wissenland, which is coincidentally also the Imperial province that is closest to Athel Loren.

So even if she did travel to this bridge, she didn’t travel far, and as isolationistic as Wood Elves are, I doubt she travelled much farther than this.

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It could just be like DnD where nearly everyone speaks common, but then has their own tounges. I mean, even the skaven, gobbos and orks speak broken english.

I guess we can all agree that Elves are just far superior, with the only worthwhile humans being the Vampires. Vlad should of took the throne… what a glorious empire it would have been…

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That would be the simplest solution, but Common has never been stated to be canon, and as we’ve already established with the U5, what sounds English to us isn’t English at all.

Skaven speak Queekish, but it is stated that Skaven often learn many languages in order to boss around their slaves (those that are of different races anyway) and to make deals with their enemies (you know, in the case that they have Warpstone). Conversely, the slaves often pick of Queekish themselves.

Greenskins? No clue. It’s never been stated what language they speak. The easiest is to just say it’s “Orcish”, but considering many of their words like “Waaagh” and “Choppa” are just perversions of existing words like “War” and “Chopper”, they might just as well speak a degenerated version of Reikspiel. Alternatively, it’s perverted Khazalid considering their rivalry with the Dwarfs during the years.

Considering how rarely the Greenskins converse with other races anyway, it isn’t really that important. The limited vocabulary of the Greenskins could also mean that races such as Humans or Dwarfs simply learn to pick up on certain phrases, making (limited) conversation between them possible.

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So… is it true that, I’m just thinking about the line I brought up before where Kerillian mentions her travels in game, that she is NOT the typical, isolated wood elf? At the very least it seems that comments like that keep her past as being enigmatic at best. Shrouded in mystery certainly adds to her character, I think