3 ms·

This is why it's really an art. Games have tried using "medieval" dialogue before, but that usually entails something that sounds like 20th century dialogue wit

This is why it's really an art. Games have tried using "medieval" dialogue before, but that usually entails something that sounds like 20th century dialogue with a couple substitutions of "thou" for "you" and an occasional "-th" ending on things. Alexander Smith's translation took some care in making it a thorough--I even spotted a few instances where he used an implied verb of motion. In earlier forms of English, verbs of motion like "to go" could be implied rather than explicitly stated (cf. Taming of the Shrew: "Come, Kate, we'll to bed."). It still exists in languages like German but has long since fallen out of favor in English .

wolfgke 9y ago
> It still exists in languages like German Can you give an example where this happens in German? I am a native German speaker, but not aware of such an example.
- jdmichal 9y ago
  I'm thinking it'd look something like, "kannst du Deutsch?", where the sprechen is implied. I'm not sure I've ever seen it with gehen or other motion verbs, though... And I'm not a native speaker so I can't rely on intuition to say whether something like, "werden wir ins Bett", sounds right without gehen.
  - wolfgke 9y ago
    > I'm thinking it'd look something like, "kannst du Deutsch?", where the sprechen is implied. What I can imagine what you might have had in mind when you wrote your post is something like "Willst du nach Hause?" or "Ich will nach Hause", where indeed that verb of movement is missing. In my opinion (but I am not a linguist or teacher of German) is that in German these verbs "können" (as in your example) or "wollen" are used somewaht differently in German than in English: If one asks "Willst du nach Hause?", one only asks whether the person would prefer to (with which method is undefined) to get home. If you ask "Willst du nach Hause gehen?", it asks the question with a concrete way to get to home ("gehen"). Similar things (though more subtile) hold for your "kannst du Deutsch?" example. Formulated this way it does not specify in which way the other person is capable of German (speaking, understanding, writing etc.). The answer will to this question will often give a hint in which way the answerer is capable of German (speaking, understanding, writing etc.). If you want to ask specifically whether the person is capable of German in a specific way, you add this to your question, such as "Kannst du Deutsch sprechen" (though it would be more idiomatic to formulate this as "Sprechen Sie (auch) Deutsch?"). > I can't rely on intuition to say whether something like, "werden wir ins Bett", sounds right without gehen. This is clearly not correct German. I think you perhaps meant "Wollen wir ins Bett?", which is nevertheless still rather colloquial (better use "Wollen wir ins Bett gehen?"),
    - jdmichal 9y ago
      Thanks for the help. My German is very rusty! And that's an interesting note about the specific ambiguity about how something is done. I think the difference in English is that a verb like "to go" is already extremely general. That is, "to go" encompasses pretty much any method of "going", and one would use a more specific verb to relay a more specific method, like "to walk" or "to drive" or "to take the train". But there's not always a general verb to fit the situation.

wolfgke 9y ago

> It still exists in languages like German Can you give an example where this happens in German? I am a native German speaker, but not aware of such an example.

jdmichal 9y ago
I'm thinking it'd look something like, "kannst du Deutsch?", where the sprechen is implied. I'm not sure I've ever seen it with gehen or other motion verbs, though... And I'm not a native speaker so I can't rely on intuition to say whether something like, "werden wir ins Bett", sounds right without gehen.
- wolfgke 9y ago
  > I'm thinking it'd look something like, "kannst du Deutsch?", where the sprechen is implied. What I can imagine what you might have had in mind when you wrote your post is something like "Willst du nach Hause?" or "Ich will nach Hause", where indeed that verb of movement is missing. In my opinion (but I am not a linguist or teacher of German) is that in German these verbs "können" (as in your example) or "wollen" are used somewaht differently in German than in English: If one asks "Willst du nach Hause?", one only asks whether the person would prefer to (with which method is undefined) to get home. If you ask "Willst du nach Hause gehen?", it asks the question with a concrete way to get to home ("gehen"). Similar things (though more subtile) hold for your "kannst du Deutsch?" example. Formulated this way it does not specify in which way the other person is capable of German (speaking, understanding, writing etc.). The answer will to this question will often give a hint in which way the answerer is capable of German (speaking, understanding, writing etc.). If you want to ask specifically whether the person is capable of German in a specific way, you add this to your question, such as "Kannst du Deutsch sprechen" (though it would be more idiomatic to formulate this as "Sprechen Sie (auch) Deutsch?"). > I can't rely on intuition to say whether something like, "werden wir ins Bett", sounds right without gehen. This is clearly not correct German. I think you perhaps meant "Wollen wir ins Bett?", which is nevertheless still rather colloquial (better use "Wollen wir ins Bett gehen?"),
  - jdmichal 9y ago
    Thanks for the help. My German is very rusty! And that's an interesting note about the specific ambiguity about how something is done. I think the difference in English is that a verb like "to go" is already extremely general. That is, "to go" encompasses pretty much any method of "going", and one would use a more specific verb to relay a more specific method, like "to walk" or "to drive" or "to take the train". But there's not always a general verb to fit the situation.