[Let's Talk] Wolfgang - Foreign or Dumb?

[SrJardel]

Hello.

As the ANR content is coming at its fully state to the main branch, I've been working on my translation mod in order to bring it out of the beta stage.

I revised most of the strings, to make sure it preserves the context intended by the devs.

One thing that is really pushing the project backwards is Wolfgang's and Woodie's concept, although the latter not that much. So, nothing better than listening to the fanbase to get things up and running. I count on you people to give as much feedback as you can on this one. Let's go.

So, from a native english point of view, what is the deal with Wolfgang's speaking? Is he a foreign guy?

Before I started my project, people here used to paint him as being German. This was what another mod author decided to do with his mod, thus people got used to it.

But in my opinion, I think he is more of a French person. Sovietic perhaps? Honestly, these are just guesses, but I don't think he is German.

Or, is he the "Muscles>Brain" type of man? I mean, of course he is, but with his speaking skills in mind I ask you: Maybe he just don't know how to speak?

Now, on Woodie. I can clearly notice he is Canadian, or at least he came from the North. What is not very clear to me is: Is him sort of a hillbilly? How notable is his speaking manners compared to, lets say, american people?

I think these were my main doubts in regards what direction to follow in order to finish my project. I want to be as accurate as possible to provide subscribers with the closest from the original dialogs/lore. I just don't feel like adapting the context on my native language is the only way to go, I feel I can deliver it without messing with the devs main idea.

I count on you on this one, don't be afraid to express yourself. This is indeed very important for me.

Thanks in advance!

[Arlesienne]

Welcome again, I'm back from the dead!

Personally, I see Wolfgang not as thick, but simply not having English as his native or well-learnt language. I wanted to write a oneshot from his point of view one day (the idea died on its own as RL hit me, predictably), and I treated myself to his quotes for research. And it looks like he's very deeply rooted in the cultures of Central and Western Europe. Let me explain.

- Wolfgang is a relatively common German name derived from High Old Germanic. You can find it in Germany and Austria.

- His quote for frog legs states "Is delicacy in my country". My country, not my homeland - this supports my headcanon of him moving to France at some point.

- He must have originally been from a neighbour of Russia, because his quote for the hammer is "Needs sickle!" - and during that period, Communism was only boiling in Russia and adjacent countries (for instance Poland).

- He is not unfamiliar with farming, because his quote for the pitchfork is "Reminds me of childhood". Mind you, this doesn't automatically mean he was a farmer himself - my headcanon actually involves him coming from a bloodline of Polish szaraczkowa szlachta boasting about links to aristocracy of Germany, France and Russia.

- He loves pierogi, that is a dish native to Central and Eastern Europe.

- His GoH set shows an officer's uniform.

Moreover, his simplified speech patterns jar us when using English, but are actually perfectly fine when translated into a language like Polish, one with a different syntactic structure. The English syntax is very rigid, whereas there are languages with more flexibility in regard to the position of, say, word-forms. This implies he could simply be inapt at English, possibly due to not having spoken it for a long time.

My headcanon combines this and the crazy Polish history into the story of an impoverished aristocrat forced into resigning from the army and fleeing Poland for France due to his views, conscripting himself into the French Foreign Legion (and becoming friends with Wes to the point of following him on a tournee gone wrong into the States - which is how I explain the mime and the strongman ending up in the travelling circus). As I said, it's just a harmless personal attempt to fill in the blanks.

TL;DR: there is a lot of hints to imply Wolfgang only comes across as a simpleton just because he lacks the aptitude at English.

[SrJardel]

Geez, I knew I could expect such a clear and well detailed review of yours @Arlesienne .

Mind if I ask you to provide us your 2¢ (given the quality of your posts, I would say $2.000 ) about Woodie as well?

Thank you mate!

[Arlesienne]

Just now, SrJardel said:

Geez, I knew I could expect such a clear and well detailed review of yours @Arlesienne .

Mind if I ask you to provide us your 2¢ (given the quality of your posts, I would say $2.000 ) about Woodie as well?

Thank you mate!

It's an honour. I think you should tag @TheTraditionalGentleman as your go-to Woodie expert.

On my side, I think Woodie really is a down-to-earth Canadian. No special headcanons about Lucy being Charlie's sister owning the cabin in Washington DC or anything like that. I think it's worthwhile to remember he enjoys the outdoors and tends to reference Canadian stuff.

[minespatch]

Just to add to the discussion, Woodie  has a mysterious history shown on one of the unreleased loyal skins where he's had a lobotomy for some reason. So there's something up.

[TheTraditionalGentleman]

9 hours ago, Arlesienne said:

It's an honour. I think you should tag @TheTraditionalGentleman as your go-to Woodie expert.

On my side, I think Woodie really is a down-to-earth Canadian. No special headcanons about Lucy being Charlie's sister owning the cabin in Washington DC or anything like that. I think it's worthwhile to remember he enjoys the outdoors and tends to reference Canadian stuff.

You honor me, eh.  

11 hours ago, SrJardel said:

Now, on Woodie. I can clearly notice he is Canadian, or at least he came from the North. What is not very clear to me is: Is him sort of a hillbilly? How notable is his speaking manners compared to, lets say, american people?

If I were to give my two cents, I'd say that Woodie isn't a hillbilly at all, he just likes the outdoors. He worked in a lumbercamp (and may have lived there, based on historic lumber camps that had stores and lodging), likes camping, likes animals, and is just an overall woodsman. Note that while he will kill for food, he doesn't seem overly fond of hunting/killing if it can be helped. His quote on gunpowder "I never liked this stuff" (Which could show an aversion to guns) and his quote on rabbits (while in inventory) "I'd feel bad eating him . . ." and a whole selection of other quotes reinforce this.

As far as his syntax, he obviously follows the Canadian stereotype of apologizing frequently, but his arrangement of words work fine for American English or English English (I can't recall if he uses the American or Britain terms for things, like cookies/biscuits). He also has a Canadian accent (which could also be similar to an American North Dakota or Minnesota accent), such as saying things like "It's aboot time" instead of "It's about time".

While Woodie doesn't read much, and doesn't seem to care much for the science and magic aspects (see his quotes on the science machine and the prestihatilator), he isn't so much of a hillbilly as he is a man of simple tastes. "You can't make a coffee table out of gold. Well, maybe you can, but you shouldn't".

Imagine him more like this: 

 

 

 

Than this: 

 

That was probably more than you were reckoning for, but I do enjoy talking about Woodie's background .

Oh, and he also has this thing about being a werebeaver or something . . . for what it's worth, he doesn't seem to comment on it all that much. 

Edited November 16, 2016 by TheTraditionalGentleman

[SrJardel]

Dude... It is just...

...Amazing!

Thank you so much @TheTraditionalGentleman for such feedback, and again, @Arlesienne for the feedback and also this invaluable mention.

I just can't thank both of you enough.

[Arlesienne]

5 hours ago, TheTraditionalGentleman said:

You honor me, eh.  

If I were to give my two cents, I'd say that Woodie isn't a hillbilly at all, he just likes the outdoors. He worked in a lumbercamp (and may have lived there, based on historic lumber camps that had stores and lodging), likes camping, likes animals, and is just an overall woodsman. Note that while he will kill for food, he doesn't seem overly fond of hunting/killing if it can be helped. His quote on gunpowder "I never liked this stuff" (Which could show an aversion to guns) and his quote on rabbits (while in inventory) "I'd feel bad eating him . . ." and a whole selection of other quotes reinforce this.

As far as his syntax, he obviously follows the Canadian stereotype of apologizing frequently, but his arrangement of words work fine for American English or English English (I can't recall if he uses the American or Britain terms for things, like cookies/biscuits). He also has a Canadian accent (which could also be similar to an American North Dakota or Minnesota accent), such as saying things like "It's aboot time" instead of "It's about time".

While Woodie doesn't read much, and doesn't seem to care much for the science and magic aspects (see his quotes on the science machine and the prestihatilator), he isn't so much of a hillbilly as he is a man of simple tastes. "You can't make a coffee table out of gold. Well, maybe you can, but you shouldn't".

Imagine him more like this: 

 

 

 

Than this: 

 

That was probably more than you were reckoning for, but I do enjoy talking about Woodie's background .

Oh, and he also has this thing about being a werebeaver or something . . . for what it's worth, he doesn't seem to comment on it all that much. 

This. You poured my thoughts into this post - hats off! I've always had an impression Woodie and Thom Rainier would have become best buddies. And the Paul Bunyan graphics... Aww.

(The deal with mixing BrE and AmE, CE of course too, could be an overlook in the case of many characters... OR indicate them having links to both.)