Ther will be not enough time to do czech dubbing, that’s the only issue, not finances. It will be added later after the release. Dan Vavra said in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27pR7vTAYcI
That’s great! As long as every version of the game has this basic choice between English, German, or Czech voices; that is, they don’t limit the English dub to English audiences, German to German, Czech to Czech, etc.
Then the guys doing the dubbing should speak faster, maybe they make it. 
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I think it should be mostly modern so it would be understandable but of course no modern slang and hopefully quite a few period words. I like the idea of using thee, thy, thou, etc.
Have Polish voice could be interesting, but I my mind most of the players will use english voice (or their language if dubbed).
Furthermore have original language (I think it’s something like high-german) doesn’t seems a great idea : a dead language (if it’s not i’m sorry !) which nobody will understood.
It looks like a waste of time and money to me.
they could try and do both modern and old English and let people decide which one they want
Referring to my suggestion, you could simply choose the standard localization so wouldn’t have to worry about incomprehensibility. 
I think, one English version is enough since it isn’t even the original language of this region.
A 2nd version means more and unnecessary effort.
chaucerian middle english would be hard as hell. i don’t mind going modern
Why not grant the option of these different language types? I.E. you could hear it in Modern English -or- Middle English, Early New High German -or- Modern German/Czech, etc.
It’d cost a bit I imagine. But it’s a diplomatic solution.
Personally, I would not mind playing the game in medieval Czech, as long as there were English subtitles. I think a lot of native English speakers are not willing to say that, but this is your game, make it in your own language!
If it IS to be in English, then I would offer this advice as an English medieval reenactor. Most reenactors here would not even attempt to speak the language of the time they are reenacting, because none of the audience would understand them! I believe American SCA groups sometimes mix shakespearean English with modern English, but in my opinion, that sounds ridiculous, and is not at all accurate in any way. (I do acknowledge that the SCA is not about historical accuracy)
In medieval England at least, several languages were spoken. Middle English, Latin and medieval French were all spoken by different sections of the population and if I heard any of those being spoken today I would not be able to understand everything.
I would suggest NEVER using occassional Shakespearean English, as it is just wrong for the period. Either use medieval English or Latin, or use modern English without ‘thee, though, thy’ words thrown in.
As you said, you are thinking of making the language early 20th century and that is exactly what I would do too. Avoiding ultra modern words of course.
This game is all about immersion. I think making the language as natural as possible will help with that. Adding any odd words or phrases would take the player out of the experience.
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Ideally, it would be spoken in something as close as possible to the language of the setting and I would play with subtitles in modern (or as you suggest, C19th) English, but a lot of people prefer dubs. It makes sense to me to animate the speakers to the more authentic language.
I would prefer modern english please, as long as the accents are European and not American. Subtitled Czech would be bearable, but certainly not my first preference.
Absolutely! If it is in English, please use European actors and not American! (Coincidentally, I am available for voice over or motion capture work at very reasonable rates) 
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Eine mehrschichtige Frage. Zum einen wurden auch zu dieser Zeit a) verschiedene Sprachen gesprochen, die Verständigung war also nicht ohne weiteres möglich. b) In den oberen Ständen wurde häufig französisch gesprochen, im Klerus oft untereinander und im Schriftverkehr auch mit weltlichen Adligen Latein. c) und jede Region hatte ihren eigenen Dialekt.
Es geht doch darum, die Zugänglichkeit für möglichst viele potentielle Spieler(innen) in möglichst vielen Ländern herzustellen. Denn es soll ja kein Studienobjekt sondern ein unterhaltsames Spiel sein, was auch kommerziell erfolgreich sein will. Macht es also nicht zu kompliziert.
Eine Frage ist auch: Wie kommuniziert der Spieler selbst…? Gespräche „um ihn herum“ sind das eine, die Art, wie er in diese Dialoge eingreift das andere. Welcher Sprachen ist er/kann er(sie) mächtig (sein) ? Und wie „spricht“ er mit den NPC´s?
Der Hinweis auf Nicolas Eymerich, Inquisito war interessant, allerdings sind das 2 verschiedene Spielansätze. Das eine ist ein gespieltes Buch, in der Szenen vorgegeben sind. KCD ist eine offene Welt, Szenen und Dialoge sind nicht vorhersehbar. Wenn also kein „unerschöpflicher“ Vorrat an Dialogen zur Verfügung steht, kommt es unweigerlich zu Wiederholungen.
Warhorse baut ein Mittelalter-Spiel und ich bin sicher, sie finden den „goldenen Mittelweg“ einer Kommunikation. Letzlich wird er sich unter wirtschaftlichen Gesichtspunkten aufdrängen.
A multi-layered question. Firstly, a) different languages were spoken at that time , so communication was not readily possible . b ) In the upper classes was often spoken French, the clergy often among themselves in correspondence with secular nobles Latin. c ) and each region had its own dialect .
It’s to do it, make accessibility for as many potential players (inside) in as many countries . For it should not be an object of study but an entertaining game , which will be commercially successful. Makes it so not too complicated.
A question is : How the player communicates itself … ? Conversations " around him " are one thing, the way he engages in these dialogues the other. Which languages is it he / she can (her) (his ) powerful? And how “speaks” he with the NPC’s ?
The reference to Nicolas Eymerich , Inquisito was interesting , but these are 2 different game approaches. One is a book played in the scenes are given. KCD is an open world , scenes and dialogues are not predictable. Consequently, if no " inexhaustible " supply is in dialogues available, it will inevitably lead to repetition.
Warhorse is building a medieval game and I 'm sure they find the " happy medium " of communication . Ultimately, it will impose an economic point of view.
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Yes, it is a game that has its goal in entertaining. But it is a game set in a real place, in real medieval age with real historical events taking place - and, as stretch goals do promise us, with authentic medieval music and actual medieval weapons. That’s why we like it, right? So why shouldn’t it have real spoken language as well?
Of course, it is only a wish, and it is up to the creators to decide if it is economically possible. At least partially maybe, like using modern Czech and German, and not medieval dialects.
And some noble Barons are quite right hinting that there were real communication problems between members of different social strata! Wouldn’t it be entertaining to have that difficulties reflected in the game?
@warhorse I would like to have the original language that was spoken at the time at that region for the audio, with subtitles in whichever language I choose. Of course, having other audio options would be nice for those who don’t care about it. But if, for budged limitations, we can’t have so many options, try adding czech (and Latin!).
@tangae You contradict yourself when you talked about immersion and wanting english language. If you want immersion you should try to recreate the period as faithful, alas, using the same language as in that time.
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Immersion =! realism. Well for some people it does, obviously, but for others, stuff like this is going to be an extreme immersion breaker. As far as I’m concerned, immersing oneself into a character means that the game needs to convey character’s attributes and abilities as smoothly as possible. As long as your character has the ability to understand language spoken flawlessly, so should the player - thus the need to translate text into english, even if the entire game pretends that people speak a different language.
Basically, since your character understands Czech, player should understand the spoken language just as well. You can think of it as the character’s brain translating all that’s been said into images and thoughts, which then get conveyed to the player in his own language.
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You’re right, one can have immersion without realism. But I think that having the voice in english would break the immersion for me, not the other way around. Many are talking about english not being used at that time at that place. I want to live that place and by hearing a english voice would immediately mean that I am in some part of England that had weird names for towns and people, I will not be in the bavaria.
I will stretch a little by making a comparison: it’s like seeing the Disney version of The Beauty and The Beast only to realizing afterwards that the story takes place in France; I was not imaging France when I was watching it. Did it dump my enjoyment of the movie? A little, it’s like I missed some part of it. But It doesn’t mean that I was not immerse.
As I said, you were right, immersion is different from realism, but I would like the realism lead me to immersion. Think os this as using an katana as sword there, it wouldn’t break the immersion for someone not knowing that that was a Japanese sword, but and for the ones who does know?
By the way, hearing many languages in game could be interesting. If your caracter doesn’t know the language used by the nobles, or merchants, he couldn’t eavesdropping a possible plot against another character.
Well, using other language as a gameplay element is okay. But when you try to play as a Czech knight and not understanding people who speak czech would be quite annoying. It would feels like you don’t understand your own language. So you would use the subtitles and then automatically get into an external point of view. And being extern is not being immerse !
Czech or english voice, I would have to use subtitles for both. Therefore I would prefer to let the czech knight speak czech. What you call the “other language” is for me english…