(07-15-2016, 06:06 PM)Kilieit Wrote: Hmm - I know Limsa Lominsa still welcomes beastmen traders. I think Ul'dah used to (and now emphatically does not; beastmen currently aren't allowed within the city at all).It was a goblin trader, which is strange considering the presence of Mutamix. The law banning beastmen traders was a Royalist decree, probably by Nanamo's predecessor.
Trade is a big motivator for learning language. Obviously Limsa still does - look anywhere in the lower decks and you'll probably see at least one beastman. And I think Ul'dah accepting beastman trade is within living memory - I remember this one leve in Drybone where you have to escort a clueless Amalj'aa merchant away from the settlement, and he doesn't understand why they won't trade with him ( ).
And as for the Sylphs, they seem to have something of a diplomatic history with Gridania that could explain why they would learn "Common" as well.
Parts of the Syndicate doesn't particularly care for it, considering that there are Ul'dahian traders in Limsa (as well as in Ul'dah itself, if you finished all four of the original Beastmen tribe quests) bemoaning their countrymen's racism (and lack of financial vision.) [It is said in the Hildebrand quest chain that there were books about how the Amal'jaa fought alongside Ul'dah against Sil'dah.]
In Limsa, the Kobolds were the ones that taught the pirates how to melt and refine cobalt, if I recall the ARM quest chain. They had a formal territorial agreement with Limsa (which Limsa unilaterally broke and made Y'shtola grumpy).