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+--- Thread: Languages? (/showthread.php?tid=2909)
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Languages? - Remx - 07-18-2013
Now I figure all the races will speak common, but it is also likely they would have their own languages as well. If this is posted someplace already please let me know, but my thoughts so far are based off the naming conventions.
Hyur = English
Elezen = French Creole
Roegadyn = German (or something along those lines)
As for Lalafell and Miqo'te, well I'm still working on that.
RE: Languages? - Clover - 07-18-2013
You forgot to mention that Hyur might speak English ^^;
As a non English speaker, English is not a "default" language to me. It's as foreign as French or German can be.
RE: Languages? - Remx - 07-18-2013
(07-18-2013, 06:08 AM)Clover Wrote: You forgot to mention that Hyur might speak English ^^;
As a non English speaker, English is not a "default" language to me. It's as foreign as French or German can be.
That is a very good point Clover.
RE: Languages? - Aduu Avagnar - 07-18-2013
given the naming conventions of the two, they would probably be syllabic languages rather, but that's just my view of it.
RE: Languages? - Mtoto Wamoto - 07-18-2013
Roegadyn do have their own language, tho it's considered an ancient tongue in the current setting of the world. You can read up on it here:Â http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Roegadyn
Miqo'te have certain sounds in their native speech that can't be replicated by the other races (it's a hissing noise or something). Other than that, there isn't anything to say they have their own language.
As far as Elezen and Hyur go...there is nothing currently which suggests that the two races (or even the Lalafell) have their own language either. I'd imagine it to be more of a regional-cultural thing rather than a race specific thing.
Of course, there's the whole thing with most everyone having the Echo which bypasses all language barriers in-game so there's a possibility we're just not seeing other languages since the echo auto-translates speech for us. :X
RE: Languages? - Azelle - 07-18-2013
I agree with Mtoto, only Roegadyn and Miqo'te have written info about them knowing a different language. For me all other races share a common tongue and unless voice acting suddenly give them accents, I keep to that.
Like Clover, english is a second language to me and used only on the internet hehe, so common tongue is english for characters only if the server is tagged as english. It looks like SE won't have language prefered servers though, so it makes things more complicated, we'll see all kind of different languages in the chat
RE: Languages? - Ildur - 07-18-2013
I do not think it makes sense for races to have the same native language, as they all have different cultural backgrounds. Different cultures have different necessities and different view on life, and that is reflected on the way they speak and think. It doesn't even make sense for the city-states to have the same main language, reallistically, since they all have very different cultures too. (Though you can handwave it due to the extentsion of economic relations and the lenght of history).
Though we could think that Eorzea works like ancient Greece in our world: culturally aligned city-states that also shared a common language (though even then there were some differences, like how some letters were written down). Unless stated otherwise by the lore, I'd say this is the case: the races have been together for so long they all have a common language now.
Now, for RP interactions: I always consider that the characters are really speaking in their own language. However, because learning a new language is a lot of work (and making one up, in the case of the devs, is probably even more taxing), everything gets 'translated' to english as far as the player is concerned. Just add a little emote to specify if you are suddenly speaking in ancient roegadyn. Otherwise, you run the risk of letting people out of the conversation when, in-character, they should be able to understand you.
RE: Languages? - Naunet - 07-18-2013
I really, really try to shy away from using a real world language as the native language for a race in an MMO. It's just way too much anachronism for me, especially when we already know that the Roegadyn have their own (ancient) language but it's certainly not any language from Earth. The miqo'te, too, are implied to have a native language, but I don't think it's a copy of a language from Earth either.
Basically, the idea in the OP just makes me really uncomfortable.
RE: Languages? - FreelanceWizard - 07-18-2013
I'm with Naunet here. I wouldn't try to assign RL languages to the languages in game; while there's obviously an intent by the devs to evoke certain "feels" for the languages and the people who use them by making them similar to RL languages, I don't think it's safe to say that they are those languages. After all, to the Japanese players, "Common" could just as easily be Japanese.
Instead, I'd really just consider that some races -- especially Roegadyn -- have "racial" languages, assume the existence of a "common tongue" that everyone knows, remember that
and suspend disbelief that what you're reading on a predominantly NA server with a US localized copy of the game is English.
RE: Languages? - Naunet - 07-18-2013
(07-18-2013, 05:24 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: Instead, I'd really just consider that some races -- especially Roegadyn -- have "racial" languages, assume the existence of a "common tongue" that everyone knows, remember that
and suspend disbelief that what you're reading on a predominantly NA server with a US localized copy of the game is English.
Yea, and for those of us not playing a character with the Echo, we can have some interesting moments where they don't understand someone if they happen to slip into their native tongue hehe.
RE: Languages? - Swift - 07-18-2013
(07-18-2013, 12:37 PM)Ildur Wrote: Now, for RP interactions: I always consider that the characters are really speaking in their own language. However, because learning a new language is a lot of work (and making one up, in the case of the devs, is probably even more taxing), everything gets 'translated' to english as far as the player is concerned. Just add a little emote to specify if you are suddenly speaking in ancient roegadyn. Otherwise, you run the risk of letting people out of the conversation when, in-character, they should be able to understand you.
This is what I've always done, especially at the table (either literally or virtually) for the Dungeons and Dragons campaigns I've been in--since, if anyone happens to be unfamiliar, each one of the 97234928392 different races has its own language, and each player character typically knows how to speak three, four, or more depending on their Intelligence score o.o;
If anything, one thing that the OP has pointed out is that the names and mannerisms of the difference races seem to have roots in/are influenced by the languages that were pointed out. It wouldn't be difficult to imagine that Elezen, for example, sounds a bit like French. It can help with trying to imagine the scene in your mind, and what it might sound like ^^d
RE: Languages? - Ildur - 07-18-2013
It's reasonable, I think, to assign an accent to the races because they probably do have one. But only and only in the case of the elezen we can use a real world accent, because the devs have stated that their pronounciation is french-like. We don't know what accent Miqo'te have, for instance, and saying that Roegadyn have, say, russian accents or whatever is a bit weird.
Basically, we shouldn't stick a real life language as a races' language. Just emote that you are speaking in a native language instead, and use proper english punctuation (or whatever language you are roleplaying on) to avoid confusions and stereotypes.
RE: Languages? - Naunet - 07-18-2013
(07-18-2013, 05:40 PM)Ildur Wrote: It's reasonable, I think, to assign an accent to the races because they probably do have one. But only and only in the case of the elezen we can use a real world accent, because the devs have stated that their pronounciation is french-like. We don't know what accent Miqo'te have, for instance, and saying that Roegadyn have, say, russian accents or whatever is a bit weird.
Oh god, the disturbingly stereotypical Russian aman... they were a horror to watch.
RE: Languages? - Swift - 07-18-2013
(07-18-2013, 05:40 PM)Ildur Wrote: We don't know what accent Miqo'te have, for instance [...]Â
Whateverrr do you mean? ;3
RE: Languages? - Remx - 07-18-2013
Thank you all for your input on this, it has been very helpful to me as I work on learning the FF lore and trying to build my character.