It can be reasonably assumed that Domans are bilingual in Doman and Common. Not only that, but they are fluent in Common, lacking only in specific vocabulary words and certain untranslatable concepts. Yugiri speaks fluent common. All of the Domans we encounter, even the common peasants speak fluent Common. At no point do we see any Doman struggle with Common, save for very few, specific instances.
Even then, Oboro is being modest in his confusion. Aether is one of the only words that is considered "Eorzea-specific", and Oboro never has any trouble with the language ever again except when trying to translate untranslatable concepts like "shukuchi", which for example is written in Japanese as "縮地" which literally translates to "shrink place" referring to how Shukuchi compresses two points within the material realm to allow teleportation.
By extension, Raen characters should be just as fluent in both languages.
That said, I would be particularly forgiving for anyone who thinks the Doman language is just Fantasy Japanese. The evidence for Doman being a one-to-one analogue of Japanese--albeit old-fashioned Japanese--is strong, even without having an explicit mention or example of the language. In a sense, it's not even Fantasy Japanese: all of the names are directly lifted from 17th century Japanese vocabulary. All of the Doman words we see have direct Earth translations of Japanese. Raen naming conventions are built on Japanese kanji. Raen names also follow Japanese grammar rules like using "no" as a modifying particle. I'm pretty sure there's at least one instance of a Doman name using rendaku as well, and if the grammar rules are the same, then the sentence structure is the same. If the writing is the same, the alphabet is the same. If the words and alphabet directly translate to Earth-Japan analogues, then the words are the same.
If the grammar rules, alphabet, and vocabulary are all the same, then it can reasonably be equated to the same language. I'll still roll my eyes a little at gratuitous Japanese--again, Domans are shown to have fluency in Common--unless it applies to Doman-specific concepts or untranslatable stuff like onomatopoeia.
Peasants By Day, Ninjas By Night Wrote:Oboro
I am told that this is similar to your concept of...ay-ther, was it? I must confess that Eorzean words and ways remain unfamiliar to me.
Even then, Oboro is being modest in his confusion. Aether is one of the only words that is considered "Eorzea-specific", and Oboro never has any trouble with the language ever again except when trying to translate untranslatable concepts like "shukuchi", which for example is written in Japanese as "縮地" which literally translates to "shrink place" referring to how Shukuchi compresses two points within the material realm to allow teleportation.
By extension, Raen characters should be just as fluent in both languages.
That said, I would be particularly forgiving for anyone who thinks the Doman language is just Fantasy Japanese. The evidence for Doman being a one-to-one analogue of Japanese--albeit old-fashioned Japanese--is strong, even without having an explicit mention or example of the language. In a sense, it's not even Fantasy Japanese: all of the names are directly lifted from 17th century Japanese vocabulary. All of the Doman words we see have direct Earth translations of Japanese. Raen naming conventions are built on Japanese kanji. Raen names also follow Japanese grammar rules like using "no" as a modifying particle. I'm pretty sure there's at least one instance of a Doman name using rendaku as well, and if the grammar rules are the same, then the sentence structure is the same. If the writing is the same, the alphabet is the same. If the words and alphabet directly translate to Earth-Japan analogues, then the words are the same.
If the grammar rules, alphabet, and vocabulary are all the same, then it can reasonably be equated to the same language. I'll still roll my eyes a little at gratuitous Japanese--again, Domans are shown to have fluency in Common--unless it applies to Doman-specific concepts or untranslatable stuff like onomatopoeia.
