Copy-pasting what I wrote on tumblr:
The way I am (somewhat stubbornly) choosing to interpret it is that Xaela tend to speak only the language(s) of the Steppes as a starting point, while Raen tend to speak a local language (like Doman) and also Common (a “commerce language†similar in role to Latin).
Doman as a language, like, obviously exists, unless they’re planning to retcon the entire NIN quest-line and half the abilities described therein… and unfortunately, as I’ve had to deal with “lore book says something stupid and contrary to in-game evidence†before (thanks WoW), I always tend to go with the more accessible medium I.E. in-game as the golden standard.
They’re always like “in our language†or “it’s hard to translate this word†and stuff in the NIN quest line. The separate, local language of “Doman†blatantly exists. However, they also don’t seem to be struggling to LEARN “Eorzean†despite being recent immigrants, although they appear to struggle to adjust to using it as their main/only language.
Which leads me to believe - in conjunction with this new info - that most Domans are bilingual, speaking “Doman†for everyday conversation and “Common†for official occurrences and trade with foreign parties or even with other villages (sometimes dialects can be, as mentioned, completely incomprehensible to people who don’t speak it, especially if there’s no method of communicating standardised pronunciation across distance).
Being such a varied continent, it makes sense that “Common†would also be the language that ended up being used most frequently in everyday conversation in Eorzea too, and that maybe the Eorzean accent/dialect of Common would be unofficially referred to as “Eorzeanâ€.
The way I am (somewhat stubbornly) choosing to interpret it is that Xaela tend to speak only the language(s) of the Steppes as a starting point, while Raen tend to speak a local language (like Doman) and also Common (a “commerce language†similar in role to Latin).
Doman as a language, like, obviously exists, unless they’re planning to retcon the entire NIN quest-line and half the abilities described therein… and unfortunately, as I’ve had to deal with “lore book says something stupid and contrary to in-game evidence†before (thanks WoW), I always tend to go with the more accessible medium I.E. in-game as the golden standard.
They’re always like “in our language†or “it’s hard to translate this word†and stuff in the NIN quest line. The separate, local language of “Doman†blatantly exists. However, they also don’t seem to be struggling to LEARN “Eorzean†despite being recent immigrants, although they appear to struggle to adjust to using it as their main/only language.
Which leads me to believe - in conjunction with this new info - that most Domans are bilingual, speaking “Doman†for everyday conversation and “Common†for official occurrences and trade with foreign parties or even with other villages (sometimes dialects can be, as mentioned, completely incomprehensible to people who don’t speak it, especially if there’s no method of communicating standardised pronunciation across distance).
Being such a varied continent, it makes sense that “Common†would also be the language that ended up being used most frequently in everyday conversation in Eorzea too, and that maybe the Eorzean accent/dialect of Common would be unofficially referred to as “Eorzeanâ€.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
