For the mechanism of the Echo, I refer to two things: firstly, Minfilia's phrasing on the matter. ("knowing a man's mind without knowing his words" or somesuch). Secondly, based on that, is actually the instances where a Great Wyrm imposes his thoughts onto some echo-less NPCs. Although the latter isn't an example of the actual Echo at work, it strikes me as probably being similar in sensation - the way one of them describes his ears as being incomprehending of the Great Wyrm's words while his mind was still fully comprehending of his intent makes me think that's similar to how comprehending languages through the Echo would feel.
But... it still stands that it means all quest texts are in plain English with the occasional transcribed accent, even those confirmed by other NPCs to be in other languages. We don't get given stuff to read - it's always an NPC saying "I was reading this ancient tablet and..." or words in that general area. Cid, Alphinaud, Aymeric, Gaius, and so forth are all one or more of the following: highly educated, well-travelled, and/or diplomats (broadly speaking). We don't have an "everyman" point of view to go off. Everyone in the MSQ (and MSQ-close chains) is remarkable, and NPCs in minor quests generally don't come into contact with people from a starkly different background than them... except via the player-character.
Like Kurt says further upthread, there are things in the real world termed as "dialects" which a non-scholar would easily see as a separate language: the speakers are unable to communicate with one another unless a third, common language is used. It's obvious the Doman nation's use of "Eorzean" (Eorzean-Hyuran Common, henceforth referred to as Eorzean for simplicity) doesn't meet this criteria, but there are so many places in the world that we have not seen, have not met NPCs from, and have little official lore about that people's player-characters could come from. Even if they had been exposed to Eorzean, it's not confirmed that they'd be fluent in it (especially not as fluent as the... again, generally highly educated... Othardian NPCs we meet in MSQ and NIN quests) or even that their use of Eorzean would be recognisable to someone from Eorzea itself at all. Dialect or not.
Honestly, for me, it comes down to this: there's no evidence to suggest there's a mechanism for one language to be universally adopted and fluently spoken. Languages IRL diversify for a set of reasons, and there is nothing so starkly different about societies in the XIV universe as to suggest that none of these reasons exist in it. There is evidence to suggest that the Echo's language comprehension component is an important and rare talent. Why would it be so important if most people spoke Eorzean anyway, or if there was a "universal constant" for language?
Lastly... can you really, seriously imagine a Garlean emperor willingly addressing his subjects in a tongue originated from "Eorzean savages"? I can't.
It just comes down to Occam's Razor to me that the simplest, most logical, least presumptuous explanation is that things are generally as they are IRL, but the presence of plot devices prevents the flow of quests from being broken up by the need for interpretation. I think it's weird to dismiss people who want to explore this in their RP over half-quoted, inconclusive lore.
But... it still stands that it means all quest texts are in plain English with the occasional transcribed accent, even those confirmed by other NPCs to be in other languages. We don't get given stuff to read - it's always an NPC saying "I was reading this ancient tablet and..." or words in that general area. Cid, Alphinaud, Aymeric, Gaius, and so forth are all one or more of the following: highly educated, well-travelled, and/or diplomats (broadly speaking). We don't have an "everyman" point of view to go off. Everyone in the MSQ (and MSQ-close chains) is remarkable, and NPCs in minor quests generally don't come into contact with people from a starkly different background than them... except via the player-character.
Like Kurt says further upthread, there are things in the real world termed as "dialects" which a non-scholar would easily see as a separate language: the speakers are unable to communicate with one another unless a third, common language is used. It's obvious the Doman nation's use of "Eorzean" (Eorzean-Hyuran Common, henceforth referred to as Eorzean for simplicity) doesn't meet this criteria, but there are so many places in the world that we have not seen, have not met NPCs from, and have little official lore about that people's player-characters could come from. Even if they had been exposed to Eorzean, it's not confirmed that they'd be fluent in it (especially not as fluent as the... again, generally highly educated... Othardian NPCs we meet in MSQ and NIN quests) or even that their use of Eorzean would be recognisable to someone from Eorzea itself at all. Dialect or not.
Honestly, for me, it comes down to this: there's no evidence to suggest there's a mechanism for one language to be universally adopted and fluently spoken. Languages IRL diversify for a set of reasons, and there is nothing so starkly different about societies in the XIV universe as to suggest that none of these reasons exist in it. There is evidence to suggest that the Echo's language comprehension component is an important and rare talent. Why would it be so important if most people spoke Eorzean anyway, or if there was a "universal constant" for language?
Lastly... can you really, seriously imagine a Garlean emperor willingly addressing his subjects in a tongue originated from "Eorzean savages"? I can't.
It just comes down to Occam's Razor to me that the simplest, most logical, least presumptuous explanation is that things are generally as they are IRL, but the presence of plot devices prevents the flow of quests from being broken up by the need for interpretation. I think it's weird to dismiss people who want to explore this in their RP over half-quoted, inconclusive lore.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
