Are there different languages?

[Kaiz]

As title. I would assume there are, since there are races like the Au Ra that have been isolated from the other races of Eorzea, and there are beast tribes and what-not. I haven't seen any official confirmation of it, however. Do different languages exist, or can everyone communicate clearly?

[111]

As title. I would assume there are, since there are races like the Au Ra that have been isolated from the other races of Eorzea, and there are beast tribes and what-not. I haven't seen any official confirmation of it, however. Do different languages exist, or can everyone communicate clearly?

 

Different languages do exist, but most Eorzeans speak in a sort of common tongue.

 

There are some niche ones like Dravanian, and others like the Ancient seawolf tongue that are relics of the past (except for their names).

 

However unless your character had some sort of special upbringing, they'd likely have no issues communicating with others regardless of where they are from.

[Kaiz]

As title. I would assume there are, since there are races like the Au Ra that have been isolated from the other races of Eorzea, and there are beast tribes and what-not. I haven't seen any official confirmation of it, however. Do different languages exist, or can everyone communicate clearly?

 

Different languages do exist, but most Eorzeans speak in a sort of common tongue.

 

There are some niche ones like Dravanian, and others like the Ancient seawolf tongue that are relics of the past (except for their names).

 

However unless your character had some sort of special upbringing, they'd likely have no issues communicating with others regardless of where they are from.

 

Hm, okay. So it sounds like it would be feasible for a Xaela, being isolated tribes, generally, to perhaps not speak the common tongue as well?

[Sin]

It's feasible.

 

There's a ton of languages.

 

In fact, for Au Ra it's more than feasible... you're coming over from a whole other continent with different languages like Doman.

 

 

I roleplay my Xaela as still learning Eorzean which basically means he yells barbaric sounding jibberish every so often, and then broken English the rest of the time.

[Kaiz]

It's feasible.

 

There's a ton of languages.

 

In fact, for Au Ra it's more than feasible... you're coming over from a whole other continent with different languages like Doman.

 

 

I roleplay my Xaela as still learning Eorzean which basically means he yells barbaric sounding jibberish every so often, and then broken English the rest of the time.

Okay, cool. I was thinking something a bit like broken english, or more just shortened and simplified, mostly just using the most critical words to get the point across. I just wanted to make sure that would make sense.

[Cliodhna Eoghan]

It's feasible.

 

There's a ton of languages.

 

In fact, for Au Ra it's more than feasible... you're coming over from a whole other continent with different languages like Doman.

 

 

I roleplay my Xaela as still learning Eorzean which basically means he yells barbaric sounding jibberish every so often, and then broken English the rest of the time.

Okay, cool. I was thinking something a bit like broken english, or more just shortened and simplified, mostly just using the most critical words to get the point across. I just wanted to make sure that would make sense.

 

i've seen a few players do that, it always catches my attention when they do. seems interesting and makes me stop a sec to listen to their rp a little bit :3

[111]

It's feasible.

 

There's a ton of languages.

 

In fact, for Au Ra it's more than feasible... you're coming over from a whole other continent with different languages like Doman.

 

 

I roleplay my Xaela as still learning Eorzean which basically means he yells barbaric sounding jibberish every so often, and then broken English the rest of the time.

Okay, cool. I was thinking something a bit like broken english, or more just shortened and simplified, mostly just using the most critical words to get the point across. I just wanted to make sure that would make sense.

 

Yep, many Au Ra RPers I've come across have a poor grasp of Eorzean Vocabulary, Grammar, and or Society.

 

It's a nice touch, though I'm not sure if the Au Ra actually speak a different language, or as is more likely in my opinion, just have a different dialect.

 

Perhaps they're the scottish of Eorzea.

[UntrueCrystal]

My friend and I assumed the Au Ra spoke their own language given they were from a totally different part of the world. (We call it Othardic) When we talk in their own language we put ()'s around the stuff, and when they talk in Eorzean they're naturally not fluent in it.

[Kaiz]

My friend and I assumed the Au Ra spoke their own language given they were from a totally different part of the world. (We call it Othardic) When we talk in their own language we put ()'s around the stuff, and when they talk in Eorzean they're naturally not fluent in it.

 

I was actually thinking I might do something like just make up gibberish words that sound like the sort of thing that Xaela look like they would say, and then send whispers to whoever I'm talking to with the translation. At least when talking in the racial langauge while around others who wouldn't understand it. 

 

I feel like Xaela would have a language with a lot of short words and hard consonants. "Dahk, na. Ko vra nai, dra ke? Kah, lo vos, va." Something like that. 

 

Might be too tedious to come up with made-up words on the fly.

 

edit: Of course, with their horns able to pick up very specific sounds, and having tails, they might use a lot of really subtle gestures and body language as part of communication, so the actual sentence structure might be very short and simple with nearly as much conveyed without words.

[Sounsyy]

As title. I would assume there are, since there are races like the Au Ra that have been isolated from the other races of Eorzea, and there are beast tribes and what-not. I haven't seen any official confirmation of it, however. Do different languages exist, or can everyone communicate clearly?

 

There is a "Common Eorzean" tongue which most races now living in Eorzea are familiar with. Because our MSQ PC possesses a version of the Echo which allows them to comprehend all languages, it's often unclear whether our encounters in game with foreigners like the Garleans or the Far Easterners are spoken in other languages or that they too are familiar with this Common Tongue.

 

 

That said, there are a ton of languages mentioned in lore. Almost every race has or had at some point their own native tongue. While these languages have mostly died out in Eorzea, it's likely they are still kept elsewhere in the world.

 

Miqo'te:

The names of these tribes contained many sounds which were difficult to represent with the existing Eorzean alphabet; but the fact that there were the same exact number of tribes as letters in the Eorzean alphabet was taken as a sign that they were destined to make the new realm their home' date=' and so assigned each tribe with a letter/sound that was closest to its name. Over time, this resulted in the changing of the pronunciation to more closely resemble the pronunciation of the Eorzean letter than that of the original word.[/quote']

 

Roegadyn:

Sea Wolf names are actually all formed from two words taken from the ancient Roegadyn language that the race's ancestors spoke before they came to Eorzea.

 

Lalafell:

Monke Onke

A giant freshwater fish found in the tepid rivers and lakes of the Black Shroud. Gridanian records state that the first monke onke was brought to the Black Shroud by the realm's first Lalafellin settlers, the name monke onke meaning "friendship" in the settlers' native tongue.

Throughout history' date=' the Lalafell passed their histories down through song, which is why even now many use heavy alliteration in their speech.[/quote']

 

Padjal:

Words in the Padjal language are normally separated by spaces. However' date=' when a group of words forms a single concept (such as a proper noun, or a compound word), they are connected with hyphens.[/quote']

-Padjal Naming Conventions

Haukke Manor

Long frowned upon by the people of Gridania as a symbol of excess, the Seedseers would finally submit to pressure from the citizenry, selling the deed to the manor to Lady Amandine of House Dartancours. The word "Haukke" is of ancient Padjali origin and means, "to speak without words."

Dwarf Catfish

An undersized variety of catfish found in still, swampy waters across Aldenard. The Padjali name for this fish is "gee-gee," supposedly taken from the grinding sound created when it moves its fins.

 

Au Ra:

Au Ra Lore and Naming Conventions also gives us that Raen, who live in Doma, speak Japanese. Japanese Doman text gets used quite a bit in MSQ and other Doman related quests like the Ninja storyline. However, this is an example of a "national language," not so much a "racial language." So it may have been, as lore says Raen were once nomadic as well, that they too had their own racial language, but upon settling permanently in Doma/East Othard, they adopted the language of the natives and the Raen language was lost.

 

Unlike their sister clan' date=' the Xaela, who bloody the land with endless tribal conflict, the Raen have embraced a life of tranquility and solitude, long abandoning the nomadic lifestyle of their ancestors to settle the deep valleys of Othard's mountainous eastern reaches. Only on rare occasions will one emerge from the valley mists to seek adventure in realms afar.[/quote']

 

The Xaela naming conventions, on the other hand, are based on Mongolian.

So' date=' which Earth languages are we borrowing names from? Well, as most of you have already figured out, the Raen (Yugiri’s clan) borrows their names from Japanese. [b']The second clan—the Xaela—take theirs from Mongolian.[/b] However, as is the case with Hyuran names, we have chosen to use names/spellings that slightly different than their modern equivalents.

 

Likely, the Xaela's racial language is a dialect of real world Mongolian. So if you're wanting to write out made-up words that your Xaela is speaking, I'd look there for inspiration.

As was mentioned earlier, Xaela names are based on Mongolian names/words used in the 15th century (give or take a few centuries). Lists of ancient Mongolian names can also be found on the Internet for those not versed in ancient Mongolian history (I’m guessing that’s a lot).

 

Unlike Raen names, where the spellings are pretty much fixed, and there are no real variations for a single name, individual Xaela names come with multiple spellings, all of them acceptable. The Xaela, being nomadic, live lives that are one part solitary (when traveling as a clan) and one part community (when they interact with other clans they come across in their migrations). Because of this, similar names are used throughout the Othardian steppe, but they often feature slightly different spellings due to evolving separately in isolated clans. Also a factor is that, until recently, writing was almost non-existent amongst the tribes─written language simply not a necessity in the nomadic lifestyle.

 

While the Raen abandoned the method of using clan names as their surnames when they abandoned the nomadic lifestyle of their ancestors, the Xaela continue the tradition. This means that, for the most part, Xaela surnames are the names of one of 51 existing clans. The following is a list of the clan names and a quick blurb describing the clan. The words used in tribe names are, for the most part, original words based loosely on 15th to 17th century Mongolian spellings.

 

 

There are also, of course, the various Beastmen languages mentioned in lore. While most Eorzean beast tribes also speak the Common Tongue, their native tongues are still used to this day, unlike the races of man.

 

Fernehalwes' Beast Tribes Naming Conventions post has some good info on these.

 

But there's also:

• High Sylphic = The language spoken by the Sylphs.
  
• Dragonspeak = The language spoken by the Dravanians.
  
• Rhotano Bloodcant = The language of the Sahagin, which many Reavers have also learned to speak.
  
• Gobbiespeak = Language of the Goblins.
  
• Mooglespeak = Language of the Moogles. There are very very few people versed in this language. Though, more are likely becoming fluent with the advent of the Mogmail System set up by Kan-E-Senna.
  

 

Teary Moogle: The forest needs protecting, not these silly merchants.

 

Dhemdaeg: Wh-What is it saying?

 

Francis: How the hells should I know? Only the conjurers can make sense of that gibberish.

 

Z'pahtalo: You understand mooglespeak!?

 

Francis: We've angered the forest by helping the outsiders? But we must aid them if we're to have any hope of an alliance with Ul'dah! If not, the Empire will destroy the wood without so much as a fight. Surely the elementals see that...don't they?

 

Dhemdaeg: It is the very same threat that angers the forest now─this time in the form of Garleans intent to set the Hedge aflame. But we cannot abandon these merchants to the greenwrath while we pursue the imperials responsible for invoking it! They would be dead in a moment. And if they die, our hopes of an alliance with Ul'dah die with them.

 

Teary Moogle: Your choices are your own, kupo. But the wood likes things simple, simple, simple. If you don't look after it, it won't look after you!

 

Fluffy Moogle: Goodness gracious me! You can understand what I'm saying' date=' kupo?[/quote']

 

Fufucha: Those who understand mooglespeak are few enough as it is. It wouldn't be proper to impose on you without due payment. Here, take this.

 

 

Vanu Vanu also have their own native language, as seen in a few of the new Sightseeing Vistas:

Mok Oogl Island

An island whose name, in the tongue of the Vanu Vanu, translates to "a noise heard on high." On the island stands a monument engraved with a mark of moogle design, but no sign of the creatures themselves, leaving its origins clouded in mystery.

 

(Based on the above, Moogles also have a written language?)

 

Mahu Wai

Mahu wai grow from the floating islands of Abalathia's Spine, releasing scores of thin transparent tendrils into the sky to catch their prey and haul it back to their giant maws. The word mahu wai means "bottomless greed" in the Vanu tongue.

 

 

Hope this helps! ^^

[D'aito Kuji]

Rather than broken English, I have D'aito speaking in unnecessarily complex compound sentences, with too many polysyllabic words, and an unusual dedication to proper grammar.  When done right, it should sound like she's trying to show off or that she's hiding her ignorance with a blizzard of words.  She is very unfamiliar with colloquial speech and cultural references.  She does not use contractions as much as native speaker would.  Her knowledge of the Eorzean language comes almost exclusively from scholarship and not from immersion.

 

She has recently picked up words like 'Twas, and 'Tis believing them to be "more local" sounding.

 

I was inspired by a friend of mine who immigrated to America from China a couple of years ago and her knowledge of English is very textbook and needlessly formal.  I find myself explaining how she could rephrase and sound more laid back.

[Gwenneth]

Somewhat related, but I've brought up the ancient Allagan language in a minor way ICly, and tend to portray it as a bastardization of Greek (what with SE using that motif for parts of that particular civilization).  Toying with that particular nugget carefully, of course, considering the lack of lore.  This is usually when i call in Sounsy with my Phone-A-Friend option. 

[Warren Castille]

As far as currently-unified language goes, we've got a pretty solid example that most places are able to communicate: The Garlean Empire. We're able to understand them when they speak, and while there's perhaps a grudging degree of respect out of Gaius, we know that Nael held NO care for Eorzea at all, yet we could understand Nael too.

 

We know Garlemald holds most? all? of the outside land, and they speak the same thing we all do. Sounsyy showed that there are other languages, but they're likely not commonplace.

[ShoggMommy]

There is also this: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/61147-Roegadyn-Dictionary

From Gildrein, concerning Roegadyn language, now if it still directly spoken through Eorzea I am uncertain, but considering it says Roe and not specifically one subspecies or another; I assume it would be Roe period.