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[Maverick827]

Will we get any more examples/documentation on the various fictional languages in Thedas in Dragon Age 2?

I've actually been thinking of this since the first time I played Origins and came across Spiritorum Etherialis in the mage's tower, -um and -is being Latin word endings.  I guess the most telling example would be the Tevinter Imperium, “imperium” being an actual Latin word (“empire”).  Also, it appears their language itself is called Arcanum (“mystery”).  Since Tevinter is based off of the Byzantine Empire, this is probably not so shocking.

The wiki shows some loose grammar rules for the language, though, and I was wondering where they came from and if we would be getting more?  The wiki knows of genitive (-l) and accusative (-ud) cases, as well as the imperative mood (-ev) and what appears to be the second person indicative active (-e).  

Does BioWare have an in-house philologist by chance?  Are these languages fully formed or is it just expanded when needed?

[Lukas Kristjanson]

Maverick827 wrote...

I was a PS2 guy when KOTOR first came out, so I couldn't play initially. I just forgot about it when it came out on the PC, so I never got around to playing them.
I have my doubts that any of these languages are fully created, but I suppose those based upon existing languages would be more plausible than entirely unique ones.
I hear the Na'vi from Avatar had an entire language created for them, but I don't think they used it enough in the movie to justify it. I would have to say the same for pretty much all languages in DAO, but we'll see what things are like in DA2.
I just wish I didn't make this thread so late on a weekend, now I gotta bump it later if I have any chance of an official reply. =/

No bump necessary, we are nothing if not chained to our desks committed! Yes!


Some context: I wrote for KotOR, including HK-47’s Sand People translation stuff. And aside from learning that the audio department glares at you when you ask for something like that, I found that much of what I initially thought would be carefully voiced was more or less improvised in the sound booth. There simply wasn’t time to expand it out, especially when dealing with so many different species. That’s changed a lot (in, what, nine years? Old man is old.) as a trip to the langauge section of Wookieepedia shows.

I also wrote for Jade Empire, and we did have a basic language created--Tho Fan, by the same person who did the initial linguistic work on DA:O. It was an interesting experience, but ultimately I felt it was more about novelty than practicality. It placed an additional step between concept and content, and short exposure meant the end result for the player was arguably no different from gibberish (albeit authentic gibberish). It mattered to an incredibly select few, seemingly split among those who worked on the project, interviewed us about it, and maybe one mad genius in a volcano constructing a language-powered missile (I’m keeping an eye on you, Heretical Sound). Your instinct is correct, in a single project it’s simply not used enough, and yes, I also think that extends to giganto-budget dances-with-space-wolves movies (yeah, take that Cameron, you... billionaire).

But on the other side, Moneyface won't throw that work away, and neither have we.

When you have an ongoing project that needs to maintain authenticity, you don’t charge ahead without rules. That would be a recipe for noise, not culturally representative speech. I think that boils down to establishing the nature of the language, not necessarily the vocabulary, which you can't really know until you need it. Basic rules are strictly kept, ensuring that even though we are often inventing new words and phrases on the fly, it “sounds right” when spoken by the actors because it is derived from already established meaning and structure. And each of those new phrases are then added to the glossary for that race and become the basis for more. Some of it is complex, some feels like appropriate shorthand. You'll be hearing more from the qunari in DA2, but I can't claim we have the vocabulary for their language to function on its own... (insert cliffhanger sting) yet.

Hey look! Vocals from the dungeon escape in Leliana’s Song.
Suledin (Endure)
An elven song about enduring and emerging from sorrow, tied to the loss of their ancient lands, but adapted to personal struggles as well. The first half is the “down side” the lament portion. The second is the “up side”, the finding strength portion.
Melava inan enansal
ir su araval tu elvaral
u na emma abelas
in elgar sa vir mana
in tu setheneran din emma na
 
lath sulevin
lath araval ena 
arla ven tu vir mahvir
melana ‘nehn 
enasal ir sa lethalin

Phonetic
mee-LAH-vah-ih-nawn ehn-AH-sahl
eer soo ahr-AH-vel too ehl-vah-rehl
oo- na EMM-ah ah-BELL-aws
in ELL-gahr sah weer MAH nah
in too SETH-in-AIR-awn din EMM-ah nah
 
lawth soo-lah-VEEN
lawth ar-RAH-val eh-NAH
ahr-lah VEHN too veer mah-VEER
mee-LAH-nah nay-inehn-ah-sal eer sah leth-ah-LEEN

Translation (rough)
Time was once a blessing
but long journeys are made longer
when alone within.
Take spirit from the long ago
but do not dwell in lands no longer yours.
 
Be certain in need,
and the path will emerge
to a home tomorrow
and time will again
be the joy it once was