Languages

"Fluency is knowing which of the words was the insult." — Protocol Unit K-9R
Verified

Your character speaks one language at a time, and anyone who does not know it sees nonsense instead of your words.

You need an active character to use any of this. Community characters cannot be edited, so their languages are fixed.

What it does

Every character knows at least one language and has one of them set as active. Whatever you type in chat is spoken in the active language. The server then decides, for each listener separately, whether they understand you.

Basic is the shared tongue and nobody ever fails to understand it. A listener who does not know basic still reads your real words, tagged <<basic>>.

What a listener sees

There are 3 outcomes, and they are decided per listener.

They have a translator running, or you do:

They know the language, or they have Diplomacy 3 and it is one of the server's common languages:

They understand none of it, so the line is garbled. The garble is random, so this output is one possible draw:

The garble has the same number of words you spoke, drawn at random from that language's own word bank. The first word is capitalised and the line ends with a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark. Everyone who did not understand that line sees the identical garble, so the room stays consistent. Actions wrapped in the emote delimiters, || by default, pass through ungarbled and are re-inserted at the same proportional position they held in your original sentence. A server that changes sf_emotesyntax changes what the garbler looks for too.

The languages with their own vocabulary

71 languages ship with their own word bank, and the garbles are lore-accurate: where a language has real documented vocabulary — Huttese, Mando'a, Ewokese, Jawaese, Sith and more — the bank uses it, and the rest is invented to match how the species sounds on screen. Type the name on the left. The label on the right is what appears in the chat tag.

Core and classic tongues

Type this Shown as Type this Shown as
binary Binary omwatese Omwatese
huttese Huttese rodese Rodese
jawaese Jawaese ryl Ryl
keldor Kel Dor shyriiwook Shyriiwook
kiffar Kiffar togruti Togruti
mandoa Mando'a ubese Ubese
nelvaanese Nelvaanese zabraki Zabraki

Original-trilogy era

Type this Shown as Type this Shown as
aqualish Aqualish ithorese Ithorese
bith Bith moncalamarian Mon Calamarian
bocce Bocce ortolan Ortolan
bothese Bothese quarrenese Quarrenese
devaronese Devaronese shistavanen Shistavanen
dosh Dosh sullustese Sullustese
durese Durese talz Talzzi
ewokese Ewokese tusken Tusken
gamorrese Gamorrese ugnaught Ugnaught
gran Gran whiphid Whiphid

Prequel era

Type this Shown as Type this Shown as
cerean Cerean muun Muun
clawdite Clawdite nautila Nautila
dug Dugese pakpak Pak Pak
geonosian Geonosian toydarian Toydarian
gunganese Gunganese umbaran Umbaran
iktotchese Iktotchese utapese Utapese
kaleesh Kaleesh xexto Xexto
kaminoan Kaminoan

Legends and the Old Republic

Type this Shown as Type this Shown as
catharese Catharese noghri Noghri
cheunh Cheunh oldcorellian Old Corellian
echani Echani rakata Rakata
falleen Falleen selkath Selkatha
gand Gand sith Sith
hapan Hapan sybisti Sy Bisti
verpine Verpine yuuzhanvong Yuuzhan Vong

Hutt space, cantinas and elsewhere

Type this Shown as Type this Shown as
anzellan Anzellan klatooinian Klatooinian
chadrafan Chadra-Fan lasat Lasat
dathomiri Dathomiri nikto Nikto
gotal Gotal weequay Sriluurian

Any other name of lowercase letters, up to 30 characters, is also accepted. It works the same way, but its garble is drawn from a generic word bank and its chat tag is the name with the first letter capitalised.

Using it

Learning a language costs nothing and takes effect at once. The one exception is Binary, which needs Tech 1.

  1. Add the language to your character.
  2. Set it as your active language when you want to speak it.
  3. Set it back to basic when you are finished.

Commands

Learning a language

Forgetting a language

Choosing what you speak

Run /character language with no argument to list what you know and what you are speaking:

Using a translator

With no argument it toggles. A translator works in both directions, so it clears a language for you when you receive it and for everyone else when you speak. Turning it on also attaches a visible translator model to your character, if one is set. See attachments.

Settings

Server-side. The trade tongues a Diplomacy 3 character understands without learning them. Defaults to Huttese, Mando'a, Shyriiwook, Jawaese, Rodese, Bocce, Sy Bisti and Durese.

Things to note

Things that catch people out:

  • A language hides nothing from the console. Every listener gets your real words written there, whatever their chat box shows.
  • A character can know 15 languages at most. The 16th is refused.
  • Binary needs Tech 1. Buying Tech adds Binary to an owned character automatically, and the creation wizard refuses it outright.
  • The creation wizard allows 2 languages including basic. Add the rest afterwards with /character add language.
  • Your last language cannot be removed. The server refuses with ^8+++^7 Character must know at least one language^8.^7.
  • Removing the language you were speaking switches you silently. Your active language becomes the first one left in your list.
  • Language names are lowercase letters only, up to 30 characters. No spaces, numbers or apostrophes.
  • The garble words are lore words, not a cipher. The bank words are drawn at random, so a garbled achuta does not mean the speaker said hello — only the word count matches what was spoken.
  • The translator is not saved with your character. It switches itself off when you log in, along with its attached model.
  • Basic is never garbled. Speaking it in front of a listener who lacks it still gives them your words, tagged <<basic>>.

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