audio;

[cockade]

How many of you have your own language from home?

[There is a very distinct pause as Arno realizes that question may need to be clarified.]

By language, I mean something that is unique to your country or culture. For example, I'm from France and our language is French- but if you go to our neighboring country Spain, they speak Spanish instead. Italy has Italian. Britain has English.

Hilariously enough, if you gathered a Frenchman and a Spaniard together, they would be able to hold a somewhat decent conversation in their own languages because they're similar. [There's a bit of a pause as he says "somewhat," because he's pretty sure he wouldn't completely understand Spanish unless given some time to really digest it.] I'm not exactly sure they'd understand everything, but the basics would be covered rather well.

I suppose I'm asking mostly because there's so many of us, and so there's bound to be similarities and differences. Even across worlds. It would be interesting to talk about it, and possibly teach others if they're wanting to learn as well.

[Because almost anything is better than thinking about their current situation or about the Savrii, in his opinion.]

Comments

[liberaltus]

In Tevinter we speak Tevene and the Trade tongue...well Teven is spoken mostly by the nobility class as the Trade tongue has become the common language that most everyone on Thedas speaks regardless of their secondary language.

Orlesians speak Orlesian and Trade, Antivans speak Antivan and Trade, Elves speak Elvish...rather the Dalish speak Elvish, the Qunari speak Qunlat, the Dwarves well they invented the Trade language more or less, in the Anderfels they speak Ander, in Rivain they speak Rivaini.

There is very little cross communication between the languages though...I suppose Orlesian and Antivan sound similar at times.

[cockade]

I see. Trade as a common language makes sense- I'm not exactly sure what the widespread language is for Earth, unfortunately. I wouldn't exactly say I've had the time to travel.

Thedas has always been interesting like that, I've found. How different does Tevene sound from Trade?

It's the same for many languages back home. I know that French is very different from Japanese, though I couldn't tell you how, exactly. How far apart are Orlais and Antiva? France, Spain, Italy and Germany are all lodged against each other, which is how I imagine our languages can have quite a bit of similarities if spoken together.

[liberaltus]

Well I suppose Trade sounds very much the way you and I are speaking to one another now, but Tevene is more like:

Festis bei umo canavarum

or

Na via lerno victoria

The first is "you will be the death of me" and the second is "only the living know victory." Though I do like the more colorful phrases like vishante kaffas.

Orlais and Antiva are quite far apart, actually, they have Nevarra and the Free Marches, not to mention the Waking Sea as obstacles...that's hundreds and hundreds of miles. I suspect migration might have something to do with the language transformation in our world and why some languages might sound similar. It might also be the reason why the Trade language is commonly used for communication purposes.

[cockade]

That differs quite a bit. In French that would be Tu vas me faire mourir for "you will be the death of me," and Seuls les vivants connaissent la victoire for "only the living know victory." I suppose that's to be expected- though I always find it interesting to see the differences.

Now that's surprising- I would have thought they were closer than you're describing. I don't know much about the other languages around the world, unfortunately, but I'd harbor a guess that at least one of them was created by migration as well. There are colonies all over that are influenced by their native nations, so it wouldn't be too difficult to imagine this happening.

Have you visited anywhere outside of Tevinter?

[liberaltus]

I fing it interesting that your French sounds very Orlesian, though I might have made mention of this before.

I suppose it is because there are no strict boundaries that keep individuals within a specific region of the world, so we are more exposed to one another. Granted there might be places that people avoid on principle or for their own safety.

I've been to quite a few places outside of Tevinter, more recently then in my younger years. Just before arriving here I was all over the south.

god this is late I'M REALLY SORRY

[cockade]

You're not the first to say so- most from Thedas have asked me if I'm from Orlais after speaking with me for a time. I don't believe the culture is the same, however.

This is true. I know most French and British people tend to avoid each other for many reasons. Luckily, we have an entire channel to keep us apart.

[That last part may be said with a ton of sarcasm.]

It must be interesting to see the differences between them, then. I'm already learning just how different places are that are neighboring countries in my own world.