"10 Fictional Languages That Can Be Learnt"

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Today I came across a very interesting webpage. It gives a "top", so to say, of the ten conlangs language lovers should learn. I found the list quite interesting (besides, it includes Na'vi), so I just had to share it here.

Here is what the website says. For videos and links, please visit the webpage!

Spoiler:  Positions #10-#7

10. Nadsat

In his 1962 dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess created a slang type language called Nadsat. The language is a mix of modified Slavic and Russian as well as words simply invented by the author himself. Nadsat is basically English, with some transliterated words from Russian. It also contains influences from Cockney and the King James Bible, some words of unclear origin, and some words that Burgess invented.

Terms such as droog meaning friend or Bog for God are occasionally still used by college students who wish to annoy or mystify those around them. A comprehensive Nadsat lexicon lists the terms used in the book with their origins.

9. Parseltongue

The best child book of this decade would be the "Harry Potter" series. Now, all the readers of this series must have come across the word "Parseltongue". It is said to be the language of snakes and any one who can speak this language is called "Parselmouth".  It is, in the common mind, associated with Dark Magic and those possessing the ability to speak it are very rare. To non-speakers, it sounds like a series of hisses, but Parselmouths hear it in their native language.

Although finding places to actually learn the language were pretty difficult to track down. Although the legends holds that this ability can be inherited and hence is present in the genes but Parseltongue can be learned, but while the other languages have dictionaries, it seems like you are left with this English-to-Parseltongue translator.

8. Atlantean

Now guess what? The Atlantean language is a constructed language for Disney's film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. The language was intended as a possible "mother language" and was therefore invented to have Indo-European word stock with its own grammar.

The Atlantean language (Dig Adlantisag) is a historically constructed, artistic language put together by Marc Okrand for Disney's 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire and associated media, The Atlantean language is therefore based both on historic reconstructions or realities as well as on the elaborate fantasy/science fiction of the Atlantis: The Lost Empire mythos. Here are the fictional bases upon which the Atlantean language was created: Atlantean is the "Tower of Babel language", the "root dialect" from which all languages descended. It has existed without change since sometime before 100,000 B.C., within the First or Second Age of Atlantis until the present. Surprisingly enough, this language has command over its own vocabulary and grammar and can be learned at Atlantean Language Institute.

7. NA'VI

Na'vi is a constructed language spoken by the fictional indigenous race (the Na'vi) on Pandora in James Cameron's 2009 film Avatar. The language was created by Paul Frommer, a professor at USC with a doctorate in linguistics. Na'vi was designed to fit James Cameron's conception of what the language should sound like in the film, to be realistically learn-able by the fictional human characters of the film, and to be pronounceable by the actors, but to not closely resemble any single human language.

When the film was released in 2009, Na'vi had a growing vocabulary of about a thousand words, but understanding of its grammar was limited to the language's creator. As of April 2010, there is a growing community of Na'vi language fans. Websites like Learn Na'vi feature dictionaries, basic learning materials, and discussion forums.

Spoiler:  Positions #6-#3

6. Aklo

Aklo is a secret language, possibly an artificial cipher or one used by a non-human race, associated with the writing of forbidden texts and evil cultists. Aklo was invented by Arthur Machen in his 1899 story "The White People." It was later used in the works of H. P. Lovecraft who was a great admirer of Machen's work, appearing in his Cthulhu Mythos stories "The Dunwich Horror" and "The Haunter of the Dark."

Aklo is not just an alien language, but a key that opens doors inside the human mind. Alan Moore's version of Aklo contains certain trigger words or phrases which, when spoken in the right order while the listener has entered a different state of mind, usually reached through drugs, have a deep and permanent impact on the person.

There is a number of sites you can google to learn Aklo. Since it is only used fleetingly and by a wide range of authors, there is no set grammar or vocabulary, and it is unclear just what languages from which it draws its most influences.

5. Simlish

Simlish is a fictional language featured in EA Games' Sim series of games. It debuted in SimCopter, and has been especially prominent in The Sims games. The Sims development team created the unique Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian, French, Latin, Finnish, English and Tagalog.

There is a website which teaches spoken and written Simlish, which is a combination of the Wingdings font and Zodiac symbols, but have no grounding in real grammar. All other games made by Sims genre creator Will Wright employ Simlish as a language.

4. Newspeak

Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the novel by Orwell, it is described as being "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year". Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an appendix in which the basic principles of the language are explained. Newspeak root words served as both nouns and verbs, which allowed further reduction in the total number of words. Newspeak is closely related to English. The Newspeak term for the English language is Oldspeak. Oldspeak is intended to have been completely eclipsed by Newspeak before 2050.

Perhaps it is the easiest fictional language to learn, geeks have made a Wiktionary (NS Dictionary) for it and Amazon provides multiple books for those who are eager to learn.

3. Klingon

The Klingon language is the constructed language spoken by the fictional Klingons in the Star Trek universe. Deliberately designed by Marc Okrand to be "alien", it has a number of typologically uncommon features. The language's basic sound, along with a few words, was first devised by actor James Doohan ("Scotty") for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Its vocabulary, heavily centered on Star Trek-Klingon concepts such as spacecraft or warfare, can sometimes make it cumbersome for everyday use. Klingon was subsequently developed by Okrand into a full-fledged language.

Over years, it has got so well developed that there is a Klingon Language Institute (KLI) in Pennsylvania, USA , that holds a yearly seminar to provide a platform for new people to learn the language, and existing aficionados to discuss it, making its fans (no offense) the dorkiest nerds around.

Spoiler:  Positions #2-#1

2. Esperanto

Esperanto is noteworthy for being one of the most successful constructed languages in history. It is the most widely spoken constructed auxiliary language. Although it was created by one man Dr. Ludovic Lazarus Zamenhof in 1880s, the world now accepts it as an actual language. The word esperanto means "one who hopes" in the language itself. Today, it is estimated that there are between one hundred thousand and two million fluent Esperanto speakers, and between 200-2000 native speakers.

Esperanto is also the language of instruction in one university, the Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj in San Marino. There is evidence that learning Esperanto may provide a good foundation for learning languages in general. Its vocabulary is mostly derived from the Romance and, to a lesser extent, the Germanic languages. Experanto a language so effortless to learn it has caught on with many people and can be found on Google searchable websites through an Esperanto portal.

1. Elvish and the Languages of Arda

And who can forget Elvish – the inspiration for this post. J. R. R. Tolkien created many languages, which eventuated in the creation of a mythology, complete with races, to speak the tongues he had constructed and used in his legendarium, including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. His interest was primarily philological, and he said his stories grew out of his languages. The languages were the first thing Tolkien created for his mythos, starting with what he originally called "Qenya", the first primitive form of Elvish. This was later called Quenya (High-elven) and is one of the two most complete of Tolkien's languages (the other being Sindarin, or Grey-elven). The phonology, vocabulary and grammar of Quenya and Sindarin are inspired by Finnish and Welsh, respectively. In addition to these two, he also created several other (partially derived) languages but Tolkien's elvish is definitely a full-fledged language.

I truly acknowledge his this  broad invention which he made from scratch and so do many people, it actually is a really beautiful sounding "language." Therefore, a number of books are available at Amazon to learn the grammar and syntax of this subject and English to Elvish Dictionary is also available for those who are serious about it.

Of course, the ranking they give is debatable. What do you guys think?

· Do you agree with Na'vi's position?
· What language would you have preferred as #1?
· Are important conlangs missing in there?
· Were some of those mentioned languages unknown to you?
· Did the "top" make you discover something new?  

I'd like to read your thoughts about this.

[Syulang]

Well, it's me again.  Damn, I cant see the webpage   I'm at school. Oh well, I'll check it out when I get home. 

[Tsäroltxe te Eyrutì Tantse'itan]

I love newspeak, it is double-plus good!

[Lance R. Casey]

Well, my spontaneous reaction is that placing "Elvish" as #1 of "languages that can be learnt" is somewhat inappropriate, since there simply is not "one" Elvish to learn, regardless of how you define "one" or "Elvish".

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Well, it's me again.   Damn, I cant see the webpage   I'm at school. Oh well, I'll check it out when I get home.  

Okay! Anyway, if you really can't access the webpage, I rewrote practically everything in the spoilers, so you can look it up there.

For my part, I didn't know about Nadsat, Aklo, Simlish and Newspeak. I was also quite surprised that they put Parseltongue in the top. Of course, I've always known Harry and Voldemort can talk to snakes, but I wasn't aware it was an "official language", so to speak. I'll have to check out that website they give, must be interesting. Also, I wasn't aware there were native Esperanto speakers! It's simply amazing.

Well, my spontaneous reaction is that placing "Elvish" as #1 of "languages that can be learnt" is somewhat inappropriate, since there simply is not "one" Elvish to learn, regardless of how you define "one" or "Elvish".

Yes, I see what you mean! Of course I find it awesome that it's #1, but some logic is missing in there indeed. I wonder: if they had separated the two major Elvish languages, which one would have been the #1? Probably Sindarin, I guess? But then, there's Adûnaic, Westron, Khuzdul, Orcish/Black Speech, Rohirric and other less developed Elvish languages..

[Dreamlight]

I have issues with Esperanto, that I'd rather not get into here.

Also, it boggles me that Simlish made the list at all, ditto Parseltongue. 

That Newspeak is on the list intrigues me a little.  I've seen entire texts written in it, which surprises me all the more.  On the other hand it probably really is the easiest of these to learn, at least to an English speaker.

The Elvish languages I think deserve their number one position.  Tolkien really thought out these languages, even considering how they might have evolved from each other and from more primitive forms.  The whole thing in fact started as a thought experiment in evolutionary linguistics.

Oh, yeah.  Na'vi.  It certainly should be ahead of Simlish at least.

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

I have issues with Esperanto, that I'd rather not get into here.

Well, this threat is exactly for that, isn't it? Conlangs is the general topic.

Oh, yeah.  Na'vi.  It certainly should be ahead of Simlish at least.

Mllte. I found that somehow ridiculous, actually.

[wm.annis]

Experienced conlangers were rather irritated by this post.   Now fewer than four of the items on the list are, in fact, not "learnable" in the usual sense of that word.  There's no grammar available for them, and precious little vocabulary.  And a few others are so little documented that while one could speak them a little, you wouldn't be able to say much.

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Experienced conlangers were rather irritated by this post.  Now fewer than four of the items on the list are, in fact, not "learnable" in the usual sense of that word.  There's no grammar available for them, and precious little vocabulary.  And a few others are so little documented that while one could speak them a little, you wouldn't be able to say much.

What languages of the list in particular are not learnable and/or are little documented? Do you know that? I'm curious.

Edit: I'm slightly doubtful about the veracity of the webpage's content now.. I looked at another of their tops on "legendary & fictional swords" (fìtsenge), and there is a mistake in the title of one of the swords. It says Nasril / Andúril, whereas the sword of Elendil is Narsil, of course. At least it seems to have been just a typo, but I still find it not professional that they're making mistakes.

[wm.annis]

What languages of the list in particular are not learnable and/or are little documented?

Nadsat is just a slang with a heavy Russian import.  Never developed beyond the needs of the book.

Parseltongue is nonsense.  (By "nonsense" here I mean, there's no grammar or real vocab, just a stylistic touch to meet story requirements.)

Aklo is basically undocumented.

Simlish is also nonsense.

Newspeak was never developed beyond the book, though of course people like to offer their own versions of it.

Huh.  That's five.

I would maintain that Antlantean, and maybe even Tolkien's languages, are only marginally learnable.  There's too little certain grammar and vocabulary, though Tolkien's Quenya is nearly usable, if you squint real hard and ignore Tolkien's endless tinkering.  In the end, only Esperanto and Klingon really meet reasonable expectations for "can be learnt" of a language, though Na'vi is getting there as vocab gaps get filled.

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Thanks for your answer. Five languages, that's a lot!

Regarding Tolkien's languages, I see what you mean. Unless Christopher Tolkien publishes a lot of new material in the future, for now I would also say that only Quenya can be truly used - and maybe also Sindarin, if one is willing to re-write nearly every sentence he wants to say because of lack or vocabulary and very limited grammar. The problem in such a case is that many, many people would like to learn one of those two Elvish languages, and some scholars (*cough* David Salo *cough*) feel that they can interpret them in whatever way they want in order to make the learning easier, clearer and more complete. Language expansion, so to speak. In the end, much doesn't come from Tolkien, and if you want to stick to the Master, there isn't much available material.

[wm.annis]

The problem in such a case is that many, many people would like to learn one of those two Elvish languages, and some scholars (*cough* David Salo *cough*) feel that they can interpret them in whatever way they want in order to make the learning easier, clearer and more complete.

And this is the other problem with the Elvish languages.  No matter what you do, to produce a correct sentence will almost inevitably require one to make some choices with scarce information.  You have to make your best choice.  And the instant you do, a bunch of other people are going to jump down your throat.  Honestly, the unfriendliness of some of the Elvish language poo-bahs is one reason I stay away from the subject.

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

And the instant you do, a bunch of other people are going to jump down your throat.  Honestly, the unfriendliness of some of the Elvish language poo-bahs is one reason I stay away from the subject.

Oh my.. I did notice that, too. Some Elvish fellows are really nice, just like people here on LN, but many others are real purists (which isn't frequent at all in the Na'vi community). I personally find that the learning is very nice and enriching with the right friendly people - once you've found some of them, it's great. But if not, well.. it becomes solitary learning, unfortunately.

[Seseni]

I saw this list on another site. It's actually how I found this website!

[Dreamlight]

Quenya and Sindarin are both well-documented, at least enough for a good grasp of the grammar; what they really need is vocabulary.

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

Quenya and Sindarin are both well-documented, at least enough for a good grasp of the grammar; what they really need is vocabulary.

I totally agree here. By the way, are you learning one of those two languages? I think I might have read about it in the Elvish thread or something, but I don't remember anymore.

It's sad, I can't find anything about Parseltongue, except the website they already mentioned on Smashing Lists. It really is not documented at all. I could only find a cool vid on youtube. It sounds quite computer-generated like, if you want my opinion, but oh well.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QDUfEpl5Jo#

[Äteya]

Parseltongue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
I wish there was enough words to learn it but the only spoken words are in the movies and there's not a lot of them(words, not movies).
Also in the books it only has the words in English.

[Kamean]

Parseltongue! Great!

And it really exists, or is it just an imitation?

[Äteya]

I think it's just an imitation.

[Ftxavanga Txe′lan]

I think it's just an imitation.

Yes, I think so too.. There is this webpage where one can get English words translated into Parseltongue, but unless I misunderstood the concept I believe the website crew must've made up most of the words on there.