Hello all! I've been searching through the forums and Google for an answer to this question, but I have yet to find one. I've recently decided to play through Morrowind again, but this time I wanted to play a Khajiit. As a role player, I like to keep things in their appropriate contexts, but I encountered a problem when reading through the in-game journal as it is written strictly in the first person (likely to account for all of the other races). I know that Khajiit speak in the third person when referring to themselves, but I cannot find anything that suggests if they can or cannot speak in the first person as well. Does anyone have an answer to this? Thanks!

I think some of the more Imperialized ones do

Could be a language and cultural barrier for those new to speaking Cyrodiilic. I think the khajiit in the book speak in first person, though.

i think it has to do with the way they are translated from their imaginary Khajiiti language to english. In Oblivion, the translation is indirect, through Cyrodiilic. In Morrowind, the translation is also indirect through Chimeri( i think that's what it'd be called.)

I'd say dunmeri, as the dunmer are no longer chimer. But I'd also assume a large number of NPCs in MW are speaking Cyrodiilic, especially among those who are not dunmer, the Hlaalu, and the imperialized dunmer.

While it's never explicitly said one way or another. I've seen instances of Khajiit speaking in first person in games. Admitably, many of these are generic dialog that all races use, so in these cases, it could be that Bethesda just didn't include specific dialog for Khajiit characters in these cases. But I seem to recall even some lines written specifically for Khajiit characters being delivered in first person. This seems to be much more common in Oblivion than Morrowind, but I think I've heard some generic Khajiit greetings in Morrowind written in first person too.

My theory on the matter is that speaking in third person is a speech habit that's connected to the Khajiit language. And many Khajiit, despite knowing Cyrodiilic, or whatever the language everyone is speaking in the game, still retain some habits from their own speech. I certainly don't see any reason why they COULDN'T speak in first person. But many Khajiit are not used to doing so.

In general, though, when role-playing Khajiit characters, if I think using in-character terms, I tend to try to form my thoughts in third person, which can actually a bit of a challenge as I'm generally used to thinking of what I do in the game as things I do rather than what my character does. Of course the journal is still written in first person, but I don't usually worry about that too much, as I generally only think of it as a means to help me remember what I'm supposed to do for my quests, not as an actual record of my character's thoughts on what happens in the game. I think that's what Bethesda meant it to be anyway since most of the journal entries seem to be written in a way that doesn't actually bring the character's personal oppinion into the matter, leaving it up to players to decide what the character thinks.



I don't know. I'd think that if any of the characters in the game were speaking a different language from what others use, the game would tell us somehow, like by using a different font or something, anything that would indicate that they're not speaking in the same language as anything else.

Or beth doesn't really care about language.

Except the languages that you're not supposed to be able to read/understand without some help.

Usually that is reserved for races that disappeared.

Only if you are dosed up on some Moon Sugar or Skooma? Probably a secret code of some sort.

Seems to me like the ones in Morrowind speak in third-person more, probably because they weren't willing immigrants. Most of them seem to be either descended from slaves, freed slaves, or just slaves.

In all likelihood, they couldn't exactly get a good education, so they retain some of their old speaking habits. In Oblivion, where most Khajiit appear to be pretty Imperialized, I can only recall a few habits of speaking in third-person (then again, that could be gameplay mechanics, since they voiced all their actors).

There's the formal/informal slant to consider as well. Most of the dialog you see using third-person is formal speech to a stranger. Many European languages other than modern English have separate formal and informal second-person, and English used to use thou/you forms as well. There's still a residue of "one" as formal first person, too, as well as third-person when an office-holder refers to the office he holds in distinction to himself. So the Duke may say "The Duke is pleased to grant" meaning "I'm doing this officially, not because I like you".

beth should really work on some rpg elements

Well, maybe imaginary Khajiiti language has only one person. Not every language has to have grammar that is equivalent to English.

I know many real world cases where speaker of different language is unfamiliar with the use of genders for example. What's in English friend in Italian, Spanish etc can be amica for female and amico for male.

So maybe what's in English (theoretical Cyrodiilic or whichever) me, you, he/she ..., in Khajiiti would be just 'one'.

My 2% $.