Hi all.

I know that what you listen/read in game is not supposed to be English (or whatever language your game is set to), it's what your character understands speaking the in-universe language.

If your character doesn't know a language (ayleid inscriptions, draconic language, etc) it's not shown in the (real-life) player language.

What I don't understand is why in Dawnguard (to say an example) you can speak with really old people and have no problems, the conclusion I have arrived to is that in the case of Harkon & Co. they have been able to update their language because they have been free and have had contact with the outside world (adventurers, newer additions to the court, roaming the world, cattle, etc).

Serana's case is more difficult because she has been locked away since the late second era http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1472746-when-serana-got-put-away/ but it could be that she speaks a slightly outdated version of the Dragonborn's language that the latter understands (my mothertongues are Spanish and Catalan and I can understand medieval Spanish without too much effort), even understanding Valerica could have an explanation, the new souls roaming the Cairn/Serana's explanation.

What I don't understand is Arch-Curate Vyrthur's case, he went into isolation with an small community of a nearly extincted race during the invasion of the Nords to serve Auri-El and totally isolate himself all alone when he got converted into a vampire, at least 1000 years before the year you confront him:

Gets infected -> Goes "crazy" -> Spreads the prophecy -> Harkon discovers said prophecy -> Goes mad (Harkon) -> Investigation is made on the prophecy -> Serana gets locked (late second era).

In short, is a person from a totally different culture isolated for at least 1000 years yet you can understand and speak with him perfectly.

It's stated that in TES there are many different languages and that those evolve depending on space and time (so it's not that everyone speaks the same universal language).

I'm asking this because even the most bizarre questions have an answer in lore and I'm really curious if there is an explanation.

Regards.

Well language changes either very quickly or very slowly, depending on how you look at it.

Take for example the modern English language and American English language compared with Shakespeare. They are still fundamentally the same language, with the American and Modern English language showing parts of old Shakespearean language. Shakespeare wrote his stuff around 400 years ago.

Also, we can understand Medievel writing (not including Latin scripts) because again the language has the same roots and is still fundamentally the same. That was 1000 years ago.

In Serana's case, she has been locked away since the late Second Era, right? Well assuming it was at the end of the second Era, and the Third Era was 433 years long, and the Fourth Era was 201 years long, we can assume that Serana was locked away at least 650-ish years ago. The language she would speak would no-doubt not be the same, but still easily understandable. I think this is just not shown in-game because Beth didn't want people not enjoying the game by trying to decipher what she is saying/trying to say.

I think language changes at a much slower rate in TES, because everything in TES is at its core different from the real world. Take Paarthy for example, he can speak relatively unbroken 'Cyrodillic' despite being isolated on the Throat of the World for millenniums. Of course, he doesn't speak it perfectly, as he mixes Dovah language into his speech, such as "Drem Gro Lok, greetings."

Just my two cents

With Serana I don't see a problem. She is human and likely speaks the same language that is commonly spoken in the Empire and now pervades most of Tamriel.

Arch-Curate Vyrthur is a different story. As a snow elf, you'd think his language would be quite different.

However, we do know that all Tamrielic languages (other than Jel) come from Ehlnofex. So its probably a bit like a person speaking Portuguese to someone from Spain. The languages all have the same root.

Convenience.

I'm boring like that.

They are understandable simply because it was easier to make them so.

Since Serana was put away around 700 years ago, her language might be decipherable, but speaking to Vyrthur, whose people and language has been separated from the rest of Tamriel for thousands of years, would better be equated to an German speaking to Icelandic guy; the geographic separation isn't that great, but nevertheless they wouldn't be able to understand much of what the other dude says.

While the Snow Elves had been driven out of Skyrim and slaughtered in the Merethic, the Inner Sanctum remained a safe haven for remnants of the race until some time after the Dwemer's disappearance. While it would be rare, I don't think the last Snow Elves in the sanctum had no contact at all with the outside -- they were just very careful about not being spotted and identified -- thus it's quite possible they were able to keep up at least somewhat with the evolving Tamrielic languages.

My reasoning for this is that when Vyrthur contracted vampirism and Auri-el didn't cure him, he led a group of the Betrayed to sack the Inner Sanctum. This indicates it was after the Dwemer disappeared since the Falmer were fighting the Dwemer for their freedom right up until they disappeared. Vyrthur being able to get a group of the Betrayed also indicates he was able to get deeper into Skyrim where they remained underground.

Thanks for the answers, we all think the same about Serana's case (as I stated in the OP).

But for Vyrthur I think the language should have drifted much more, take into account that he got infected 800-1000 years ago but to reach the position he held and taking into account their lifespans (like Altmer I guess or looking at Gelebor) we have to add even more years since he learned his mother tongue, factor his two isolations, as a community (language evolved in a particular way between communicating individual) and his total isolation after transforming in a vampire (his language stalled).

For me it'd be like you speaking Spanish and him late Old Norse, because both come from Indo-European but are unintelligible.

In my opinion:

                          /--Vyrthur's language.                         /                     /--------------                    /---/------------\--------/---\----                   /                               \----------                  /          /--------/                /-----Common language--/----------/--\             /-----\--/-------Serana's language---Current language                 \----          \-----------/       \-----------

For what its worth, the Nords and Falmer seemed to be able to communicate with little to no problem until the Falmer snapped when they found out the Nords were going to seal the Eye away. Ahzidal similarly went across much of Tamriel and learned magics ranging from the Alyeids and the Dwemer, though he was a pretty smart cookie.

I don't think many of the Merrish languages deviated much from their original source as is. Its possible that so long as you have some fundamental knowledge in speaking Aldmeris, you could probably figure out the different offshoots if you're clever enough.