Alrighty then. So, my big problem with Elder Scrolls right now is why don't any of the Elves speak Elven?

In Cyrodiil, you tend to come across quite a range of items and scrolls written in Elven. Heck, you even have to translate some Ayleid in a Mage's Guild quest.
So, then, why don't any of the Elves SPEAK ELVEN!?!

I would have been much more drawn into Oblivion if I heard Elven. It also would have helped out the lore.

I did hear Umbacano and Umaril the Unfeathered speak Ayleid, but that was it.

So, anybody know why we don't hear Elven?

people now days speak mostly cyrodiilic (english for us) because it is the language of the empire. it makes all the more sense in cyrodiil. ayleid and ehlnofex (sp?) are both extinct so only a few people speak those.

besides, it would be hella annoying if everyone spoke their own language.

I think Ehlnofex is older than Aldmeris, so probably the only language that they'd speak that would be considered "Elven" in the context you presented in is Aldmeris, and that's not even taking into account other languages that may existed after that.

I haven't looked into this a lot though.

Really? They still write in their Elven dialect (not sure if Ehlnofex or Ayleid; perhaps Aldmeri). Also, I figured that the Elves would be too proud to give up their language. I understand why they would be bilingual. Perhaps it is follows the Roman example of where most people spoke Greek while only the nobles spoke Latin, or something along those lines.
Either way, I just can't understand why they wouldn't other than the fact that it would be time-consuming to build an actual vocalized language.

Perhaps they speak it in the Summerset Isles. If extinct everywhere else I would at least expect them to still be speaking the language.

Oh, and I'm not saying you can't understand it. I'm saying they speak it. That's what the subtitles are for.

And uh...if you're to ah...say...hunt them down as enemies then it wouldn't matter whether you understood them or not. You're trying to kill them. This was the case for Umaril the Unfeathered, who did speak Ayleid when you fought him.

First of all, because the Cyrodiilic Empire was started by humans, their language would be the language that most of the citizens would speak. Second, I doubt the devs have the time to develop a new language.

Different regions have their own languages and dialects alright , Aldmeris, Dwemeris, Dunmeris, Ta'Agra, Cyrodiilic, Elnofex to name some, but you wouldn't understand a thing they were saying. While it's interesting for a while, not being able to understand people isn't very much fun when you're playing a game, especially when it's just a quest to fetch three hogs heads.

So either things end up with some magical universal translator, or everybody speaks something understandable from the get go. The exception being ofcourse when it's cool not to understand something like say fighting Umaril, although it wasn't hard to know that he wasn't wishing you a happy birthday.

The result ofcourse is that lore gently bends along with gameplay somewhat and everybody speaks the same common language. It's not very pretty, doesn't make sense in half a dozen ways, but it's also of these things that you can easily ignore.

It's easily replaced it with how English is used in the current world, allot but not all people speak it as their second language with some degree of skill and when people have an interest in speaking to somebody who doesn't they'll bring an interpreter along.

Apologies for the slightly ranting tone but I've been watching Zero Punctuation a little to much lately. While yes there is actually punctuation in this rant but even Yathzee needs to breath now and then.

Just like Khajiit and Argonians.

Point taken.



HA HA HA HA! :rofl:

Alright, then they should do more of that in the next game. The enemy should be able to tell you off in their own language.



Yep, that he does. Thanks for the explanation and thank you for confirming my own thoughts as to this.

Then, however, my next question is what really is Ehlnofex (and how do you pronounce it; like this? : L - NO - FEX ?) and where does each language hail from, regionally and ethnically I mean (other than Dwemeris and Dunmeri)?

S'Wit! N'Wah!

It is explained in some book in Morrowind that "Cyrodiilic" is Altmeri. I can't remember if the spoken language is but the writing is, so one could assume the language is.

Edit: Isn't Ehlnofex earthbone?

Yes, but I'm not sure, the people or spirits are Elhnofey but the language is named Ehnofex. So I think the h is silent and the e comes with an l. That's how I write it wrong anyway.



Yea. Kinda like the Chinese cussing in firefly, especially if it's translatable.

EhlnoFEY is "earthbones" if I remember right. Though that's a minor difference.

Khajiit speak it fine, they just use it in a way they can comprehend. Their minds aren't engineered the same way.

The reason they don't speak it like others is that from the ground up, it's not their language. That's what I meant.

I think elves speak cyrodiilic for the same reason gaulish-celts spoke latin in the Roman Empire. It's the language you have to use to get anywhere in life in the Empire.

I wish there was a full translation of ayleid language; the one at UESP is very incomplete.

Ain't too many mentionings of Ayleid language. Think the Intercept has a few. Might be wrong.

edit: SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD!!!

Is it possible that the reason noone speaks their own original language is not because they simply forgot it? Because a language doesn't simply die out, unless it's forced out, or the civilization that speaks it dies out.

Is it possible that the Empire forced them to speak Cyrodiilic, thus forcing their own native language out of existance, or close to such? So that only a few, those who could care less what the Empire thinks, and tells them to shove it in a dark place, speak in their native tongue, at least somewhat. The Dark Evles "Dunmer" for example will curse you in their native tongue. And we all know they HATE the Empire. So, does that mean that the Empire tried to do such to the Dunmer, but slightly failed?

Just a thought...

That is correct, the point of language is to communicate, so naturally, people most often use the common language when speaking, since that is the language others are most likely to understand.

Granted, characters of one race could use that races language when speaking with other members of the same race, with the justification that Dunmer, for example, would be taught to speak heir own language, but that brings up the matter of convenience for the player, it could potentially get annoying for players if they kept hearing NPCs talk in made up languages they could not comprehend.

It could add some character for NPCs to occasionally use words from their own language thrown in with Cyrodiilic though, Morrowind had this, to an extent, with Dunmer NPCs using terms like "n'wah" and "s'wit", but it would be interesting to see some non-cursing words used that way too, potentially. It might also be interesting to see how dialog which the player does not really need to be able to understand, or is not supposed to understand, be spoken in the language of the race speaking it.

Creatures have languages based on their intelligence and can speak the common tongue based on their acceptance in society, usually. Orcs, being recently accepted, are learning their new language quickly where only a few knew it before. Giants aren't very accepted and can't speak our language well. Exceptions include Nymphs, Spriggans, and Dragons/Dragonlings who can speak Cyrodiilic just fine.
My good buddy speaks Chinese and translated it. He claims they're the worst Chinese speakers he's ever heard.

That's my view. Is it possible though, that the Empire is behind it? There has to be some reason, other than it could get annoying for the player. We have the ability to use translators, subtitles, etc. So say that, that be the reasoning behind it. The makers of the ESS are geniouses, it would be no problem for them to invent a language, or base the game's language off of one that already exists.

I mean it just makes sense to say that Empire is behind this. And yes, it does also make sense that the NPC's would speak the most common of the languages. But why is Cyrodiliic the most common? My opinion is because the ever-controlling Empire wanted to be the "higher power", and took away the right to use one's native tongue publicly. Thus forcing a part of the Empire into every race. Is that a possibility? Because the whole it could get annoying ideal, just doesn't seem to have a place in the lore. But that's just my opinion.

Now that I have thought about it more, I think that the languages are just simple bits of lore that haven't been fleshed out by the devs. Not necessarily out of laziness, but simply because such a task would be tremendous to do. Cyrodiilic is simple. It would make sense for the civilized nations to speak it because it is the official language of the Empire.

However, like I said, it would be nice to see a little more diversity in the language, like a phrase or two every now and then, or a swear or two, simply to paint the Elder Scrolls background a little more vividly. Subtitles or simple translations could solve the tedium of having to learn it, or it could just be introduced into certain main story elements where other's translate it for you.

NOTE: Also, there are a few human languages I did not know about. There is Yoku from the Youkudan continent.

I wish TES5 implements an "Aldmeris" language skill where you can decipher elven language(s). I'm sure there are ways it could be incorporated into game mechanics.....

An additional difficulty would be that when using "foreign" languages, the game would have to check on the player's race: If I played a Khajiit, I'd understand their language, of course, and the dialogue would have to be spelt out in English. I might even argue that when playing a non-Imperial character, dialogues in my character's mother tongue would have to be in English, while cyrodiilic talk should be foreign and subtitled - to preserve the feeling that I people around me use a foreign language. And what if my character's mother tongue were Dunmeris (Dunmer talking English), he understood Cyrodiilic as a foreign language (represented by gibberish... I mean, a beautifully crafted artificial language with subtitles), but had no idea of Argonian (different gibberish, without any subtitles)?

The game would fast become infinitely complex, just as the real world is. You have to make a cut somewhere to retain playability and accessibility, and for Oblivion, they apparently just decided that language was not a core concern of world creation.
It would be an option for dead langages like Ayleid, though.


Why? An awful lot of things in a computer game are caused by technical limits, time and manpower constraints, simple money, or lots of other real world issues.


To invent a language, is actually not that easy. Trust me. And they'd have to do it several times over...
And honestly, I would find it quite unsettling if I bought the game and meet Nords there using German (my native language) or a butchered version of it. (Some movies did that - ridiculous. )


It doesn't. It's basically the same reason, why the whole of Cyrodiil, according to the game, has a population of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Demographics.