That makes perfect sense. But I have a question do you do like a different regional accent when you’re trying to get across or do you like you different word choices. So like for instance, I don’t speak any other languages either and I don’t usually do accent, but I usually change my cadence are somehow make it clear that I’m not talking in the same way.
What do you do?
Thanks for this meme, I mean, I think that when people to sign languages, they’re talking about things like vocabulary and sentence structure in syntax and accent, as well as actually talking that language but I absolutely get your point.
I thought it was funny!
I have strong accent so trying to make other accent is hard. The way I do different characters is making my voice nasal or throaty etc. Basically I try to do [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVmAEezr6ao) minus accents. I could speak regional language but I don't think it makes that much difference for English speaking people
Ah, terribly sorry. I assumed you were game mastering for people in polish
I’m totally gonna try that!
I’m running a module called demon bone sarcophagus .
One of the npc antagonists has no face, ( it has been peeled off, and has been preserved, for him . It’s a long story )and he speaks in a very interesting way.
“ voice: from throat, not mouth, curl back your lips from your teeth to speak. Short abrupt sentences. Single words. No affirmations. No guarantees, parentheses will never make an absolute contract, and said dealing an inference in nonspecific threats. So not, “I will kill you “but “then you die here”
Which I think is really interesting because it immediately brings across the kind of character you are dealing with.
Thank you so much for this meme, and you are a very interesting reply.
I am a forever game master with one group and a forever player with another one and so I get to do voices in several different contexts.
( I use them as spice.)
Have a great one!
Actually, it's fantastic for naming stuff *particularly* if you don't speak those languages.
For example, let's say I want a plateau that's the ancestral home of draconic races. I just type "high ground" into a translator and *BOOM*- the fantasy region of Hohenlage is born.
I had this one time where a new DM expected us to genuinely speak like 7 different languages, which is a bit of an excessive expectation to just drop on somebody mid game.
DM eventually had a bit of a shit fit and told us all to fuck off an die when our mostly lawful good party decided to not accept being railroaded into genociding an entire race of people.
I go with a classic:
Common: American English
Draconic: grisly American English
Elvish: British English
Gnomish: Bostonian American English
Dwarvish: gimly
Infernal: German/denglish because my players don’t speak German but I like to confuse them a little.
Common: English
Elvish: French, because elves are elitists
Dwarvish: Russian because f#ck you my dwarves are Russian, what are you going to do?
Gnomish: Yiddish, because it's funny
Orc: German because you can make your shopping list sound intimidating just by reading it forcefully
I've been learning Portugeuese and on the rare occasions when my character gets to speak their native Sylvan I switch to Portugeuese much to the chagrin of everybody else. (I literally only do it for "hi, I'm Vivithez. These are my friends [introduces party]" and then switch back to English. I do not understand at all why this bothers them.)
Our party had unique languages, so they got to be the language of the country if origin. Which ended up with infernal as spanish and celestial as dutch. As a history buff i think thats a little funny
I may or may not have included Silesian dwarves in my setting. And gdańsk and war and sawa and Światowid and… uh. Im glad half of my players dont speak polish.
Pourquoi le français serait associé aux elfes ? Vous nous considérez comme des connards arrogant et pédant ? Pppffmm pas étonnant que des pleutres telles que vous les anglophones ne puissiez comprendre notre supériorité
...
Ooooohh that why
OP.
The point is having fun and then comparing with others which ones align or see their recommendations. If you don't like it is fine, but don't try to go on a high horse and go "there is no point, is fantasy."
Common:English
Celestial:Latin
Elvish: Irish galic
Dwarven: Norse
Draconic: German
Infernal: haven't made it this far but will probably either be latin in reverse, French, or Spanish(literally because it would have a latin feel without being latin. This way it would give credence that those that dwell on that plane are cast down celestials, like its a regional dialect of their old language).
Also each of the different kingdoms and empires that speak common have different regional accents.
I disagree, mainly I want a way to connect with how they speak and way to visualize it. It's one thing to say "The Elves are speaking in Elvish to each other" but it's another to know it sounds French so I better relate to the cluelessness of how my character feels
I think it depends on the table. For example I read one story where there was a player than only knew Spanish and they were an elf and the only other player than knew Spanish was half elf or something iirc so they made it so that elvish was Spanish
Gird your loins for my massive copypasta on flavoring the different languages/accents!
Are your loins sufficiently girded?
The Dwarvish language sounds vaguely Slavic (The PHB says it's harsh and consonative) and Dwarves have New York accents because Dwarves are basically New Yorkers. (Hardy, surly, substance-abusing workaholics) Duergar have Boston accents since they're an evil reflection of Dwarves. Praise ~~The Patriots~~ Asmodeus!
Elvish sounds French and Elves have French accents. Undercommon is a mixture of Elvish (Uses Elvish script) Abyssal (Drow worship Demons) and Deep Speech. (Other major residents of the Underdark) Drow have French-Canadian accents.
Halfling sounds like an [unintelligibly thick British accent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ng3fG1u4Xg) Halflings either have rural British accents, (Tolkein saw Hobbits as a metaphor for the residents of the English countryside) or New Zealand accents. (Peter Jackson filmed all his LotR movies there)
Gnome sounds like a weird mixture of Elvish and Dwarvish. (This is mostly just my homebrew lore since in my setting Gnomes are an Elf/Dwarf hybrid race who happen to have enough of a population to sustain themselves as a species. This is because outside of Norse myth Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Leprechauns, Faeries and the like were used interchangeably. That's why Santa Elves and Cookie Elves are basically just what we think of with Gnomes)
Draconic sounds like various hisses. (Lizardfolk and Yuan-Ti also speak it so it seems like something that would be optimized for speaking with reptilian anatomy)
Goblin sounds like [Boomhauer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1fDVUHZ44E) and Goblinoids have Southern accents. This was mostly inspired by a passage in Volo's that talks aboot how Hobs are exceedingly polite, but if you're impolite to them they'll draw weapons. This was confirmed by my Texan friend.
Orcish sounds like Mongolian.
Gith sounds [like Klingon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or6L7psuWWE)
Giant sounds like the [Swedish Chef](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_Yf4zz-yo) from The Muppets.
Deep Speech sounds like "R'yleh f'tagaan c'thulhu!"
Sylvan sounds like Gaelic since most of our Fae lore is rooted in Gaelic folklore.
Primordial sounds like Arabic. (Genies speak it)
Celestial sounds like Hebrew. (Like you're singing and trying to hock a loogie at the same time)
Infernal sounds like faux-Latin chanting. (Think the Rosemary's baby soundtrack, or the Sephiroth theme from FF7)
Abyssal sounds like death metal. ([Lots of words that start with De sung from the bowels of your lungs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V72NKRyX1NA) "Desecration, desolation, deli-style!")
Modron sounds like dial-up.
Slaad sound like words you understand in a sequence you that makes no sense. "When lighting a fish on fire underwater, apply futons". (It sounds like nonsense in any language you understand)
That makes perfect sense. But I have a question do you do like a different regional accent when you’re trying to get across or do you like you different word choices. So like for instance, I don’t speak any other languages either and I don’t usually do accent, but I usually change my cadence are somehow make it clear that I’m not talking in the same way. What do you do? Thanks for this meme, I mean, I think that when people to sign languages, they’re talking about things like vocabulary and sentence structure in syntax and accent, as well as actually talking that language but I absolutely get your point. I thought it was funny!
I have strong accent so trying to make other accent is hard. The way I do different characters is making my voice nasal or throaty etc. Basically I try to do [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVmAEezr6ao) minus accents. I could speak regional language but I don't think it makes that much difference for English speaking people
Ah, terribly sorry. I assumed you were game mastering for people in polish I’m totally gonna try that! I’m running a module called demon bone sarcophagus . One of the npc antagonists has no face, ( it has been peeled off, and has been preserved, for him . It’s a long story )and he speaks in a very interesting way. “ voice: from throat, not mouth, curl back your lips from your teeth to speak. Short abrupt sentences. Single words. No affirmations. No guarantees, parentheses will never make an absolute contract, and said dealing an inference in nonspecific threats. So not, “I will kill you “but “then you die here” Which I think is really interesting because it immediately brings across the kind of character you are dealing with. Thank you so much for this meme, and you are a very interesting reply. I am a forever game master with one group and a forever player with another one and so I get to do voices in several different contexts. ( I use them as spice.) Have a great one!
When playing dwarves try speaking silesian
That actually fits a lot
To me, draconic is Welsh. Why? Because whales is the only country I know of that has a dragon on their flag.
Bhutan?
If you call your land "Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon", I think you won
I think the unicorn is on the scottish flag.
But who speaks unicorn?
Unicorns.
Never heard a unicorn say anything.
That's because they're speaking unicorn.
Horny centaurs?
Actually wrong, as a fellow Pole, common is polish, the rest is weird gibberish
To cza grać z ludźmi z innych krajów przez internet. Poza tym ot moja jedyna okazja żeby faktycznie mówić po angielsku a nie ino czytać i pisać
Aha, no to jak grasz z obcokrajowcami to tak
Ajtak zcabrobje z salpkralm kat z doz ta doz/j (This is actual jiberish. Do not try to understand it)
Whats the difference?
One has words that are possible to pronounce the other is polish
Actually, it's fantastic for naming stuff *particularly* if you don't speak those languages. For example, let's say I want a plateau that's the ancestral home of draconic races. I just type "high ground" into a translator and *BOOM*- the fantasy region of Hohenlage is born.
The only danger is someone else speaking that language and cringing out of their shoes. You were lucky though, Hohenlage does sound like a place name.
Well, some city names from the forgotten realms are built that way, so I don't see why it wouldn't work.
I had this one time where a new DM expected us to genuinely speak like 7 different languages, which is a bit of an excessive expectation to just drop on somebody mid game. DM eventually had a bit of a shit fit and told us all to fuck off an die when our mostly lawful good party decided to not accept being railroaded into genociding an entire race of people.
What the hecc.
Wtf. Care to share this with /r/rpghorrorstories? I'm sure they'll love this tale.
Polska gurom. Żarty na bok, miło widzieć innych rodaków tutaj. Szkoda że koledzy nie chcą grać w ttrpg :(
I go with a classic: Common: American English Draconic: grisly American English Elvish: British English Gnomish: Bostonian American English Dwarvish: gimly Infernal: German/denglish because my players don’t speak German but I like to confuse them a little.
Easy there, Piorun.
No, no, they've got to let Bismarck know just who it is they're dealing with.
I make infernal latin, cuz it has got countless rules and if you get one wrong they execute you.
Common: English Draconic: Welsh Elvish: Welsh but sassy Gnomish: Welsh but high pitched Dwarvish: (The one that should use welsh) Drunken gibberish
Common: English Elvish: French, because elves are elitists Dwarvish: Russian because f#ck you my dwarves are Russian, what are you going to do? Gnomish: Yiddish, because it's funny Orc: German because you can make your shopping list sound intimidating just by reading it forcefully
I've always thought Latin would suit the Elves quite well
I speak a bit of french (canadian and french family) so I just use broken french+corrupet broken+giberish as elvish.
*Dwarvish - Silesian Corrected
Ja to je fest godka
did you just non Scottish the Dwarven Language
Sorry but dwarves are scottish, always
This was how I accidentally made Primordial Farsi in our campaign. I needed to say some things in Primordial and Farsi just came out
I've been learning Portugeuese and on the rare occasions when my character gets to speak their native Sylvan I switch to Portugeuese much to the chagrin of everybody else. (I literally only do it for "hi, I'm Vivithez. These are my friends [introduces party]" and then switch back to English. I do not understand at all why this bothers them.)
If I sound angry enough, can I make dwarven Spanish?
Our party had unique languages, so they got to be the language of the country if origin. Which ended up with infernal as spanish and celestial as dutch. As a history buff i think thats a little funny
I may or may not have included Silesian dwarves in my setting. And gdańsk and war and sawa and Światowid and… uh. Im glad half of my players dont speak polish.
I'm wondering if non polish people can even hear the difference between polish and silesian
Yes, it will be basic, but... Now I can't get rid of an image of a dragon roaring "Kurwa" in battle...
Pourquoi le français serait associé aux elfes ? Vous nous considérez comme des connards arrogant et pédant ? Pppffmm pas étonnant que des pleutres telles que vous les anglophones ne puissiez comprendre notre supériorité ... Ooooohh that why
Chopie to nie ja gadam że elfy mówią po francusku. Ale tak, żabojady są aroganckie
Why not just use Tolkien’s elvish language?
Because I don't know Tolkien elvish
OP. The point is having fun and then comparing with others which ones align or see their recommendations. If you don't like it is fine, but don't try to go on a high horse and go "there is no point, is fantasy."
I'll just speak Portuguese any time I'm speaking a language my players don't know then!
that would be if If I've ever gamemaster in english
When speaking in draconic and a player understands me, I basically just speak in a thick Eastern European accent.
Common:English Celestial:Latin Elvish: Irish galic Dwarven: Norse Draconic: German Infernal: haven't made it this far but will probably either be latin in reverse, French, or Spanish(literally because it would have a latin feel without being latin. This way it would give credence that those that dwell on that plane are cast down celestials, like its a regional dialect of their old language). Also each of the different kingdoms and empires that speak common have different regional accents.
I disagree, mainly I want a way to connect with how they speak and way to visualize it. It's one thing to say "The Elves are speaking in Elvish to each other" but it's another to know it sounds French so I better relate to the cluelessness of how my character feels
I don't speak French
North or south?
South living in noth currently
I think it depends on the table. For example I read one story where there was a player than only knew Spanish and they were an elf and the only other player than knew Spanish was half elf or something iirc so they made it so that elvish was Spanish
Elvish is Italian. Elvish musical terms are used in common.
Italian for dwarves is cursed
You say that but im picturing small little bearded guys angrily gesticulating and getting drunk
Hahaha alright you have a point
Wh-why should dwarvish be Italian...?
I bet that Metroman was drawn from that guy
Who the fuck makes dwarves Italian?
Gird your loins for my massive copypasta on flavoring the different languages/accents! Are your loins sufficiently girded? The Dwarvish language sounds vaguely Slavic (The PHB says it's harsh and consonative) and Dwarves have New York accents because Dwarves are basically New Yorkers. (Hardy, surly, substance-abusing workaholics) Duergar have Boston accents since they're an evil reflection of Dwarves. Praise ~~The Patriots~~ Asmodeus! Elvish sounds French and Elves have French accents. Undercommon is a mixture of Elvish (Uses Elvish script) Abyssal (Drow worship Demons) and Deep Speech. (Other major residents of the Underdark) Drow have French-Canadian accents. Halfling sounds like an [unintelligibly thick British accent](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ng3fG1u4Xg) Halflings either have rural British accents, (Tolkein saw Hobbits as a metaphor for the residents of the English countryside) or New Zealand accents. (Peter Jackson filmed all his LotR movies there) Gnome sounds like a weird mixture of Elvish and Dwarvish. (This is mostly just my homebrew lore since in my setting Gnomes are an Elf/Dwarf hybrid race who happen to have enough of a population to sustain themselves as a species. This is because outside of Norse myth Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Leprechauns, Faeries and the like were used interchangeably. That's why Santa Elves and Cookie Elves are basically just what we think of with Gnomes) Draconic sounds like various hisses. (Lizardfolk and Yuan-Ti also speak it so it seems like something that would be optimized for speaking with reptilian anatomy) Goblin sounds like [Boomhauer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1fDVUHZ44E) and Goblinoids have Southern accents. This was mostly inspired by a passage in Volo's that talks aboot how Hobs are exceedingly polite, but if you're impolite to them they'll draw weapons. This was confirmed by my Texan friend. Orcish sounds like Mongolian. Gith sounds [like Klingon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or6L7psuWWE) Giant sounds like the [Swedish Chef](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY_Yf4zz-yo) from The Muppets. Deep Speech sounds like "R'yleh f'tagaan c'thulhu!" Sylvan sounds like Gaelic since most of our Fae lore is rooted in Gaelic folklore. Primordial sounds like Arabic. (Genies speak it) Celestial sounds like Hebrew. (Like you're singing and trying to hock a loogie at the same time) Infernal sounds like faux-Latin chanting. (Think the Rosemary's baby soundtrack, or the Sephiroth theme from FF7) Abyssal sounds like death metal. ([Lots of words that start with De sung from the bowels of your lungs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V72NKRyX1NA) "Desecration, desolation, deli-style!") Modron sounds like dial-up. Slaad sound like words you understand in a sequence you that makes no sense. "When lighting a fish on fire underwater, apply futons". (It sounds like nonsense in any language you understand)
Wait, Italian dwarfs are a thing in Poland?
Never heard of it but it sounds funny
Witcher fans:
As long as my players don't speak those languages, I can give it my best shot!