Cantr II Discussion Forum

I tend not to use the word Dutch (or rather, "Nederlands") when referring to the language in-game, i.e. my Dutch character would just talk of "our language". But others seem to use the word, even though there is no such thing as the Netherlands in the game How do others do this?

I guess it's common practice everywhere to just use the language names, huh?

I saw this happen the other day as well. Not just Dutch, but Polish and German also. I really don't like it.

My characters use the language names after hearing them from other characters telling that it's English the language they speak or Spanish. I dislike to hear or use them in game, but it doesn't have a point to call it "the language of Seven Islands" anymore where everyone calls it Polish.

I have a character who never heard "Polish" name before, that one calls it Slowik for instance. Because of the titles of the dictionaries.

Another one travels with foreign people it mentions the names of the languages like Jane's language and John's language.

There is a third variation who uses quite an interesting phrase but I don't prefer to share due to the ringing bells of the character revelation.

I try to come up with other ways of saying language names, but the dictionaries use the language names and so do other players. It feels a bit condescending of me to consistently reply to characters using a different term for a language they are referring to, so I just use language names too.

In the end with multiple languages ingame it's the simplest way for the players to communicate through their characters. Although I'd prefer to have ingame terms, I guess it's ok because with slow conversations thst last a day you don't really want like 6 messages back and forth confirming whether you speak of the boat person's language or the language of the people on that other island.

I just use Polish, dutch etc. Simply because others do so too and, yeah. Making new name would be pointless if nobody else use it

There is a language group using an in-game invented language name, by the way.

I'd love to have IG names, or descriptions. I try not to use the rl names, but I agree that it feels as if you're correcting someone who just used the rl name if you then call it 'X's language' instead.

It's just a name. Elephant is a name, galleon is a name, highway is a name. Many character names clearly are inspired by out-of-game sources. For conversation names are necessary.

Fantasy writers, typically creating their own universe, often use self-invented names for rather common things like tea or coffee. From the way the drinks are used in their story, it is very clear tea or coffee are indicated. All other things in their background world are named by their earthly names though.
I don't like this. It feels fabricated, forced, not genuine.

Like avoiding rl names for existing, common things like languages would feel.

Neva wrote:There is a language group using an in-game invented language name, by the way.

Yeah I know and I have seen. But EZ doesn't do so and if you were only one doing so.. Yeah, easier if you just follow crowd

Neva wrote: "the language of Seven Islands" (...) I have a character who never heard "Polish" name before, that one calls it Slowik for instance. Because of the titles of the dictionaries.

Another one travels with foreign people it mentions the names of the languages like Jane's language and John's language.

Those are cool examples, though

I agree with Tiamo. Such shortcuts may feel strange in a world that supposedly has nothing to do with our universe, but then again our characters are human and make tools and machines made historically or currently by humans. And on and on. Creating code names for mundane things just makes a lot of unnecessary mental work for people who play only a few minutes per day.

I don't agree. Roughly explained, Polish is called Polish because it is spoken by people who live in Poland. There is no 'Poland' in game. I think that's why it shocks me when I hear the languages called by their to names.

Same is not the case for objects, somehow, if names are generic.

I think this argument is as old as the game itself. There were some attempts to give the different languages names (edenowemu comes to mind) but it never became widespread. Lacking that ethos, people needed a way to describe what they witnessed in game and the RL naming took hold. It was a missed opportunity. There could have been a linguistics movement it just didn't happen.

There was a bit of movement but like with other things... It died with people and newer ones never even knew about them

True. I honestly can't say that I would know how to successfully spread an idea to an entire game population. Probably it would need to be OOCly.