Simlish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Simlish is a fictional language featured in Maxis' Sim series of games. It debuted in SimCopter, and has been especially prominent in The Sims and The Sims 2. Simlish can also be heard in SimCity 4, albeit far less frequently. It also featured to an extent in the Firaxis game Sid Meier's SimGolf. Designer Will Wright was conscious of the need for dialogue in the game, but thought that using a real language would make it sound too repetitive.
The Sims development team created the unique Simlish language by experimenting with fractured Ukrainian and Tagalog (one of the major languages of the Philippines). Inspired by the code talkers of WWII, Sims creator Will Wright also suggested experimenting with Navajo.[1]
Although it is entirely improvised, Simlish does have a reasonably consistent sound. The vowels are more heavily emphasized than in English, which has more of a Latin sound to it. It is also almost entirely spoken with the front part of the tongue and mouth; the sound ee (as in meet) and the letter y are commonly used, and there are few, if any, guttural sounds.
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[edit] Music
Sims have been able to listen to Simlish music on their cheap boomboxes, or fancy stereos since its inception; since Hot Date, they have also heard music on wall speakers on Community lots.
In The Sims: House Party, Sims sing campfire songs. They are sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" and "On Top of Old Smokey". Lyrics for these songs were posted on the official website.
The Sims 2 (console version) has more specific radio channels, such as Metal, Industrial, college rock, and pop.
[edit] Outside artists
For The Sims 2 expansion packs University and Nightlife, rather than creating unique Simlish music, recording artists cut new performances of their songs with Simlish lyrics. These artists include Dexter Freebish, Paramore, Abra Moore, Charlotte Martin, Da Riffs, The Daylights, The Perishers, Reggie and the Full Effect, Acceptance, Go Betty Go, Steadman, The Faders, Adam Freeland, Hyper, Junkie XL, Lemon Jelly, MxPx, Timo Maas, Barenaked Ladies and Trivium. The songs included in any one game depend on the localization.
The Black Eyed Peas also contributed to the recording of Simlish hip-hop songs in Urbz: Sims in the City.
British synthpop band Depeche Mode recorded a Simlish-language version of their latest single Suffer Well for Open for Business.
Barenaked Ladies re-recorded three songs (Easy, What A Let Down, Wind It Up) from Barenaked Ladies Are Me in Simlish included on the Family Fun Stuff pack.
Several artists re-recorded hit songs in Simlish for the expansion pack Pets, including: Aly & AJ doing their Chemicals React[2], The Flaming Lips with Free Radicals, The Pussycat Dolls and their top chart hit Don't Cha, and Saving Jane remade Girl Next Door. In the Spanish version, La Oreja de Van Gogh remade their hit Dulce Locura.
In the Seasons expansion pack, The Veronicas have re-recorded their single, When It All Falls Apart, and Lily Allen also re-recorded her song, Smile, in Simlish.
[edit] Written Simlish
Signs in The Sims games often do not contain text; they consist entirely of graphics. For instance, the stop sign in The Sims is a red octagon with a flat, white hand. In The Sims 2 it becomes a white bar instead. The sign for a grocery store depicts a cornucopia, and that of a restaurant shows a hamburger or a place setting.
In The Sims, the headline The SimCity Times is visible on the daily newspaper, in English and in the Comic Sans MS font. (The game uses this font, with the Simoleon sign (closely resembling §) as the currency symbol.)
In The Sims 2, most text is only distinguishable at very close zooms. On book covers, newspapers and Nightlife's "Sims Must Wash Hands" sign, the lettering is all nonsense characters that bear about as much resemblance to Latin characters as they do to Cyrillic. Almost no actual characters from any known alphabet are used. When Sims are writing novels or term papers, dingbats from the Wingdings font appear as text on the screen. Finally, the notebooks used for homework contain writing composed of random lines.
In The Sims 2, Simlish words occasionally appear on television screens. They are written in the same Simlish alphabet described above, or using the font Wingdings to produce symbols like Aum or Zodiac signs. In The Sims 2 University, "SimGreek Letters" appeared as decorative items, showing what seem to be the Simlish equivalent of the Greek alphabet-- the Simlish Greek alphabet is separate from the normal Simlish alphabet, though neither alphabet actually uses any real alphabetic characters. Each SimGreek character has a name, though a complete SimGreek alphabet is not represented. Although SimGreek letters can be purchased on a variety of lots, they are intended for "Greek House" lots (Fraternities and Sororities). University also contains the most unambiguous existence of actual English language in the whole The Sims 2 series; the words "Open house" are shown on a decorative noteboard on the top right announcement various times. It can only be seen at a very close zoom and is slightly garbled because of the JPEG compression. Most other appearances of English are logos for Maxis, Electronic Arts, or GameSpot.
In The Sims Online, however, text is in perfectly legible English.
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Spot On: Simlish stylist Robi Kauker. Simlish music in The Sims 2: University.
- Some songs in simlish. Official The Sims 2 Site.
- Official Simlish Lessons. Official The Sims Site.
| The Sims | Livin' Large • House Party • Hot Date • Vacation • Unleashed • Superstar • Makin' Magic |
|---|---|
| The Sims 2 | University • Nightlife • Open for Business • Pets • Seasons Holiday Edition • Family Fun Stuff • Glamour Life Stuff • Happy Holiday Stuff • Celebration Stuff |
| The Sims Stories | Life Stories • Pet Stories • Castaway Stories |
| Online/Console | The Sims Online • The Sims • The Sims Bustin' Out • The Urbz • The Sims 2 • Pets • MySims |
| Misc. | Sim • Simlish |
