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kamikamiya Needs To Do Her Work! from Here and Deviantart Since: Jan, 2001
Needs To Do Her Work!
#1: Feb 12th 2011 at 5:30:08 PM

In this world I'm trying to build, there's this race of magical people who have disappeared overtime due to one reason or another. One of my characters is descended from this race, and when naming her, I realized that I'm not sure what kind of language the magic people speak. I know I'd like it to be based off of an actual language, but I don't want to be racist (if that's an actual issue). The setting of my story is a Steampunk city based on Victorian England, so I'd like it to contrast that. Any ideas?

Here's some info on them if it helps (though I'm not sure about a lot of things, the story is still in it's early stages).

  • They are more agile and durable then regular humans, think roof hopping and wall bouncing strength
  • They've built magic based weaponry, like guns that shoot energy
  • Other than that they can pass as regular people

But Don't Forget Knuckles O'Shaughnessy!
colbertimposter Since: Dec, 1969
#2: Feb 14th 2011 at 1:14:59 AM

I think it's smartest to go with a language you know. You'll avoid, well, have you ever seen any straight Chinese-to-English translated things on Jay Leno's Headlines segment? They end up being indiscernable jibberish.

Unless you just mean slipping a few "Holas" and "Amigos" into someone who otherwise speaks normal English, in which case I don't think it matters much.

nekomoon14 from Oakland, CA Since: Oct, 2010
#3: Feb 17th 2011 at 12:42:49 PM

In my Dark Tales, I have created several languages. Basically, I pull a "Final Fantasy X" and create a substitution cipher, applying Japanese pronunciation rules and borrowing words from real-world languages of interest, such as Romany and Russian.

Level 3 Social Justice Necromancer. Chaotic Good.
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