The language of the Sims (by a linguist)

[@qualifiedarmchaircritic]

The "baby" inconsistency can easily be explained with regards to context. Baby as in "newborn" would be translated as nooboo, while baby as in "sweetheart/hot person" is translated as bwayzay. For the you-inconsistency, we could test out the idea of pre- and suffixes; so you would actually be "oo" and prefixes like d- or v- or z- would be added to indicate cases. And perhaps "zah" would be a simlish equivalent of "ya" or "y'all". But we'd need to actually check all this with against more instances. This was so interesting, kirce!

[@adrianblake8876]

Actually that's not true. When sims flirt, they use "nooboo" as well. The Sims Wiki states it means both...

[@k-rce]

I thought this too originally, but EA has specifically noted that it means both an actual baby, and the term of endearment, so I figured it would work well as an example here, and there's no reason they as to why they wouldn't translate it as "nooboo" in my opinion. But yes, I should have noted that more clearly in the video!

[@k-rce]

I really like your proposal for how to handle “you”, with having “oo” as a stem and modifying it, and I would totally go for that, had it not been, like I mentioned, that we see none of that happening in newer Simlish songs…

[@damian4628]

​@@k-rceI kind of think that is what they call their family members my sim call the adult children noboo

[@koibubbles3302]

@@adrianblake8876it’s still possible that bwayzay was just a more appropriate word given whatever context. There are plenty of words that you can technically use, but would sound weird if you did because nobody says it like that. It might be something like that.

[@Cheezitnator]

Simlish is more about conveying feeling than words. Sims are emotional beings. And they are sentient. They know who removed the ladder.

[@k-rce]

100% agree!

[@k-rce]

(and they also know who placed the rug in front of the fireplace x)

[@jonathansintzoon7475]

@@k-rce Brilliant

[@astrovisionbroadcastingunion]

That's actually an interesting idea, especially to justify inconsistencies in the language. If we'd consider Simlish to be lead by feelings instead of a rigid lexicon, then maybe we could explain some word variations that seem weird by the fact that a variant is used for one specific emotion, another one for another emotion and so on and so forth. It would imply for this to work to see if there's similarities in emotions for every word, which I seriously doubt is the case unless there's like massive coincidences, but approching the language this way could indeed avoid some issues with different words meaning the same thing :D

[@k-rce]

@astrovisionbroadcastingunion This is my absolute favourite theory so far! Doing away with some of the concepts we know and creating a conlang with emotion as the base of its grammar! I am aching to actually start this as a side project now!!!

[@demnwarrior7]

one time I was in a gamestop, and a lady came in to complain that her sims game must be broken because even when she set the language to english they "just kept speaking french or something".

[@k-rce]

I’m sorry this is excellent

[@Danny30011980]

😂

[@lunar2391]

this is the best comment😂😭

[@fermi-dirac]

if it were a real proper language, i know so many sim nerds (me included) would be fluent in 😩

[@choeeeeeee]

just like those who are fluent in klingon

[@Tabitha-g6v]

Didn't watch the video but it is a proper language. When they have music artists do songs for the game they translate it into Simlish then sing it in Simlish lol

[@BaddeGrasse]

​@@Tabitha-g6v it loosely did for 2 and 3, 4 dropped the concept of a cohesive code and returned to 1's idea of gibberish to try making it more universal

[@batmabel]

@@Tabitha-g6v I'd recommend watching the video then, cause she talks about the songs lol

[@pattmahiney]

It

[@xxxibalba6483]

I remember seeing another linguist suggest that simlish is a mostly emotional language and that the whole point of simlish communication is saying how you *feel* about things and people

[@k-rce]

Absolutely agree! Its main purpose is to emphasise the sims' emotions!

[@misteral9045]

A language with no defined words, it's all about tone. Reminds me of ancient Japanese, they were in the house bored and so repressed by culture and government.

[@Treytinoxo]

THE GREEK LETTERS STORY IS SECOND HAND TRAUMATIZING AND I WILL TELL MY GRANDKIDS OF THAT DAY 😂😂😂😂

[@k-rce]

Honestly can't believe I shared this story because I am STILL mortified x

[@JC_Cali]

@@k-rce BUT you knew which community to feel safe enough to do it in cuz we all love you more for it (also cuz it's HELLA) relatable.

[@jacksont9455]

I had something similar happen to me when I asked my Japanese friend to tell me what the signs in Simji were saying. I deadass thought it was Japanese 🤦🏾‍♂️

[@jacksont9455]

@@JC_Caliunrelated, but the Sims is one of the least toxic gaming fandoms I’ve ever seen

[@elias.t]

@@jacksont9455 The toxicity is unleashed upon the Sims.

[@brunixot1]

Plot twist, Will Wright is actually an alien, simlish is just his language

[@k-rce]

Not unlikely tbh

[@brunixot1]

@@k-rce I know, right

[@CubedSausagefromScarparius]

@@k-rceit is Sixamian language 😂

[@arielthemermaid3576]

That Greek letters story was legit terrifying for me cause it’s 100% something I would’ve done if I had that expansion pack as a kid... I cringed so hard 😭

[@dr1dikea]

The yoo inconsistency could also be like the difference in singing between "I love you" "I love ya" "I love ye" "I love yuh" "I love yoooo"

[@Arkylie]

Oooh, not bad! Plausible. Reminds me of how irritated I get at cover versions of "Hallelujah" where the artist sings "do you" when it very CLEARLY and OBVIOUSLY is DESIGNED to be sung "do ya" TO RHYME WITH THE TITLE OF THE SONG (and its use in the lyrics). Ahem. Sorry. Bit of a pet peeve 😅

[@DS-xg7hk]

​@@Arkylieomg I thought I was crazy for feeling this way too !! Why do so many singers do that ?? The "do yah" seems so natural in my mind

[@raccoonja-ronja]

The simlish sounding like American English makes sense. The neighbourhoods, houses, food and pretty much everything else in game is very much based on the USA, too. As someone from Germany the food was always weird to me, I didn't know or at least had never eaten most of the food that's in the game. I also did not know fraternities and sororities were a real life thing until years after I played Sims 2 University.

[@midziak6802]

It is based on the USA, because the creators wanted to create a widely understood game, so they used a known pattern of American 80's and 90's sitcoms. Anyone potentially could understand it, because we saw it in TV. Because at the time those American productions were everywhere (still are, tbh, but then it was more difference in quality between these productions and local)

[@cami_triz83]

​@@midziak6802 thats such a cycle though lol the reason there isnt more diversity is because they keep going for widely known usa aspects, but if they dont decide to simply add more diversity then nothing besides usa will ever become widely known. Such a lame excuse in my perspective (this isnt at you ofc but at the creators)

[@mauritsponnette]

Oh no, I feel for the Simgreek incident 😰 I had a similar experience (although not as bad) in English class as an 11 year old Dutchie where the teacher asked what a 'leerling' (pupil/student) was in English and I, having consumed a lot of English fantasy media, immediately answered apprentice and she gave me a weird look and said that word is used more for students of craftsmen or wizards and then I knew I was outed to the whole class as a fantasy nerd, so I felt very embarassed at that. Though it's actually quite smart of you to make the connection and goes to show how convincing the sims was!

[@moonlitxangel5771]

On the bright side, at least you were close! Cuz an apprentice of something could also be called a student depending on the context :)

[@tj-co9go]

Not bad guess though. Apprentice is a kind of student, but just more specific to a certain type of craft. That's what happens when there is several words close to each other. (Think, it is not that hard to mix up chair, bench, stool, sofa, armchair with each othee) In medieval guilds there were three steps - apprentice, journeyman, master. Apprentice was "learning the ropes", that is, the absolute beginnings. Journeyman was more advanced and skilled and could already work on more difficult projects. Master learned all the necessary things, produced work of high quality and long experience, and was allowed to found his own workshop.

[@Last_Access]

I will never get tired of saying it. In the sims 1 the voice acting is masterful. Even the TV voices on all channels are outstanding. I would say that it is the most notable feature of the sims 1 in general and it is not talked about much. For those who want to listen to the magnificent voice or music performances, you can download the audio files on the internet.

[@k-rce]

I can't believe I didn't shout out the TV channels! They are excellent!!

[@westanimesims]

Sims 1 Simlish is the best version imo

[@TheOG-GG]

7:35 Same here Kirce! After transcribing almost 200 Simlish songs, I have found some patterns :) First, Sims 4 Simlish is vastly more translated than previous games. When you mentioned the inconsistent use of VOO in a Sims 3 Simlish song... That inconsistency is almost gone in Sims 4 Simlish songs. In S2 + S3 "you" is sometimes translated as VOO. Sometimes it is noo, doo, zoo or something else entirely. In TS4, "you" is translated as VOO almost 95% of the time! Sims 4 also fixed several gaps in Simlish translations too! Here's what I noticed... VOO is Simlish for YOU/YOUR/YOU'RE consistently in Sims 4 Simlish song translations but they added other confirmed word forms. VOOR is sometimes used specifically to mean YOUR/YOU'RE. VOOL for YOU'LL. VOOSIM = YOURSELF. "I" has also been more consistent in TS4 Simlish song translations. YOB/YA = I/I'm/I'd/I've/I'll. They have also created more forms of this as well! YOM = I'm. YAGGA =I got. YOBBA = I am/am I. YOL = I'll. SIM at the beginning of Sims 4 meant a lot of things ranging from SELF/PERSON/MAN/WOMAN/SOUL/LIFE/WORLD/FRIEND. That's why "voosim" means "yourself." But then later on in Sims 4 they created more words so that these wouldn't always be translated as "Sim." - SHOOF now means SELF. Including all its forms. VOOSHOOF =YOURSELF. MASHOOF = MYSELF - ZOY now means BOY/MAN which is especially consistent in TS4 For Rent songs They also added Simlish negative tense. We always had YIBS to mean YES but no confirmed word for NO. TS4 fixed this too! NEEB is consistently used in dialogue and the song translations to mean NO/NOT/AIN'T/DON'T/CAN'T/WON'T/WRONG. They also created NAY which also means NO/NOT. Further expanding this they created more confirmed words for negative forms using NEEB and NAY as a base. - NEEBA/NEEBAR = NEVER. - NAYBIE = NEVER - NEEB SIM/NAY SIM = NO ONE - NEEBIN = NOTHING LURV means LOVE/HEART very consistently in TS4 Simlish songs. But they added more forms to this as well... - LURVEE = lurv + vee (me) = love me - LURVOO = lurv + voo (you) = love you - LURVIN or LURVIE = loving/lovin' They even added past tense to new confirmed words they created! FWEEB = Feel. FWEB = felt. Sims 4 Simlish song translations also created many new Simlish slang and confirmed curse words. lol. SIMO & SIMOLA are new slang for SIMOLEON meaning MONEY/COST/DOLLAR. Every time the word "money" comes up in a song, it is now translated as SIMO or SIMOLA. You can hear it in game when sims ask for money, especially after performing in public. A simple "Sul" or "Sula" is slang for "sul sul." Same with "dag" being slang for "dag dag." NIB is slang for NEEB. They also fine-tuned the sound of Simlish. Most new Simlish words end in -SH or -B sounds. Of course, just all the new words they created in Sims 4 alone. They really tried to fill in the gaps and fine-tune Simlish in The Sims 4, which I thoroughly appreciate! I love discovering these as I transcribe the Simlish lyrics to the songs! That's why I find transcribing Sims 4 Simlish songs waay more fun than the ones in older games. ^^

[@k-rce]

Doing the important work here! This is stellar!!

[@TheOG-GG]

@@k-rce It is amazing how much the Maxis audio department did to fine-tune Simlish in The Sims 4!! That's why when trying to figure out the new confirmed Simlish words on that word list they won't share, it is better to study Eee Gee's lyric sheet (She did it for The Sims 4) than Bryan Rice's lyric sheet (He did it for The Sims 3). Eventually, I want to make a full song list of which Sims 4 Simlish songs use these and which songs I first discovered these patterns. :3 I think of Simlish more like music. Music is a language, a universal language even, where we can easily express any emotion and have it be understood by anyone. Does music have grammar? No. Does music have structure? No, but we can easily express ourselves with music anyway. That is essentially what Simlish is. That's why I don't compare Simlish to English, Tagalog, Navajo, Japanese etc but to music. Simlish is a universal language, like music, that anyone can easily express themselves with! It is also why I find Simlish to be the ONLY language that doesn't compete with music. How would a linguist approach the question "Is music a language/proper language?" I HATE when a song is good but the lyrics RUIN it for me. There are so many instances of these. Simlish works with the message and emotions of the music and can do so because its words don't need to make sense. I have also noticed this when people who don't speak a language perform a song in that language much better than native speakers. I find people who don't speak English perform English songs much better than native speakers. Like the South Korean girl who performed Adele's Hello. Cuz she connected with the universal language of the music more so than the lyrics. This is also why I think the vocal performances of all these artists are better in the Simlish version. I think all music should be made in Simlish from now on. The 2 universal languages coming together make something quite epic and beautiful!! ^__^

[@notyourdaughter666]

we also know what live and laugh are because of a sims 4 loading screen tip that says “leeb, leefuh, lurve”, which is a nod to “live, laugh, love”. so that gives us “leeb” as “live”, and “leefuh” as laugh! (since we already know love is lurve)

[@SyntheticGoth]

To this day, my sister and I will quote the Sims 1 to each other. There was one phrase in particular that sounded very much like, "Stop trying to do that!" and I swear that was my Sim being sentient and yelling at me for making them do a task they didn't want to do. 😂

[@JC_Cali]

Wait, tell us the phrase!

[@SyntheticGoth]

@@JC_Cali Unfortunately I don't know what they're actually saying in Simlish, just what it sounded like. I wish I did though! If you play the game and a Sim gets frustrated, you'll have a chance to hear it.

[@indeboss]

Never thought I'd see Scream Queens be a source in a sims analysis video

[@k-rce]

One does what one must x

[@eldoblixtlo1058]

When I was a 6-year old Swede and didn't learn English yet, I thought the sims spoke English. American English was the only English I had ever heard and it sounded to me like a bunch of "Ar-ar-ar, ae-ae-ae, ey-ey-ey" mumbling to me back then.

[@CapnCrimson]

Something I've thought about a lot, is how different Simlish is between entries. The sounds of The Sims 1 are vastly different from the sounds used in later entires, and vice versa. My personal theory is that it reflects how language evolves over time. Of course language doesn't change that drastically in 25 years in real life, but language does change over time, and we know The Sims has a timeline.

[@k-rce]

Sims 1 Simlish is so much more slurred than later instalments and I love it for that. Someone else also proposed this theory, and whilst timeline-wise that doesn't really work, I really like it as an idea for how the language changed!

[@hedgehog3180]

Could also be dialects since the old Sims games exclusively took place in somewhat rural locations due to game limitations while the newer games can actually render convincing city maps so they take place in a more urbanized location.

[@CapnCrimson]

@@hedgehog3180 I thought about dialects too, but it doesn't really work. It's heavily implied that Neighbourhood 1 became Pleasantview, and that it was possible also Sunset Valley before that

[@PraxisAbraxis]

My solution for why the language has seemingly evolved so rapidly is that the life cycle of sims exists on a far more rapid scale than ours. So, across 24 years and 4 entries bloated with content the language has shifted rapidly in universe in that time.

[@pennyforyourthoughts4]

My mother came in the room while I was playing sims and they had the radio on, the song playing was "Safe and sound". My mother didnt know real music was in it until she heard it in simlish, she had a hearty laugh about it. From that day forward we have only sang it in simlish ❤😂 It will forever be know to us as "Saybee Sow"

[@cami_triz83]

Thats so wholesome 😭

[@OddSauce]

To add to the simji bit "Kanji" is already a sort of compound word that means "Chinese character(or alphabet)" so "simji" does make sense in Japanese as well as it translates to "Sim character(or alphabet)"

[@k-rce]

I love this!

[@careless_daughter]

​@@k-rce also found in emoji (which, fun fact, is unrelated to the english word emotion, it means "picture character" in japanese)

[@EphemeralPseudonym]

kanji is a different form of hanzi which is the Chinese term for it. Han is the ethnic majority in China and Korean people are largely considered Han, and "kan" in JP is much more closely associated with Korea than China

[@Dojan5]

I was looking for this, 字 means character. 文字 (moji) means letter or character, making 絵文字 (e moji) mean essentially pictogram, as 絵 means picture/drawing/image.

[@nidgithm]

@@EphemeralPseudonym the kan in kanji (漢) usually refers to china or han. korea is usually referred to with a different kan: 韓. atleast afaik

[@BethGoth15]

I love it when a bride says, "Ma Fishen" during Sims 2 wedding vows ❤

[@math_fax]

Your in-depth analysis of these games is something to behold. So awesome!

[@The_Wandering_Nerd]

Perhaps the producers of the upcoming Sims movie should reach out to you to turn Simlish into a fully-featured conlang :)

[@k-rce]

sign. me. UP!

[@plankton50]

I think the collective noun for a group of angry linguists should be a "chatter."

[@TheOG-GG]

Simlish is WAAAY more consistent in The Sims 4! Plus they added a crap ton of Simlish slang and official words to Krizia Bajos dictionary...which Jackie Perez Gratz uses to translate all the songs into Simlish in the first place. So The Sims 2 and Sims 3 ones aren't as fleshed out. Sims 4 has lasted almost 10 years now, and since JPG is awesome and the best SIMifier they have EVER had, Simlish has become so consistent! I love it ^__^

[@MB-lz5eb]

There's a dictionary?! Where?

[@TheOG-GG]

@@MB-lz5eb Sims 4 voice actor Krizia Bajos made it herself after almost 10 years of voice acting for The Sims 4. Jackie Perez Gratz, Sims 4 Voice Director, is the one who translates all the songs from the original language INTO Simlish using Krizia's dictionary. They both have revealed this in interviews about Simlish. Also, I would like to remind them both that "Sharing is caring" ^_~

[@agungputronugroho]

5:14 I'm glad you can say Bahasa Indonesia and Burung Burung very cleary. I'm simmer from Indonesia its rare to hear simmer can say that

[@dundee6402]

"Renato renato" I specifically think of Sims 2 teen boys trying to use the toilet when someone's in the bathroom when I read that 😂

[@k-rce]

Exactly this

[@Littlevampiregirl100]

i can hear it in my head... or, i dont remember if its adult woman or teen girl, that goes "oosh... oosh oosh!"

[@tornadodee148]

@@Littlevampiregirl100 "oosh" probably means "shoo" and "renato" "out" or "leave", its just repeated for emphasis. lol!😄

[@Littlevampiregirl100]

@@tornadodee148 thought that too, i was thinking renato could actually be two words, like "get out, get out!"

[@thorbio]

The whole “you” thing could either be different cases, prefixes or maybe just variations depending on formality. It also could just be colloquial to only use voo or an example of cases dying out. Like the Genitive in Dutch for example

[@k-rce]

Love this proposal that the Sims 3 uses an older form and that it eroded by the Sims 4

[@nemoy7267]

Informal variation does seem plausible. Maybe it's like writing out "Ya" instead of "You" because that's how the speaker phonetically said it

[@dracos0024]

Fun fact; Another one of the few words we have an official Simlish translation of is "llama" which is "Gerbit". Because for some inexplicable reason The Sims have a thing with llamas.

[@alarmlessRifleman]

Yeah, llama is sort of an inside joke in the developers team, they jokingly prayed to it when something was wrong with the code and they didn't know how to fix it. It pops up in other early Maxis games too.

[@20windfisch11]

Llamas were in a lot of Maxis games. I remember Simant where in the overview window there was an unlabeled button, when you clicked it, it did all sorts of random stuff. One was a dialog popping up asking, „How many Glen Campbells does it take to eat a Llama?“ and then it played all sounds used in the game in order, followed by a dialog saying „GCS = EPS - 2 (Or: Elvis minus two)“. And Simcity 2000 had a speed setting of „Llama“.

[@redlotteryradio3426]

Very interesting, I've always wondered about the intricacies of Simlish. Regarding the variations of "You" in the song, it reminds me of what we call "formas de tratamiento" in spanish. We have pronoun variations for "you" (usted, vos, tú) that can change according to the region and/or context of the exchange. For example, in my country usted is used in a formal/serious way, but vos is more affectionate. Tú is not commonly used.

[@MatthewTheWanderer]

I really like the way Simlish sounds, even if most of it is just gibberish.

[@Ayem_Jay]

I love how you managed to explain the intricate linguistic terms so easily and flawlessly without deep diving into the terminology like many other videos tend to do! The Simlish is an interesting topic to discuss, even though the "language" itself is just pure 'no rules, vibes only' type of conlang (barring the occasional confirmed vocabulary). When I was a kid, I used to confuse it with the English language before I began studying it at school, I was even a bit disappointed when my studies did not contribute to understanding of it at all. But, on the other hand, it became my prime inspiration to create my own conlang back in elementary-middle school, haha. It was also quite fun to learn that my native language was "simlifized" once as well in TS2. The song itself has such distinct phonetics so I usually use it as an example to the other native speakers on how our language sounds from the "outside perspective". Also, amazing video as usual! You are definitely one of the few Sims-related channels where I watch every single upload, lol.

[@k-rce]

There are definitely some songs I know better in Simlish than in English because of that haha!

[@mihaelism]

Oresha Urele Cham high school incident is hilarious 🤣🤣🤣🫶🏻

[@k-rce]

Mortified still

[@Swevill]

@6:29 , in Arabic sometimes we say “Nunu” for babies, I think it’s originally a Pharonic word and may have spread to Arabic from Egypt. It’s a really cool coincidence that in the sims they’d say Nubu for babies

[@bz4413]

Oh this was too good. Keep up the sims video essays I love it. Think you can cover the music at some point? The original soundtrack like the hot date tracks and simcity 3000 soundtrack were the sounds of my youth basically

[@k-rce]

I’ve got the script done for this already, it’s next on the list!

[@bz4413]

@@k-rce can’t wait!

[@miserri]

@@k-rceI look forward to it, any video by you tbh ❤

[@TheOG-GG]

@@k-rce Ooo cannot wait to see it! ^__^ I love Simlish music! :D

[@officialgrindr]

Something I see get overlooked a lot when discussing this topic is how much Simlish has changed over the years. Simlish sounds like American english NOW but that wasnt really always the case. If you listen to Simlish from The Sims 1 (and some of The Sims 2), the inventory of phonemes is pretty different from what you hear in 4

[@k-rce]

Absolutely! I might not have articulated that clearly enough in this video, but I definitely agree!

[@HipHopOtaku]

It also seems like the same words can be used for different things. Like "Dag-Dag" does seem to mean both hello and goodbye. (Or might be more of a "see you later?") Or "chumcha" meaning both "pizza" and just...food in general.

[@andremedeiros2181]

Honestly the CLASS this channel has is simply another level 👌

[@marinadela1361]

I love how you use your life skill and profession to analyze this game. You're truly giving your all with this marvelous content dear.

[@TheEtherny]

6:42 ngl, Ive heard lots of "OH HI BABY!!!" throughout my life

[@BS0003]

Just realised this came out YESTERDAY. Literally when I'm getting into the Sims 3 (I'm a Sims 4 convert). Great video! ❤

[@skyzocka]

Have fun with a real Sims game :D

[@K.Voyence]

Not you uploading this meer hours after I wondered how I'd go about writing a Simlish cover for a song 😭 This video was so cool! Good job 👏🏼

[@johan8676]

but the "baby" meaning "child" (nooboo) in that one lyric isnt equivalent in meaning to "baby" as a term of affection (bwayzay) in the other... so its not necessarily an example of inconsistency

[@Beery1962]

Baby, child, kid, toddler, babe, bairn, all basically can mean baby. "Baby" in the way it's most often used in songs usually means sweetheart, love, darling, etc. Constructed languages are - like real languages - also bound to have numerous words meaning essentially the same thing. So I see no inconsistency there.

[@JoannaFalkowska]

"you" in simlish: voo, dooz, zoo, zah... so many words, suspicious!! meanwhile "you" in Polish: ty, ciebie, tobie, cię, tobą, wy, was, wam, wami

[@mizcommunication4043]

I’m a speech-language pathologist from the US, I love the sims franchise and I found this video so fascinating, thank you! ❤

[@Gilgwathir]

EA: Builds an intricate game world with many details. Hmm, now this needs a language. Tolkien: Creates two languages from scratch. Hmm, now this needs a good and intricate world.

[@watchinvideosforyears]

For one April Fools Day, a language learning discord I'm in changed all their channel titles to Simlish. I'm sure almost all the words didn't have an accepted translation but the mods came up with something I was immediately able to recognise as Simlish. Recognisable gibberish?

[@slwrabbits]

That's incredibly clever.

[@Gunbudder]

Katy Perry singing in simlish makes me feel like i'm having a stroke

[@elFulberto]

That voo inconsistency is obviously due to Simlish having tenses, like German or Russian! The word will change depending on whether it is a subject or object or any other part of the sentence. I'm sure they thought it through and the pattern will emerge if we look through the examples again. But probably not. It's probably random after all.

[@mynameism14]

A great video! I am also a linguist with a passion for The Sims, so it's like I was meant to find your channel. ❤️ You're doing an amazing job with this content. 🌷🏵️

[@alexanderwestberg4047]

the amount of views are actually pissing me off. this deserves at least 100k

[@katethevampire]

My personal interpretation of why the song lyrics are consistent is because the original sentences wouldn't make sense in Simlish! Recently to practice my Spanish I started watching a show that I like (which is a musical) in Spanish and I've noticed that a lot of the times they have lyric changes to make it understandable to a spanish-speaking audience (for example puns don't really work in other languages, the same with some metaphors and sayings)

[@AutoReport1]

Kanji = Chinese (Han) writing Romanji = Roman writing Simji = Sim writing

[@jerrysaen]

4:10 Dude, you have nothing but my deepest sympathies on basing video games as real life knowledge because I also did that with a report in Assassin's Creed since it was almost based in real history

[@ostorozhnost]

Kirce you should be teaching university classes 😍

[@Syuvinya]

Have you considered that Simlish could be a collection of different languages like Chinese dialects? The Sims could be using different dialects of the language in different games, and even different songs (Cantonese songs are popular even in regions of China that don't speak Cantonese).

[@Adrelamusia]

This was genuinely so interesting! I would not mind listening to you explain away other fictional languages.

[@musAKulture]

it was hilarious to see you blush when you said it was embarrassing hahaha. it's rare and nice to see genuine reactions on youtube these days.

[@Aerotactics]

You may be interested in the language used in the Loco Roco game series it's sort of a Japanese Simlish.

[@BellaDovah]

So fascinating, thank you🤩 I got nothing for the you inconsistency but for nooboo I imagine a literal baby is nooboo but baby as in a term of affection for a romantic parter could have a different simlish translation. And, I don’t know why but the simlish in Sims 4 has never really felt right to me, like it strayed too far from the older games

[@sassyuterus]

I was just doing a deep drive into the development of the Sims 1! I subbed. Great video

[@GreatHornedCynic]

As an amateur linguist, I'd imagine Simlish to be some bizarre dialect of Pennsylvanian Dutch with elements of Welsh.

[@wasabi.2839]

I think is a language though, up to the point it can even flourish on multiple ones from the same source, like how there's different languages in the Game Of Thrones universe (Dothraki and High Valyrian, for example) we would have Simlish and Simji! EA probably have some basic grammatical rules but they don't want to spill the tea, like Google and how indexation and SEO really works, and we are here just building the theories ourselves as a collective effort.

[@k-rce]

I’m really not sure that they have specific grammatical rules… the newer songs seem to be word for word translations if you compare them to their Simlish, which I suppose would imply the grammar is exactly like English

[@ericainbloom]

I remember playing sims 1, and there was a fun little quiz at the start of installation (i think, i know there was a quiz) and I can remember there being a question about what languages simlish is made up of. This is also how I find out why my favorite sim child died, a question about a stupid biting hamster that I had gifted the child for Christmas.

[@ciberman]

Loved this video! Didn't know you were a Linguist. That's cool! I'm already waiting for the next video!

[@1849ad]

Dag dag, could actually be a proper way to say goodbye in Dutch.

[@rvmpshaker3910]

Ever since discovering your videos, I’ve always thought you have PERFECT pronunciation and discovering you’re a Linguist, it makes sense 😂

[@Kevin_the_Caveman]

Just found this channel, it really scratches an itch, keep it up!

[@Dat_Ashe_Cos]

Aside from the language, it's fascinating to go through your videos and really see the shift in gameplay throughout the games. I have a few friends who are so perplexed by how simplistic (heh, sim-plistic) the gameplay is and they find the first one incredibly unenjoyable, but they were introduced to the sims around Sims 3/4 period, meanwhile myself and others who grew up on the first The Sims are easily able to go back to it. We're all roughly around the same age as well. I also hear from the friends who grew up with The Sims, myself included, who found the language of simlish far funnier in the first two iterations versus the later iterations. It's a fascinating development, to be sure, and I love playing all the different versions. Music definitely still hits hard across most of The Sims games. I personally love using the original The Sims music while cleaning. The bossa nova music is lovely. Wild that a lot of it was improvised as well.

[@k-rce]

So true! I'm of the opinion that the Sims 3 and 4 have a lot of noise in the gameplay... This is gunna make me sound so old but opening the phone menu on the Sims 4 just completely overwhelms me. I think the Sims 1 + 2 had more depth without explicitly showing you. No need for explicit sentiments, just natural reactions!

[@MHS-us1qv]

I was thinking about this exact topic the other night: your videos are awesome!

[@bibliomorganrevival]

I'm laughing right now because I remember of hearing "renato, renato" so many times, and it's basically a common brazilian name. Thanks for sharing this content, I always was curious about the Sims language and now I know!

[@skyzocka]

I was thinking of being a linguist myself. Definitely a cool way to look at it. I love the Sims 1 voice acting the most out of all attempts of voice acting.

[@connorbabylon5957]

oh my god that explains a lot why I can mimic American accent pretty well even if I started learning English at 14, I used to play the sims 1 and 2 all the time as much as I remember, like 3 years old or something. the accent sticks to me I guess although English wasn’t even in the game to begin with.

[@dawndefender]

Świetny materiał, tak trzymać!

[@DonTornado]

Interesting video! It combines two thing that interest me - linguistics and the Sims! I would also be interested in seeing the Simlish dictionary that they use for songs.

[@TheOG-GG]

Jackie Perez Gratz, the voice director for The Sims 4, is the one who does ALL the song translations, she said in an interview she uses the Simlish dictionary Krizia Bajos (one of The Sims 4 voice actors) and other Simlish cheatsheets to translate the songs. Most of the songs aren't translated word for word but Sims 4 Simlish songs are vastly more translated than any previous game. You can think of it as a translated Simlish vs filler Simlish split. With the songs in Sims 2 and 3 for example the translated vs filler split was around 5%/95% as an example. Compared to Sims 4 which is more like 30%/70%. So big leap!

[@condeuiosandilixtos7858]

I found your channel yesterday and I've been loving your content so far! And as if your quirky sense of humour and gracefulness weren't enough, you're also trained in linguistics, which is one of my passions. Can't wait for your next uploads 😁👏

[@Ebakyza]

4:03 this sounds actually so funny and cute, but I can imagine it was a bit embarrassing in real life. I had something like this as we never grew vegetables, and potatos grow on potato bushes in Sims 3 - that made me confused!

[@boi248]

Thank you for putting a list of sources for the video 🙏

[@JC_Cali]

Combining one of my favorite game series ever with one of my lokey interests - kudos and REALLY well done! Dag dag!

[@dietitianmama]

the language varies so much in the different games. If memory serves there was some sounds like speech in Sim Town in the 90's and there is some speech in Sim City 3000 and Sim City 4 if you place a sim in your city. The mobile games also have different speech patterns. I played Sims freeplay for months when I had a long commute on the train and those sims greet each other by saying "Ebbie gronsno" which I haven't heard anywhere else. Otherwise, Freeplay borrows most of its audio from sims 3.

[@k-rce]

Lot's of variety for sure, yes, and the Sims 1 slurry gibberish remains my fave!

[@Granite-iy6gg]

The difference between ts1/ts2/ts3 vs ts4 simlish could be explained by the fact that ts4 takes place in an alternate timeline so the lore is different from the predecessors in many ways, and that could include the language the sims speak. At least that's how I'd explain it in-universe but really it's as you say, the inconsistency comes from the fact that it's mostly improvised. Great video!

[@theminegirl3775]

Sims 1 and sims 4 have two very different sims languages. As I played sims 1 on playstation 2 a lot I noticed how different ir was from sims 4

[@CuppaSimsnStuff]

I LOVE this! I have a BA in language and linguistics and completely nerd out about stuff like this!

[@konna2725]

for the discussion on the word "you", i think it could also be dialectical variation. for example, here are words in finnish which are all dialectical variations of the word "sinä", meaning "you": sä, sää, sie, nää, snää, sie, siä

[@konna2725]

nevertheless, love the vid!

[@ShakylaDenniss1qq]

Up until stumbling across this, I only knew ONE WORD. It means, "Hello."

[@TheOG-GG]

Oh fabulous video! I love it when my fellow Simlish nerds make videos like this. ^_^ 4:19 SEE!! You know the struggle. THOSE ARE GREEK LETTERS....just Sim Greek XD. When I think of and sing the Simlish lyrics to a song before the original language version, I tell people "oh it's the Simlish version, totally legit ^_~." They look at me like I'm crazy or something 😭 The struggle is real!😭 Thanks for the shoutout!! ^__^

[@jazz3489]

Ik the sims team wouldn’t do it because it would probably take a lot of time and money but I think it be so cool if the sims spoke in different accents depending on what world they were born in- like a hidden trait maybe. It would make it feel more alive and diverse. Like in Snowy Escape the written similish is different but they still speak the same.

[@k-rce]

I said this in another comment too! I would love this idea that you can set your sim's Simlish in CAS

[@vinnyvisual]

I recently saw one of your video’s and i adore them! And the way you present it all! Im nearly 30 so this brings me back to those noatalgic days. Thank you. I needed this. One this i must must MUST share… your builds in the sims one in your ganeplay b-roll ARE SO NICE. you really took the time furnishing them. You did such a hell of a good job! I hope your channel keeps growing! ❤

[@k-rce]

That's so kind! It's honestly my favourite thing to do, and the art style lends itself so well for those ✨aesthetic✨ vibes

[@Zeithri]

I'm so used with sul sul being good bye because in Sims 1, they say Sul Sul whenever they leave. 9:20 - I sleep in my living bed room.. or is it bed living room... Excellent video ^^

[@mauritsponnette]

Loved the video and the analysis! I'm curious to see how Simlish will evolve over the years :D

[@Nardvillain]

Dag Dag!

[@Antti-ox1ho]

Sila!

[@DJHolte]

I was watching a TV show in Mandarin recently, and I was struck by how much it sounded to my ears like Simlish.

[@Paracosm333]

One time my sim said something that sounded like “ah floopy!”

[@Rairosu]

The Sims 4 Official Soundtrack: Again and Again (Pop) "Voo snay za sayzie voo snayna wee Voo snay vooda wah weeba ree Vool hee zimanna novooda bwee (arfarfa zap) Zagebba zagebba zi geb Ya finey drybeh nidooma bray Ya finey koo-harba weeda snay Sul-sul di voo enja ookaray (ya koomrah bap) Zagebba zagebba zi geb"

[@ZipplyZane]

There's always the option that the songs don't necessarily have the same translation. There are tons of songs like that in English--albeit usually older. IRL, it seems more like they like to keep some of the sound of the original.

[@mohawkcub]

I wasn't expecting a WALS map in a Sims video, but I'll take it.

[@k-rce]

I will always find a reason to include a WALS map x

[@halberthawkins]

I remember seeing that one of the original voice actors was Jack Conte, the CEO of Patreon, when he was still a teenager.

[@liltingsims9281]

Thank you for so interesting information! Simlish was the great idea for this game!!!

[@fromthegamethrone]

I still say "Sul Sul" and "this grau ist french!"

[@TheRealStus]

You should really take a look at Chants of Sennaar. Amazing puzzle game about deciphering languages.