Speak Simlish

The Sims, developed by Maxis and distributed by Electronic Arts, is one of the most popular video games available. A fictional language was developed and incorporated into the game used in Sims 1, 2, 3, and 4. Simlish now comes in a variety of flavors and has inspired many to imitate and use the fictional language. Recently, Simlish versions of songs by popular recording artists have been developed and put into expansions packs and stuff packs in the Sims 3 for you to listen on your Sims' stereo in-game.

Steps

Simlish Help

Doc:Simlish Words,Simlish Phrases,Songs in Simlish

Speaking Simlish

  1. Understand the origins of the language. During development, Will Wright, the creator of the Sims, felt that the characters needed voices to express emotion and connect with the player, but the thought of real languages would sound too repetitive and would be too costly to translate. So, the development team started on working on a fake written language by combining the alphabet and visual structure of over eight different world languages (English, French, Finnish, Latin, Ukrainian, Cebuano, Fijian and Tagalog). The spoken version of Simlish is just gibberish which was improvised during recording. In fact, the developer specifically hired actors that were good at making up gibberish sounds during auditions.
  2. Understand that simlish was developed further by linguists and speech actors for use in the Sims. By studying parts of language, they were able to create a gibberish language that modulates and emphasizes like a real language. These techniques give simlish a consistent and realistic sound although it is, for the most part, improvised.
  3. Know that there are a few English words in simlish, thrown in for variety. In interviews, Maxis Audio Director Robi Kauker has indicated that it takes about 40,000 audio samples to put together a version of simlish. In addition, there are certain phrases that the voice actors are instructed to include in all versions of the language (male, female, baby, alien, etc.) including the baby (nooboo) and pizza (chumcha). Currently the development team responsible for simlish voice and music numbers six people.
  4. Discover that a great deal of simlish is created in song, beginning with Hot Date. Imitating songs may be the best way to learn to sound simlish.
  5. Use the sims and pay attention to the sounds. You can pick up a lot of the simlish style this way.
  6. Find and download various famous recording artists who, as part of a promotional campaign, have released version of their songs in simlish. Imitate them. Recording artists who have cut tracks (and even videos) in simlish include:
    • The Black Eyed Peas
    • Lily Allen
    • Bare Naked Ladies
    • Aly & AJ
    • Drew Carey
    • Depeche Mode
    • The Flaming Lips
    • Pussycat Dolls
    • My Chemical Romance
    • Natasha Bedingfield
    • Paramore
    • Neon Trees
    • Katy Perry
    • Pixie Lott
    • Kimbra
    • Becky G
  7. Record your voice and practice improvising in simlish, then play back the results to see how close you are to the voices in the game and the music. Repeat and practice to get better at sounding simlish.
    • PS: Simlish was developed through understanding Ukrainian and Tagalog (a major language of the Philippines). It may be a little easy after knowing these two languages. Also you can say "how are like" (shee so ba)

Tips

  • When sims are talking look at the bubble and the words. The bubble could be a great giveaway to words.
  • There is no written simlish in the games, all simlish in the game is nonsense characters taken from symbol fonts like Wingdings, or signs of the zodiac. This is an exception as of Sims 3, where there is a definite language.
  • Hey just try record the Sims talking in Simlish you might even hear English! But when you're done recording listen to it over and over then you might learn some Simlish words!!
  • "Yabaa doo"
  • "Ahhh Fladdum"
  • "Sal de muchen, frazzenrah!" <--- Said in an angry voice.
  • "A Mucka shoo"
  • "Argay. Orrgay!"
  • You might notice that some words might even be English. Some people have noticed their sims saying, "Watch da ball!" when their sims are talking about tennis. On "The Sims" for the GameCube and PC, when children eat a snack, they might say, "Mmmm, yummy!" In the Sims, you'll hear a Sim say "yuck" when they are cleaning out the garbage.
  • "Brawl Bralg?"
  • "SoSoon!"
  • A good idea is to ask your friends to join in. Eg. You have simple Simi conversations like:
  • "Meorpsa" means hello.

Warnings

  • Simlish is developed by the Sims by understanding Ukrainian, Finnish and Tagalog. It may be a little easy after knowing these three languages.
  • Gibberish and "nonsense' languages have a rich tradition in literature and poetry, so don't knock it.
  • Don't confuse simlish with different language versions of the game, even when the game has been modified to teach other languages.
  • And listen.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

In 2017 was closed and replaced by SimsTalk

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