Do you speak Simlish?

The Sims

A strategic computer game developed by Maxis, designed by Will Wright and published by Electronic Arts has become not only the best life-simulation computer game ever produced but also the best-selling PC game in history. The Sims, first released in early 2000, has since then published seven expansion packs and 2 sequels selling over 6.4 million copies worldwide in total. Being a fan of The Sims myself I could go on about how unique it is, explain the gameplay and so forth, however, I am here to talk about a very specific aspect of it all - Simlish.

Why not a real language?

The characters you play with, Sims, perform only certain actions and talk about only certain things with other Sims. Presumably they would sound very repetitive if spoke a language known to the player. Also hiring translators and voice-over actors for the players from other parts of the world would result in higher production costs. Nevertheless communication between the Sims is the crucial part of the game and so they needed to speak. A fictional Simlish was born.

Language influences

It is said that the Native American code talkers of World War II inspired the creators of the game who then started experimenting not only with Navajo language in order to create Simlish but also with Ukrainian, French, Finnish, Latin and English. As a result, however, Simlish ended up as total gibberish that can’t be possibly translated and is often referred to as nonsense language. Personally I hear elements of the English-like flow in Simlish, this probably resulting in American voice-actors, Gerri Lawlor and Stephen Kearin recording their voices for the game.

Not only talking

You can hear Simlish not only when Sims are talking but also when they’re listening to music. A number of real artists have recorded versions of their songs in Simlish, including Black Eyed Peas, Depeche Mode, Lilly Allen, Katy Perry, Natasha Bedingfield, Paramore, Nelly Furtado, My Chemical Romance and many more. At high zoom levels text on book covers and magazines can be seen. The Simlish alphabet seems like nonsense characters. Any resemblance to real characters is unlikely.

Do you speak Simlish?

There are people who claim to have learnt some of the Simlish language after noting phrases they heard while playing the game and then guessing their meaning based on the situation those were said in. I highly doubt this is a task possible to complete. Perhaps Simlish is deliberately vague and people with an imagination more fanciful than mine are reading more into it than they should.