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Sketchbook: Language Lineup

Sketchbook: Language Lineup published on 4 Comments on Sketchbook: Language Lineup

The number of different language fonts in Leif & Thorn has piled up…kind of a lot! So by reader request, here’s a comparative lineup with all of them.

I used the characters who are either in the Secret Order of Monster Hunters, or SOoMH-adjacent, because it turns out they have the most languages between them. (Okay, well, any group with Pascentia has the most languages, but I didn’t want to leave her carrying the whole thing.)

Ceannic (in multiple dialects; I don’t split them all apart) and Sønska are still the only two you’ll see on a regular basis. Tamaputian is about to have its day in the sun. Getsunese, Islander, Iudish, and animal thoughts have all come up in passing.

…and those last few fonts have been used in the comic, during the Kolpovision arc, but didn’t get linked to a specific language. That way, next time the plot calls a new one into the spotlight, I can grab one of the already-established fonts and go “surprise, it was this all along!”

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Fonts for all the languages in Leif & Thorn (so far), plus the captions:

Marula: I don’t really speak this much Getsunese, but I’m the closest thing to rep this bunch has.

Hermosa: Technically my native language is Southern Ceannic, but I end up speaking a lot of Northern. Learned a little Sønska in Montmere.

Dex: That’s my linguistically nimble husband! And I study United Islander, for personal heritage reasons. [Also, missions to the UI? Can feel a whole lot like vacations.]

Delphinum: You’re awfully fluent in a foreign tongue, darling. Were you truly raised with Ceannic?

Woman in Black: I was raised bilingually! Both in that, and in Sønska.

Pascentia: I can hold a conversation in Ceannic, as well as Sønska, nearly as much Islander as my sibling, rather more of Tamaputian, a modest complement of Iudish, whatever language this font is ultimately used for, and probably this one, who can say about this one . . .

Cat (thinking): I don’t understand ANY of this.

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4 Comments

So Pascentia speaks everything BUT Getsunese?

Or animal thoughts.

It kind of makes sense, an over-achiever who isn’t linguistically averse seems likely to know any language that’s going to be of significance in their comic. It especially works well if that overachiever is part of the core team, so they’re handy for translations.

It can also happen like that in real life, as people with a lot of linguistic skills have a greater tendency than normal to get jobs where that can be put to some use.

The difference between fantasy and reality is that in fantasy, single over-achiever can know all relevant languages. In reality, the number of languages goes to not just hundreds but thousands and no over-achiever is so much “over” to know all … and it can’t be said in advance which will be relevant (unless you mean by number of speakers).

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