E.g. a Draenei throwing out “archenon poros!” as a greeting, orcs saying hi with “throm ka” or bringin out the ol classic “zug zug”, trolls letting out a cheerful “tazdingo!”, night elves with an ishnu-alah…
Compared to transcribing accents, which is pretty common, I don’t see these too much. Are they too confusing, since a lot of them go unexplained beyond context clues based on how NPCs use em?
I use them frequently on any character that has them - I can see why some people might not like using them, or why people might not like them in general, but for me? It’s a matter of getting into character, feeling immersed, and so on. I used to have lists of all known Thalassian/Darnassian on my PC that I referenced periodically, though it was lost when I switched over to this Laptop.
((As a note, if someone just asks what it means, I’ll go ahead and tell them. I’m not going to be a butt about it.))
I use what I can. I enjoy languages and wish they had a more canon database for us to use. But I think it adds to the flavor when you can use the terms correctly.
Mok’Oshkazil came from some verbal gymnastics that may or may not be justified. Mok’nathal means Sons of Nath, so assuming Mok means “sons,” I had a friend on Alli side tell me what they saw my Orc say when I typed various words. Osh’kazil was what happened when I said “vengeance.” I know it is random what words get turned into based on letter number, but it seemed as good an excuse as any until they give us a real dictionary (ie- never.)
Sometimes for flavor, but only if it’s a phrase everyone understands OOCly or I know the other player(s) know the translation. Otherwise I’m just making funny sounds.
I rarely use an untranslated phrase when my character is ICly speaking the language it belongs to – for instance, I don’t generally throw something like “Anar’alah Belore” into dialogue if my character is already speaking Thalassian.
But I do often use untranslated phrases when the character is speaking a different language (provided the character would ICly do so in the circumstance). So, if my blood elf is speaking Common to a human, he might take his leave by saying “Al diel shala.”
I like to do it for emphasis or as a character quirk, especially on characters that are proud of their culture. My elves (both flavours) are probably the heaviest users. It’s a way for them (and me) to stay connected to their roots in the midst of all this Common & Orcish.
My goblin has started to use other races’ phrases as a way to ingratiate herself with people. (She only speaks Goblin when things go pear-shaped.)
I need a dislike button just because you linked TVtropes. I’M NOT FALLING DOWN THAT RABBIT HOLE, THANK YOU.
((Also I love that trope. Aheh.))
I would but I have zero idea how most of them are spelled.
Ahl delehl sheelah.
arkanen porous
I’m not kidding, this thread has been more educational on that subject than ten years of playing this game.
On my void elf sometimes I copy and paste random Shath’yar phrases. Because… you know how void elves are.
I like using “al diel shala” as part of my casual farewells.
I generally don’t. I don’t judge, though, it can add some nice flavor to an interaction, and it tends to give a bit of an idea on a character’s personality if they use phrases from their (or others’) native languages in regular conversation.
I might not do it just because Karithien isn’t really the sort of person to code switch, though, because I’m sure I’ve typed some of the standard phrases on my orc.
the few times i did use phrases in/for rp, i had to look them up b/c i couldn’t remember where to put the ’ in words such as shorel’aran
You haven’t suffered that website like I have, Hafren. Hours, gone! Poof! Like -magic-.
I avoid them because it adds an unnecessary barrier for people to overcome just to RP with me. I try to keep things simple and clear.
Some are more opaque than others. I can handle a zug zug but some of the blood elf and nightborne ones would leave me scratching my head.
I don’t have many characters that would be appropriate to do it with but I do so on the few who are; mainly my Nelf Warrior. With her, when GHI still worked, I’d have a book containing various Darnassian phrases the characters I portray with her would likely say regularly. This included speculative phrases as well, based on words from officially translated ones.
Now that I have some Nightborne characters I’d love to do it with them as well, but Shalassian has very few translated phrases to use and the fact that it exists as a separate language at all makes me reluctant to use the Darnassian ones for any other than specific characters.
Overall Wowpedia was, as usual, rather helpful in these endeavors. I mostly just do it for flavor and I try to use some of the more common conversational ones in conjunction with body language or other context clues; to give a non-specific example, bowing while saying 'Shaha lor’ma.
On a related note I’ve also been included to use the term ‘Den’ when on Pandaren characters. I haven’t had many opportunities to do so, however.
Noticed a whole lotta elves responding and only a few of the others, but this is just my two cents. While with a lot of phrases we do have exact translations; Lok’tar logar = Victory or Death, Ishnu-Alah = good fortune to you, I think it falls down the same idea as having phrases that have translations but are left in their native language irl.
The first one I think about is when someone says they have a certain je ne sais quoi about them. That literally means that we don’t know what they have when translated, but the context and background if the word makes it mean something like a ‘desirable quality that cannot be explained’ Lok’tar ogar might just be a set of options when translated, in context of the language it has more weight and meaning as a farewell.
For my own personal play, I mix in some Zandalai ‘terms’, since we don’t have a lot of verified translations, for when I want to evoke that this isn’t something clinical but something more personal to the character.
Ie: ‘Dere be some magic gunk ova he’re’ vs ‘Dere be some Mojo ova he’re’
Maybe not the best example but I hope it gets across that some times using the phrases or words help the language feel more natural, even if your quinta linguistic or what have you.