Reason: The thresholds for what counts as being inspired by non-Simlish languages or not are pretty vague, especially so for The Sims 2 and 3.
Please improve this article if you can.
Simlish
Simlish on an Energy Drink poster in The Sims 4 Discover University.
Simlish is the fictional language used by Sims. It is assumed that Simlish is the official language of SimNation.
The voice actors of The Sims 4 each have their own Simlish dictionaries, so they know all the translations.
History[]
Simlish was created because Will Wright, creator of The Sims, knew that the game needed dialogue, but thought that using real life languages such as English would cause the dialogue to be repetitive and would be expensive translating the entire dialog Sims may say. Wright did consider experimenting with Navajo, a Native American language, but decided that it would be better to use a "nonsense language" that couldn't be translated, because the meaning could be left to the player's imagination.[1]
Some say it may be a mixture of Ukrainian, Navajo, Romanian, Irish, Tagalog, and even gibberish,[2] but this has not been confirmed. Notably, Simlish uses the Arabic word for the verb to drink, "Cherba - شرب," for the verb to chug.
Simlish was first used in SimCopter, a flight simulator game released in 1996.
Appearances in The Sims[]
The Sims[]
The Sims featured a lot more Simlish than SimCopter (the first Maxis game to feature Simlish), and was also a lot clearer. The phrase "sul sul", which in later games is used for both greetings and saying goodbye, is solely used for saying goodbye, and only by adults when they go to work. Some other common phrases are "wawa bralala?" "ralalalalib bubaya," "commun snanna," and "o frazinnratt," but the number of available phrases were limited, which led to some repetition. The voices were provided by Gerri Lawlor and Stephen Kearin.[3]
The Sims 2[]
The Sims 2 comes with more audible and newer phrases like "e wam." Common phrases are now "daj daj" and "ackabunad." Common greetings include "sul sul" and "dag dag". When there is a problem, Sims will say "shooflee" and "anaconda" often. When some female Sims walk by another Sim, their greeting varies from "Ooh, voodoo!" to "Lick a rock!" They reportedly swear sometimes. Much to the amusement of many players, pregnant Sims have been known to shout "WooHoo!" while giving birth. When female elders play at the poker table in Nightlife, they will often say "Texas Goushem" which is probably a reference to Texas HoldEm (a type of poker card game). In the Pets expansion pack, when a Sim is teaching their pet to "shake," they will say "shurb" repeatedly, as well as when they teach to "speak," they will say "sperk."
When an object is in their way, females will say "Nib! Frabanage! Haloo! Frinding," or, "Oh! Abloo. Umm...sesaru?" If they have the 2nd Female Voice, You will hear "Miso-Va! Oh Stovla?" Males will usually say "Gah! Do caraweeb hushizey." Other male route failure phrases include "Ugh! Dondeesh! Nigway!" and "Wassey! Woohoo! Ipuepueseh?" With teens, the females may say "Cram noopla! Nakasipi!" while males will say "Akapoog! Gillapanoni! Kibor!" or "Dungab! Dibeegz! Hallagidou" If there is a problem, female teens/young adults might say something like "Gravala! Binoo!" or "Marachalavi!" while males might say "Freboteedeebaa!", "Rigochi kada!" or "Rachida koh!" when the children say "Oh! Nikoshab! Wubba Shig Vadou!" and "Blidag ivab wub ajig bado" and then female elders would say "Wosh! Holag? Honyo butib!" and the male elders say "Geh! Hosho mido! Gerro Gerro!" and "Mah! Milato! Halaree"
The Marco Polo from Seasons was originally named Timle Tourneau, and you can clearly hear Sims exclaiming "Timle" and "Tourneau" instead of "Marco" and "Polo". Tim LeTourneau is, in fact, one of the staff of EA. When Witches and Warlocks in Apartment Life use the cauldron, they will say the last names of EA staff members, such as Macarevich, Majekodunmi, and Parmeley.
The Sims 3[]
A sign written in Simlish, seen in Sunset Valley
The Sims 3 has the largest Simlish vocabulary. Common phrases are
- Greetings, for instance in Create-a-Sim: "Dag dag", "Sul sul", "Weeb", "Urt-nee-burh"
- General chatting: "Swebsi madoo", "Yourh ...You're Jessy Madoo!"
- General chatting (Phone calls): "Mī? Mī Jonny Sapaski sī?"
- Being excited: "Ibny bibzo toy"
- Complaining about low needs: "Ma bi daa"
- Complaining about hunger: "Ooooh, DABEE DOOH!", "Oooh, saga DAH!"
- Complaining about being unable to get to a place: "Ugh! Chee waga choochoo! Ugh!"
- Complaining in general (Female Sims): "Redījay"
- Declining a phone call (Female Sims): "Urocka lalala kondo" when she declines an opportunity.
- Flirtatious actions: "Un jandebo"
- When a Sim is about to WooHoo or use the bathroom, and someone else besides the partner is in the room they may shoo the Sims and say: "Blanche, Blanche!" (French for "White, White")
- Ask someone about their day: "Bar, nipsi hāmoloo. Kāwāziko zaka pāpatug, eh?"
- Enthusing about various topics the talker is interested in: "Zeeboar gash. Korba. ...Gavaz?", "Gārwa sasamay? Core! Chagagor.", "Wehlk. Mīabsogāh. Chiba?"
- Calling for various services by phone: "Zagra... chagorn. Pipsi chagorn!", "Sābo. Yāmzābodī? Szcheboo nibi.", "Gorbso. Zebsi ne gorbso.", "Yarbis. Your bisses nooch."
- Excited student cheer:[TS3:UL] "Wasucore, wasū dē brānhd, bada baby, I ā abba, donk dong dong. Gerbits, Gerbits, go, Gerbits!"
- Accuse someone of being a diva: "Eh. Gurgelyh! Dja. Fān."
- Insult someone: "Baleel! Dīsēbbolā!
- Imply someone's mother was a llama: "Hāhkso! Fāhsolī!"
- Mock someone's appearance: "Boushti balee. Rollibīdāga. Onibuhzuh."
- Unsorted: "Madoof Napso," "Abondandlain...En Som," "Hubble Herbi," "Etne Condoroy," "Shawbo Glub," "Switz Zorg," "Tippaha Yooredful," "Shabow," "Sussel," "Ayba Miyba Mo," "Sa Dooga," "Ib Ou," "Shamble Natzo Thorg!", "Narbo Puhzed," and "Yargbo Bay Tazzle."
A Sim teaching a toddler to speak will sometimes say a phrase that sounds like "Way to go!". As a lot of music in the Sims 3 are actual songs, you can find the translations of lots of words by listening to the lyrics of both the English and Simlish versions of the song.
The Sims 3 is also the first Sims game where players can adjust the Sims' voices to sound exactly as they want them to sound.
In University Life, a professor in the Thomas School of Art can be heard speaking Simlish with a French accent.
From a linguistic perspective, Simlish in The Sims 3 also contains some loanwords from other languages, mostly from English, including "work out", "buggies",[TS3:WA] "come on",[TS3:WA] "awesome",[TS3:LN] and "stupid".[TS3:UL]. More detailed info about loanwords is in the "Non-Simlish phrases" section further below.
Billboards[]
The Sims 4[]
The Sims 4 has a wider variety of Simlish phrases, some of them varying between voice types. "Sul sul" and "Dag dag" remain as the common greetings, and Sims often say "Vadish" when saying thanks. Other common phrases include "Yabahorne", "Awu venae", "Yim bala", "Wibbs", "Muchi pichi", "Deroi" and "Dorishi". Sims who use the Respectful Greeting or demonstrate the proper trait, they'll often greet the other with "Wutushu, yimsimsie."
In the Brainchild Learning TV channel from Growing Together, many lines from the video playing can be translated if you listen closely.
- "Buku" - Book
- "Bool" - Ball
- "Bobocrub" - Baby-crib
- "Sulah, kids. Aas flu pa zoopa" - Hello, kids. What's one plus two.
- "Tryza!" - Three
Simlish as seen on the TV in The Sims 4.
On The Sims 4 website, there is a note in Simlish, next to the newsletter subscription.
The note is known to be a code related to The Sims 4.[4] The code purpose is to introduce some of the team members who are working on The Sims 4, and each of them reveal the Simlish code one by one, with the following order:
- Rachel Franklin: Because you took the time to decode this message,
- Jill Johnson: here's why we love you:
- Aaron Cohen: Your creativity captivates us, your enthusiasm inspires us
- Lyndsay Pearson: May 23, June 18, July 9
- Stephanie Tran: remember these days.
- Azure Bowie: Without you, we wouldn't have come this far
- Kevin Hogan: We're making this game for you, because of you.
- Grant Rodiek: Thank you for being the greatest fans in the world.
Which translates into:
Because you took the time to decode this message, here's why we love you:
- Your creativity captivates us, your enthusiasm inspires us
- May 23, June 18, July 9, remember these days.
- Without you, we wouldn't have come this far
We're making this game for you, because of you. Thank you for being the greatest fans in the world.
The Simlish note is roughly translated, because the translated note doesn't exactly match the Simlish letter-by-letter. If one tries to decode with the custom font below, they will end up with Lorem ipsum, although with some modifications in the form of keyspam-like gibberish.
The translated text reads:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore
- Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate
- Mtyc, bojkdmgfs, hdfsfj, fjlfjjfldcvfjslfkjleipru
- Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proidihnbvnncent
Numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut laboguire ut dolore magnam quaerat voluptatem
The Sims Medieval[]
It has been stated that Sims in The Sims Medieval do not speak Simlish, but rather a precursor to Simlish known as "Old Simlish." Compared to modern Simlish, Old Simlish has a more elegant sound, and more closely resembling the British RP accent with hints of French as opposed to an American accent featured in the mainline games. The difference between Old Simlish and Simlish may be similar to the differences between modern English and Middle English.
Old Simlish phrases are also used by role playing children in The Sims 3: Generations.
Simlish songs[]
The Sims 2 features many renditions of popular songs sung by the original artists. Some have music videos created by EA, such as Natasha Bedingfield's "Pocketful of Sunshine" or Katy Perry's "Hot 'n' Cold." However, there are also other songs that don't feature music videos but can be found in the game, such as The Veronicas' "When it All Falls Apart" or Tata Young's "Zoom." These songs can be found in various radio stations in the game depending on the song's genre.
The Sims 2 for the PC is not the only game that features Simlish songs. Paramore's "Pressure" can be heard in The Sims 2 for the console version and various Black Eyed Peas songs are heard in The Urbz: Sims in the City, where the band is one of the prominent NPC characters found in Cosmo Street. There's also a Simlish version of "Time Bomb," performed by All Time Low, that can be heard in The Sims 3: Generations trailer.
Some of these songs are only available on Sims radio when certain expansion packs are installed. Ones with music videos often give clues to which expansion pack they are found in, such as Hot 'n' Cold (Apartment Life), Pocketful of Sunshine (Freetime), Fa Fa Fa (Freetime), and Smile (Seasons).
Videos[]
These are a few examples of Simlish music videos.
Known Simlish translations[]
- Sul sul: Hello/Goodbye
- Sulah: Hello
- Dag dag, or Deg deg: Hello/Goodbye/Okay
- Nooboo: Baby
- Litzergam, Fazoo or Vadish: Thank You
- Gerbit: Llama
Non-Simlish phrases[]
On occasion, non-Simlish phrases are heard in the Sims games.
The Sims
- When a child is eating food, he/she may say "Mmm... yummy!"
- When a male is talking on the phone he may say "I know!".
- When an adult Sim is chopping food, sometimes they will say "Ouch!"
- When a male adult is disgusted, sometimes, he will say "Yuck!"
- A male Sim will sometimes say "Hey man!" when being pushed.
- When a Sim is ordering pizza on the phone, they may say "No way!", a common gossiping phrase.
- When the player makes a Sim do anything to increase an adult's skill points when they are in a bad mood, they will turn to the camera and say "Uh-uh!".
The Sims: Bustin' Out
- When a female Sim says goodbye to a Sim before leaving the Lot, she will say a phrase similar to "Bye bye."
The Sims 2
- While playing with a stuffed bear, toddlers might say a phrase similar to "Stupid bear!".
- In University, Sims who reject the "school cheer" interaction say something that sounds like "No love for gerbits." ("Gerbit" appears to be Simlish for llama.)
- A child Sim may say something along the lines of "Ayaw ko, bobo siya!" when complaining to the player about a blocked path. (Filipino for "I dislike them, they're stupid!".)
- When a child grows up, they might say "I went to the bath" in the cinematic.
- When a child is throwing a tantrum from having a low aspiration bar, they may say something that sounds like "I gotta poo!"
- When a Sim is trying to comb for seashells in the beach and gets a crab instead, they'll say "Oh, god!"
- When a toddler is in their cot and starts crying, they usually scream what sounds like "Daddy" before whining and rattling the cot's frame after not being attended to for a fair bit of time.
- A female Sim might say "Woo-wee!" after doing a certain action, such as cleaning a bathtub.
The Sims 3
- A female character on the KidZone television channel says "Oh, hello!"
- If a baby gets taken away from not being taken care of, the female Sim might say "Where's our baby!?"
- When there is a child aging up with the Birthday Inferno Birthday Cake, if there is another child on the lot, that child will say "Happy birthday!" if you listen very closely.
- Sims that are on the phone with another Sim tend to say weird, funny phrases (especially when they're inviting the Sim over). Some common phrases include "You're blonde! Said you're blonde".
- When Grim Reaper rips a Sim with Loser trait. he might say "You! Ohho..."
- When a male Sim ends a phone call quickly (such as when he rejects an opportunity), he will sometimes say something that sounds like "Uh...never mind. Sorry"
- When an adult female Sim gossips, she may say "camisa", the Spanish word for shirt.
- When an adult male Sim is hungry, they may say a phrase that sounds like "Oh, vens unch?" which sounds like "Oh, when's lunch?"[confirmation needed]
- When working out, the female voice will say: "Work it, now work it, now vich are do."
- When teaching a toddler to talk, the adult Sim will often say "Circle-ah."
- Male Sims are sometimes heard to say "Come on!" while using the Board Breaker.[TS3:WA]
- If a male Sim reaches into a hole and then pulls his hand out because it is covered in bugs,[TS3:WA] he can sometimes be heard saying "Ugh! Buggies!"
- When a Mixologist[TS3:LN] serves a good drink, the Sim who drinks it will say "Awesome!" in English.
- When an irresistible[TS3:LN] Sim attempts to blow a kiss, the recipient may say, "Gross, Gross!".
- During scouting events[TS3:G], a child may ask "Where do nooboos come from?" ("Nooboo" is the Simlish word for baby.)
- A slob male Sim might say "Gotcha!" after using the kissing booth.[TS3:S]
- When a Sim drops a hackey sack,[TS3:UL] they might say "Stupid."
- When a female Sim gets a strike on a bowling alley, they can sometimes be heard saying "Oh yes, oh yes, uhuh!".[TS3:UL]
- In The Sims 3 (Wii), a child may say "Haha mommy, haha mommy" when trying to get mother's attention.
Some phrases are more akin to international sounds humans make, rather than being from a single language:
- A male Sim might say "Ow!" when getting hit by hail.[TS3:S]
- A toddler may say "ahaha aba aba aba". If taken at face value, 'aba' is the Hebrew word for "dad", but countless similar phrases are in use for the same meaning in other languages.
- When dumpster diving,[TS3:UL] a female Sim may gasp and say "Eeewwww!"
As there is a substantial (but not outright confirmed) chance that in-game media related to American football takes place elsewhere than SimNation, phrases are heard in them that are in English:
- When watching the Sports Universe channel or playing Football on the computer, one of the announcers will say "Look at him go!" followed by Simlish, then say "Homeless dude? OH!"
- When playing computer games, a voice saying "Ref. 59'" can sometimes be heard from the game.
The Sims 4
- When a Sim with a low cooking skill messes up, they may say "Uh-oh".
- In Get to Work, a Sim in the Doctor career may say a phrase that sounds like "Don't be a nooboo" ("Nooboo" being the Simlish term for baby) when giving a patient a shot.
- If a Sim performs Discuss Interests or Ask About Day and it fails, Sims may say "duh".
- If a Sim with the Melodic voice type performs a move successfully, such as on a dancefloor or snowboard, they might say "Uh huh" or "Yeah, boy" out of 7 voice lines.
- When in a fight, Sims may say "Ow!"
- If a female Sim is watching the action channel, she might say "Boom, boom!"
- If a toddler is throwing a tantrum with high Communication skill, they might say something similar to "Let me go!"
- If a female Sim rejects a kiss, they might say "No!"
- In Snowy Escape, sometimes Sims can be seen saying "Bull sh*t" when items are stuck in the Vending machine.
- In High School Years, an unseen Sim at school periodically announces "Attention students!" followed by some Simlish through the speaker system.
Custom Simlish font[]
Custom Simlish font letters
There is a custom Simlish font available at ModTheSims. The Simlish font is based on the Simlish symbols that are commonly used in The Sims 3 and The Sims 4 such as the one that appears on TV. This custom font is not official, and therefore cannot be used to decipher Simlish texts that appear in the game. It's worth noting that there are many variations of Simlish throughout the game, and this custom font is only one of the variations.
Alternately, some, but far from all, of the letters in the example screenshot above can be replicated to very varying extents with regular Unicode letters, provided that the computer/phone have at least one font each for e.g. Cyrillic, Devanagari, Canadian Syllabics, and math symbols: ᑲБɦđò_ɮ__√__⨝ᒐ_टᒋꝾ_ʇęℲʠ⧖__ (Underscores mean that no viable or plausible Unicode substitute have been known to be found.)
Simlish text which appears while watching the comedy channel in The Sims 4. Translates as "The Tonight Show with Tony Cliffton"
However, there is an instance where this custom font can be used to read a Simlish text. Text on the TV in The Sims 4 can sometimes be translated by using the custom Simlish font. In the image to the right, the text appears to translate to "The Tonight Show".
Appearances outside 'The Sims' games[]
SimCopter[]
SimCopter was the first game to feature Simlish.
Sid Meier's SimGolf[]
In SimGolf, Sims will speak Simlish while a translation appears above their heads.
SimCity series[]
In both SimCity 4 and SimCity Societies, citizens can be heard speaking in Simlish if the player zooms in close enough. In the 2013 installment of SimCity, the citizens speak Simlish when giving the player missions, and a text bubble giving a translation appears.
Spore[]
In non-English versions of Spore, Simlish is spoken by Steve and "the voice in the tunnel." The Simlish used is the same no matter what non-English language it is.
MySims Series[]
In the MySims series, the Sims speak Simlish when talking to each other or expressing an emotion.
References[]
- ↑ Wikipedia: Simlish
- ↑ Gonna Play the Sims? You Gotta Speak Simlish at the Wayback Machine (archived October 14, 2009)
- ↑ In Loving Memory of Gerri Lawlor - EA
- ↑ The Sims 4 Code Has Been Cracked! from BeyondSims
See also[]
Dates featured: December 2013.