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where is Gaelic?

Why is Arabic important? I don't recall it being mentioned, except, maybe, in the description of the one Muslim NPC.

Zerebus wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:Why is Arabic important? I don't recall it being mentioned, except, maybe, in the description of the one Muslim NPC.

Uh... this list started as a multi-game list. For Rifts, Arabic has yet to be significant. I'll strike it from the list. I was actually thinking of the Persian gods from Rifts: Pantheons of the Megaverse. However, that'd be Persian/Farsi, not Arabic. As it is, though, the gods in that section magically speak all languages so there's just no point.

Ok. Just making sure I hadn't missed anything.

As luck would have it, I was going through Rifts South America 1 the other day, and noticed this on page 145:

"Four main languages are spoken by the humans: Awarak, Cariban, Ge and Tupian. Creole is used as a universal trade language between tribes and used to communicate with strangers"

It also says they speak Spanish. So that's five more languages to add to your list, depending on how obscure you want to get.

There is also the language that the Cetaceans (Dolphins and such) use, as well as non-magical Whale Songs.

Source: Underseas

~ Josh

in regards to techno-can, IIRC it is said to double as a programming language. which means "L33T" can't be it.

i suspect this kind of thing is more likely. i can just see a bunch of cityrats sitting in front of terminals, chatting in computer code while their non-techno-can speaking friends sit nearby with blank looks on their faces.

likewise euro is said to be a mixture of german, polish, and some others. German shows up as it's own language in the NGR citizen basic skill set.

Zerebus wrote:

vampire_hunter_D wrote:You forgot Ukrainian

Don't get me started.

Whats wrong with Ukranian? There are examples of its existence in the Russia books. Its more of a dialect than a language, but I would say that there are enough differences to list it. My mom speaks it, since she emigrated from the Ukraine and her mother was Ukranian (father was russian but they spoke ukranian at home) and my sister speaks russian since that is what she studied in school.

Have you thought about doing something like Language groups ala Hero System - Hero Games.

I love their language chart, and it shows relationships between languages and similar languages. Each offshoot would be additional skill penalties for understanding (or in Hero makes it easier to learn). Just a thought.

Zerebus wrote:Here's an interesting one: Splugorth. Rifts Pantheons of the Megaverse includes the Splugorth language in some of the deity descriptions, notably in Zeus' skill section.

Language: Splugorth, however, has a bit of a problem: the Splugorth don't speak it. The Splugorth R.C.C. specifically lists a series of languages and then states "they use magic to speak to all others". As for the Splugorth minions, their common languages tend to be Dragonese, Atlantean, and Demongogian, in that order of likelihood. So what to do with Language: Splugorth?

Misprint, gaffe, or whatever you'd like to call it.

If you want to turn a blunder into a plot point, you could say that they speak the language that the Splugorth have long since abandoned in favor of more "multi-dimensional tongues." Heck, that may have been what C.J. or Kevin originally intended.

~ Josh

lol none.

It lists Literacy: Chinese, and Literacy: Ancient and Classical Chinese, but no languages.

I assume everyone just speaks "Chinese".

Mandarin Chinese or another dialect?

It could also be a similar situation like in Europe, where all the languages and dialects coalesced together into a modern Rifts version of "Chinese".

When I run games in China, I have all the demons speak "Ancient Chinese". It's like regular Chinese, but thousands of years older.

Zerebus wrote:I was thinking of making it sort of like a Trade Tongue used between different Splugorth lords' minions for those Splugorth lords on the fringes with minions other than the standard fare of Kydians, Kittani, High Lords, and friends. But that's all noncanonical in an otherwise very canonical list.

Excellent idea though.



~ Josh

I don't see why they wouldn't. It will not cannon until "WB 78: Onion Head Uprising"

From Wb28 Arzno. The Thumper language based on TK pulses. Do you think a psyquic with TK powers could learn it?

Good list. Any chance of including Rifts book source & page number references?

Note: there is a similar list here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35812&hilit=languages

Zerebus wrote:In no particular order:

Techno-Can as SmallTalk? I hate SmallTalk. And by that I mean I DESPISE SmallTalk!

I hate small talk too. I just want to skip the date and get straight to the sex.

I noted Klingon is missing from both the lists.

Btw you missed "Cockney" Its a new secret code language used by the slaves in London of Splynn (or Splyndon as we call it) in the world of "Ley Line Drifts" - Rifts

random_username wrote:Good list. Any chance of including Rifts book source & page number references?

Note: there is a similar list here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35812&hilit=languages

Uhh... compare the date of your post with the one above it.

Was hoping that either the original person was still around and might be able to quickly list the sources or someone else might take the list and be able to provide the references.

Laux the Ogre wrote:And what about Esperanto? It would be a shame if Rifts Earth humans couldn't enjoy the collected works of... William Shatner? Ok, nevermind on the Esperanto.

In my BTS game I decided Esperanto would be the language vampires use. Of course I run my vampire differently then PB.

Also, I noticed Zentraedi and Tyrolean was left off the list....

Zerebus wrote:

Mark Hall wrote:Why is Arabic important? I don't recall it being mentioned, except, maybe, in the description of the one Muslim NPC.

Uh... this list started as a multi-game list. For Rifts, Arabic has yet to be significant. I'll strike it from the list. I was actually thinking of the Persian gods from Rifts: Pantheons of the Megaverse. However, that'd be Persian/Farsi, not Arabic. As it is, though, the gods in that section magically speak all languages so there's just no point.

csbioborg wrote:where is Gaelic?

Where is Gaellic used? I skimmed over Rifts England but didn't see it.

EDIT: I added Persian/Farsi because of the Persian pantheon and the presence of Angrar Robotics. While they don't have to use it, it's their real world ethnic origin so it's worth listing.

Gaelic is the "Celtic language", esp. if referring to Scotland or Ireland, if you really want to get technical you can add Welsh and Cornish as well.
You forgot Ancient Egytian ala the Mutant cats in South America, their two Gods speak and read it.

I'd like to recommend this thread is made "Sticky", as it is a fantastic resource.

any chance we could get this list broken down by geographic region? at the very least, by continent? many of the languages/language groups listed are basically 'tribal' languages of fairly limited geographic scope, so it would be nice to know which ones are from where, to make picking languages for characters easier.

how about ghost speak? (you know for electronic voice phenomina?)

EVP is usually in a regular language, not its own thing.

glitterboy2098 wrote:EVP is usually in a regular language, not its own thing.

maybe on our end....

Static is not a language. If it's deliberate distortion meant to conceal true meaning, it would come under Encryption and Scramblers.
A signal that was hashed by static, and is subsequently cleaned up, would either come under the appropriate Language skill(GM's perogative at what penalty, for trying to parse meaning from what few legible words can be made out) or cleared up using a Radio skill to finetune the reception.

What about sign language and mime? The silent languages. j/k

Akashic Soldier wrote:What about sign language and mime? The silent languages. j/k

I can see that(unless it's too dark).
Mime comes under Performance, though. I wouldn't regard it as Language.

IIRC, one book has "combat sign language" as a skill..

I would like to point out that sign language is not an international, one-of-a-kind thing, but there are a variety of sign languages across the world depending on specific country & culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages

"Combat sign language" probably refers to the series of movements, codes and signs soldiers in certain armies use to pass information between each other where silence, physical and of radio, is of essential importance. One might insert it under Performance much like Mime, or much more apropriately, one of the military skills.

actually, i appears as a language skill in an OCC. but yes it refers to the use of hand and arm signs and movements to relay information silently in the field.

SolCannibal wrote:I would like to point out that sign language is not an international, one-of-a-kind thing, but there are a variety of sign languages across the world depending on specific country & culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages

"Combat sign language" probably refers to the series of movements, codes and signs soldiers in certain armies use to pass information between each other where silence, physical and of radio, is of essential importance. One might insert it under Performance much like Mime, or much more apropriately, one of the military skills.

Military. And be sure when doing joint operations that everybody is using the same codes....and that "advance fast forward' isn't really 'send the newbie ahead into the minefield".

i would assume that there is a regional aspect.. in north america most are likely to be using ones derived from the CS. in Europe, most likely the NGR, etc. of course, i beleive that the CS's would be derived fro mthe stuff they teach american troops IRL, while the NGR's would be derived from german/NATO standard.. given that, there might be some differences in how the various forms evolved (for example, different signs for 'demon' and other stuff not in real world military sign language) they would likely be mutually intelligible in the field..

on the otherhand, i'd expect the versions in russia and china to be effectively a different language, being derived from different backgrounds.

taalismn wrote:

SolCannibal wrote:I would like to point out that sign language is not an international, one-of-a-kind thing, but there are a variety of sign languages across the world depending on specific country & culture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages

"Combat sign language" probably refers to the series of movements, codes and signs soldiers in certain armies use to pass information between each other where silence, physical and of radio, is of essential importance. One might insert it under Performance much like Mime, or much more apropriately, one of the military skills.

Military. And be sure when doing joint operations that everybody is using the same codes....and that "advance fast forward' isn't really 'send the newbie ahead into the minefield".

Yeah, that would be a pretty awful thing to do by accident... or in general, though your milleage may vary.

As an aside, yes, separating the languages by continent or subcontinent one might come across them could be quite useful indeed.

i'm guessing we wont see an update from the OP on this unless they are still around
it would b nice to have book and page numbers or at last regions for the languages though.

just to point out the entry for 'canadian' could be reflective of small changes "american english" so 'canadian' could be much closer to British (americans dropped the U from colour to color, from neighbor to our neighbour and other minor changes) and of course the canadian accent (which i still don't hear but my gf laughs when i say about, or sorry)

i imagined the listing of "american" not english always assumed more slang and bastardization of english over the 300 years , and maybe canadian english didn't suffer as badly but would make it even more distinct from american than it is today

For those looking for Book page numbers I'm going to re-post my list from a similar thread recently. This includes the selection of Rifts Books I have, plus RT (as it applies to Rifts, left out RT's alien languages) and Palladium Fantasy, and may not be as comprensive as those with more complete libraries.

I've broken this into several sections. Human Tongues (real/derived in game), Non-Human Tongues (or not connected to a human tongue), possible tongues that have been lost/forgotten/unclear (includes races that have Adopted new one) in the description, non-humans with no identified native tongue, Specialist (based on OCC), Telepathic, Phase World Trade, and Palladium Fantasy Human Tongues. After each entry you will also see the source for the entry. Some of the languages appear to have multiple presentation formats and have been presented as separate dialects, though they may not be (GM call). Telepathic may or may not be universal, but given the use in Trade for Phase World I am inclined to say it is not.

Human/Earth Tongues:
Afrikaans (RT 1E#7 pg14)
Amercian/English (RUE pg304)
-Deep South Dialect
-Australian outback Dialect
-British Dialect (WB26 pg124)
Arabic (RT 1E#7 pg14)
Aymara (WB9 pg162)
Bushman (RT 1E#7 pg14)
Chinese (RUE pg304)
-several dialects are vaguely mentioned as being practically their own langauge)
Creole (WB6 pg162)
Egyptian: Ancient (WB6 pg110)
Euro (RUE pg304)
French (WB22 pg 39)
-Old French (WB22 pg 135)
-Old Canadian French (WB20 pg 156)
German: Old (SB3 pg14)
Greek (WB2 pg 17)
-Atlanean is Ancient Greek Dialect (WB2 pg45 & 67)
Gypsy (WB5 pg183)
Inuit (WB20 pg86)
Italian (Shemerian SB pg79)
Japanese (RUE pg304)
-Oni Dialect (DB3 pg18, put here as it gives Earth Japanese at 50%)
Latin (Mercenaries, pg42)
Mongolian (RUE pg304)
Native American Tongues (WB20 pg 164)
Old Norse (SoT#6 pg130)
Polish (SB3 pg91)
Portuguese (WB6 pg120)
Quechua (WB9 pg162)
Russian (RUE pg304)
Spanish (RUE pg304)
Swahili (RT 1E#7 pg14)
Techno-Can (RUE pg304)
Xhosa (RT 1E#7 pg14)
Yorba (RT 1E#7 pg14)
Zulu ((RT 1E#7 pg14)

Non-Human Tongues:
Adoran (WB2 pg 70)
Altara (Mercenaries pg91)
Amaki (WB9 pg158)
Arkhon (WB9 pg78)
Azverkan (SB3 pg44)
Blucies (WB31 pg37)
Brodkil (WB5 pg155)
Crab Warriors (WB31 pg50)
Dakir: Common (WB9 pg111, may have another dialect as skill is listed w/ and w/o "common" descriptor)
Dirari (WB31 pg70)
Dragonese/Elven (RUE pg304)
Demongogian (RUE pg304)
Dolphin/Whale (WB7 pg52, WB 30 pg148 suggests these are two languages)
Dwarf (CB1r pg85)
Faerie Speak (RUE pg304)
-Kappa Dialect (WB8 pg206)
Fallem (WB9 pg77)
Gargoyle (WB5 pg155)
Gobbley (RUE pg304)
-Erta Dialect (WB2 pg72)
-Grimbor Ape-Man Dialect (WB6 pg138)
Gosai (CB1r pg 101)
Gromeck (CB1r pg154)
Hawrkin (WB2 pg 75)
Iktek (WB31 pg108)
Kittani (WB6 pg77)
Kreeghor (DB3 pg79)
Kremin (WB31 pg113)
Kydian (WB6 pg77)
Lanotaur (WB31 pg116)
Larhold (WB9 pg 190)
Lorica Wraith (WB30 pg148)
Lyn-Srial (WB31 pg128)
Metztla (WB2 pg61+63)
Naut'yll (WB7 pg111)
N'mbyr (WB31 pg144)
N'retas (WB31 pg148)
Necrol (DB6 pg90)
Obsedai (WB31 pg153)
Ogre (CB1r pg 103)
Ojahee (WB9 pg111)
Peryton Demon Deer (CB1r pg170)
Posluznik (WB31 pg160)
Potalian (WB31 pg157)
Promethean (DB3 pg26)
Pucara (WB9 pg55)
Roane (WB31 pg172)
Shaydorian (WB2 pg79)
Silhouette (DB3 pg81)
Simvanese (SB3 pg56, SoT#6 AKA Simvan?)
Srrynm (SB3 pg54)
Tirrvol Sword Fist (WB31 pg202)
Tokanni (WB31 pg205)
Troll/Giantese (CB1r pg88)
Ugakwa (SB3 pg51)
Were Dragon (WB21 pg 100)
Wolfen (CB1r pg76)

Possible Non-Human Tongues (unclear, or adopted a NEW Native Tongue or nearly Forgotten on Rifts Earth):
Bruutasaur (WB31 pg38)
Faerie Bot (WB31 pg78)
Foreset Warden (WB31 pg93)
Lyvorrk (WB31 pg132)
Power Leech (WB31 pg163)
Quick-Flex (WB31 pg169)
Rurlel Eel (WB7 pg38)
Sasquatch (WB20 pg164)
Shapers (WB31 pg184)
Trimadore (WB31 pg206)
Vangaurd Brawler (WB11 pg207)
Vintex (WB31 pg214)

Non-Humans with no idenfied native tongue:
A'rac (WB31 pg27)
Adna (WB31 pg12)
Akysse (WB31 pg15)
Altess (DB5 pg64)
Amana (WB31 pg18)
Aardan tek (WB20 pg132)
Aviane (WB31 pg32)
Avnvain (WB6 pg152)
Bayou Ursines (WB31 pg35)
Butter Trolls (WB31 pg41)
Catyr (DB2 pg69)
Chasseur Vert (WB31 pg48)
D'norr (WB31 pg72)
Dewtani (WB31 pg65)
Dominator (DB2 pg96)
Dramin (WB31 pg74)
Drizzit (WB31 pg76)
Durosk (DB5 pg35)
Ewaipanomas (WB6 pg102)
Faustion (DB5 pg36)
Feni (WB31 pg82)
Fennoid (WB14 pg130)
Fingertooth Carpet Bagger (WB31 pg86)
Flooper (WB31 pg87)
Ganka (WB31 pg95)
Gene-Splicer (SB3 pg67)
Golgan (DB5 pg58)
Grackle Tooth (WB20 pg134)
Greot Hunter (WB20 pg135)
Horned Whale (SB4 pg106)
Horune (WB7 pg165)
Iborian (DB5 pg38)
In'Valian (DB3 pg12)
Intruder (DB3 pg48)
Kelesh (DB5 pg40)
Krak (WB31 pg110)
Kreel-Lock (WB7 pg153)
Larmac (WB31 pg119)
Lolgess (DB5 pg59)
Lycanmorph (SB3 pg48)
M'Raghille (WB31 pg137)
Machine People (DB2 pg74)
Mastadonoid (WB20 pg137)
Men-Rall (WB9 pg112)
Monro (DB3 pg34)
New Babylonian (WB9 pg157, might be human tongue)
Nixie (DB6 pg40)
Noli Bushman (WB20 pg138)
Norro (DB2 pg62)
Oborus-Slitherer (WB14 pg152)
Octoman (WB21 pg82)
Phantom (DB2 pg37)
Phelebus (WB31 pg155)
Plant People (WB21 pg84)
Pleasurer (DB2 pg88)
Psi-Ponnies (WB14 pg156)
Pythonan (WB21 pg87)
Qidion (DB5 pg41)
Ratanoids (DB5 pg48)
Rulian (WB21 pg89)
Seljuk (DB2 pg70)
Sinestrian (DB5 pg43)
Skaa (DB6 pg93)
Space Minotaur (DB5 pg47)
Spinne (WB31 pg197)
Squilbs (WB31 pg199)
Strata (DB6 pg94)
T'See (DB3 pg24)
True Naruni (DB2 pg49)
Ultrovion (DB5 pg161)
Uteni (DB5 pg50)
Vernulians (WB31 pg211)
Worm Wraith (WB14 pg171, if it has a language)
Yeno (WB20 pg140)
Zebuloid (DB5 pg64)

Specialist Tongue (OCC specific):
Dark Tongue (DB6 pg82)
Elemental (CB1r pg68, single or unique for each elemental type?)
Sign Language (WB26 pg58, may come in a variety of forms for a given species)

Telepathic Languages:
Amorph (WB30, pg24)
Slurmphs (WB30, pg192)
Cactus People (WB14, pg127)

Phase World Trade Languages:
Trade 1 (DB2 pg52, Dialect of the 1st Ones)
Trade 2 (DB2 pg52, Telepathic in nature)
Trade 3 (DB2 pg52, Wolfen Dialect)
Trade 4 (DB2 pg52, English Dialect)
Trade 5 (DB2 pg52, Reptile/Insect)
Trade 6 (DB2 pg52, Universal)

Palladium World Human Languages:
Human: East (PF2e pg50)
Human: North (PF2e pg50)
Human: South (PF2e pg50)
Human: West (PF2e pg50)

great, copy pasted that in case i need to find it some other time

Speaking of "fluffier" things, i find it quite peculiar the fact Trade 1 is supposed to be similar to the unholy mix of english, spanish (and possibly some french & portuguese to a much lesser degree) that is Rifts' American. Guessing at its actual origins and how it sound is a thing that feels quite entertaining to me.

As an aside, is there any discussion of what languages actually compose Euro? I would guess German, Polish and Russian would have some major influence as main human nations in the continent, Camelot being a fairly young power and a bit away by the channel probably makes english its own thing - supposing that with atlantean presence in London and dimensional migrants from a melange of places Oxford english did not simply die out along the way. Maybe some stuff from Czech and Slovak through contact and influence of the Angel of Death upon the Brodkill...