The Echo - The Gift of Many Tongues

[Myllor_Aurelion]

I'm not terribly eloquent, so I'll keep it brief.

1.X existing in game lore establishes that you can understand and speak all known tongues in Eorzea.

Can you go into a little more detail as to how it works/worked?

For example: You understand Amal'jaa and Ixali, and they seem to understand each other, so is it two different languages? Or is there a more universal 'beastman language'?

Can a player with the Echo suddenly speak whatever foreign language they want? Or can they only speak to native speakers?

Are they able to tell what language they are speaking in, or understanding?

And could you maybe list all of the languages that have existed in game?

Always wanted to know! Thanks!

[Catapult]

Supposedly, the echo allows you to "breach the wall of a person's soul". It follows that by being able to peer into them, you can understand intent without needing to comprehend specific words spoken.

What I asked a while back (but never got a definitive answer on) was whether it worked more like parceltongue, where you instinctively (and unknowingly) talk back in that language simply because you understand, or because everyone in Eorzea understands common but doesn't choose to speak it.

I find the latter option to be excessively racist on the part of the five tribes and simultaneously incomprehensibly tolerant on the part of the other tribes.

[Yrusama]

I find the latter option to be excessively racist on the part of the five tribes and simultaneously incomprehensibly tolerant on the part of the other tribes.

This made me chuckle, because that dawned on me as well.

I always figured that, just as we can take in information, it's possible that we can transmit simple information. Not really mind control, but more along the lines of exposing what's in our mind. With speech, we could be speaking in our native tongue, but the beastmen or any others will hear it in their language. It's sort of like how if you watch a movie with subtitles your brain starts to hear the voices speaking what you read in the subtitles. It blends the text information with the sounds the speaker is making. To put it simply, it's like we're giving all races telepathic subtitles without their knowing.

Alternatively, a condition of fully experiencing a person's echo may depend on our borrowing some of their knowledge apart from the echo. Some examples are knowledge of their culture, of their technology, or of their language. We are given the framework of the situation presented in the echo to better understand it. And somehow this information becomes present in our minds as though it's always been there. Thus we are able to speak the Beastmen language without a second thought.

This begs the question: are Goobbue not considered beastmen? I always thought they were a simpler form in XI (see: Goobbue Gardener), but they seem to be little more than bipedal plant-creatures.

[Laevetine]

I still vote that its like doctor who and the tardis on this one. In that it translate what we hear and see into our corresponding language.

As far as speaking goes we kind of follow the path of silent protagonist in that we are always about to say something, but are interrupted by exposition. The only times i can confirm that we have dialogue in which 'speak' is to the main races.

It's really up in the air i suppose.

[Anonymoose]

whether it worked more like parceltongue, where you instinctively (and unknowingly) talk back in that language simply because you understand, or because everyone in Eorzea understands common but doesn't choose to speak it.

I think it's a little bit of each and that we aren't supposed to think too much about which one is which. Take the whole quest with the Sylphs being intermediaries for the crystal trade. Minfilia can't understand them, so they obviously can't speak the common tongue - which makes sense seeing as they seem to communicate in high pitched hums. You come in and you can converse with them just fine.

I think we're to assume that they can understand us but cannot make the noises required to speak the common tongue, which is they they're able to react to Minfilia's words as well as the lalafell that assists them later.

Then we go out and talk to the Amal'jaa and Ixal ... and both we and the sylphs can understand them speaking. Now, I assume that all parties involved here are using the common tongue, save for the sylph who have human interpreters. I mainly assume this because the beast tribes' grammar is atrocious.

I think it's possibly very rare that we even converse with the beast tribe members in their native language. Most stay silent, and the ones we talk to seem to be bilingual with bad grammar. This doesn't have to be racist on the part of the five races; there are benefits to being bilingual. The beast tribes can keep their own language private while using the common tongue (as could any of the five races if they wanted to, which they apparently don't). But still, I bet the Ixal are just peachy with talking trash with their mother about our self-as-normative biases in line at the grocery store (Amirite?).

I'm just worried about how far it extends if we're able to make any noises in any languages. That means the only limit is the soul we touch - and that's getting into uncomfortably Cartesian levels of dualism - think about it: the planet has a consciousness. Does everything in-between or do we skip right from planet to the spoken kindred, or is that just taking the aforementioned racism/bias off the charts?

I mean, then we'd have no barriers at all and whenever we get aggro the chatlog should just read, like

Inferno Drake >> OH BOY, A LALAFELL!
Inferno Drake >> I FREAKING LOVE LALAFELL!
Inferno Drake >> MAUD, GET THE KETCHUP!
Inferno Drake >> YUM YUM YUM LALAF-OW, IT FREAKING HIT M- OW!
Inferno Drake >> MAUD! MAUD, HELP!
Inferno Drake >> OW!
Inferno Drake >> IFRIT, DAMNIT!
Inferno Drake >> I'M GOING TO GE-
Inferno Drake >> RUN, MAUD!
Inferno Drake >> IT'S A TRAAAP!
Inferno Drake >> TELL ME WIFE I LOVE HER!
Inferno Drake >> It's... it's getting dark...

[Myllor_Aurelion]

Your example made me chuckle, but I liked your argument. I didn't consider who you were with during the Amal'jaa and Ixali interactions.

That said, it's certainly remotely plausible that they're speaking broken common. Huh.

[Myllor_Aurelion]

Also, Minfilia does mention that not all of those with the echo have the same gifts. I think she might also say that yours is a rare one.