Should I include only one or several language(s) in my fictional universe?

[Miaristan]

Hi,

I post this threat because I recently advanced a lot in my fictional universe. I could say I intend to make a whole world with about 900-1,000 villages. Noting that in the context of my fictional universe, a "village" could be about the equivalent of a nation or community, and I had the idea to use this term to take inspiration from other fictional universes such as Naruto, with the concept of "hidden villages", but also some other things such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, where the "holiday towns" would also be de facto "national communities".

That said, an idea I had would be to include more than one language in my fictional world because the language is often extremely culturally important, and because it would allow me to differentiate my villages culturally. However, I know many people would prefer me to simplify things with only one language. But what I had in mind would be to only include the most predominant languages (so a lot of established villages could share a common official language) to avoid unnecessary complexity.

I could say that my fictional world will have about 10 billions inhabitants with more than 160,000 kilometers of equidistance for both the North-South and the West-East (that is much more than the approximative number of 40,000 kilometers of equidistance for the Earth planet), thus yes, my fictional world would be a planet which would have been culturally developed through several millenniums and centuries.

So, thanks you, and have a good night!

 

[pmmg]

I would find it unlikely there would be just one language.

 

[tnd314_fool]

A world without greed is almost impossible
So the fact that there exists some 'villages' who strive to control the world is extremely high
Since you are going with a 1000+ village scheme, then why not divide the world into 3-4 grand villages, which will act like a continental barrier and then further allow few bigger villages to co-exist together ( not specifically peacefully)
You know like in legendary mechanic they did
So yeah, that way you can either assign a particular language across a grand village or more languages across every bigger village
Though I'd say giving a unified language to the whole of grand village would be good and create few variations in other bigger villages, since variations do occur across time in different parts of a country
But since you're going with village scheme, then the problem about hereditary positions would become a serious issue to look for, more so if you're going with my grand village idea
In case you didn't understand the scheme, a simplified version:-
Grand village->Bigger village-> Big Village-> small villages
It's like the continent- country- city- town scheme
Hope my idea is helpful

 

[Miaristan]

A world without greed is almost impossible
So the fact that there exists some 'villages' who strive to control the world is extremely high
Since you are going with a 1000+ village scheme, then why not divide the world into 3-4 grand villages, which will act like a continental barrier and then further allow few bigger villages to co-exist together ( not specifically peacefully)
You know like in legendary mechanic they did
So yeah, that way you can either assign a particular language across a grand village or more languages across every bigger village
Though I'd say giving a unified language to the whole of grand village would be good and create few variations in other bigger villages, since variations do occur across time in different parts of a country
But since you're going with village scheme, then the problem about hereditary positions would become a serious issue to look for, more so if you're going with my grand village idea
In case you didn't understand the scheme, a simplified version:-
Grand village->Bigger village-> Big Village-> small villages
It's like the continent- country- city- town scheme
Hope my idea is helpful

I exactly had the idea to create something like "mega empires" or "military confederations" which would rule over their affiliated villages, while these villages could retain more or less political autonomy.

Also, these villages are not necessarily constrained to manage on their own (in the sense of living in complete autarky). They may ally with other villages, which may create a cohesion between a lot of villages which may need each others both economically and politically.

Otherwise, I already created my own continents for the fictional world, but I prefer keeping the details of my fictional project confidential.

 

[pmmg]

I already answered, but I was out and could not give a full answer.

In a large and diverse world, it is almost certain different areas will grow to develop different cultures and with them different languages over time. If you are trying to build a world that has the feel of having developed organically, and approach it with such an understanding that things start fresh in some areas, bleed into others, and change an many myriad of ways over time, the world will inevitably become more complex, until maybe such time as travel and trade developed to make the world smaller, and then it would would be a slow evolutionary process towards one language.

It is true that adding complexity to your world means more trouble in writing it, but the world building work is worth it, and if you do it well, will win greater appreciation from readers. Readers are no dummies, they can figure out that a complex world has several languages in it, and sometimes that adds difficulty.

My own current story has nine languages in it, and the number will likely grow as things expand. The MC started off knowing only one. I can manage it, and so can you.

 

[Mad Swede]

I think you might want to keep things simple.

Different languages can and do evolve locally, but trade between countries and regions tends to require a common language. The use of Latin in the Roman Empire is an example, as is the use of Middle Low German within the Hanseatic League. So in your setting, how much trade is there and how does this affect languages?

The other question to ask yourself is whether the reader really needs to know what langauge the various characters are speaking. Where do your characters come from, and what do they do for a living? If they come from a large village or town which has a lot of trade then presumably they'll speak the common langauge of trade, whatever that is. As far as your readers are concerned, that will be the same as the language you write your book in. It's only when the characters meet others who don't trade and who don't speak the trading language that problems will arise, and only then do you need to mention what language is being spoken.

 

[Queshire]

While realistically there would be multiple languages that's rarely beneficial for story telling. All else being equal one language is more convenient for both the reader and the writer.

 

[tnd314_fool]

While realistically there would be multiple languages that's rarely beneficial for story telling. All else being equal one language is more convenient for both the reader and the writer.

Well it sure is more convenient for readers and writers, but adding more languages just adds another layer of realism
Not that I'm saying to write in different languages when interacting with people, just give the languages a name and make it such that either the mc knows the language or has a translator with him or that he just doesn't understand what they are saying which can lead to a comedic approch too or can land mc in a tough spot

 

[NotAnotherIsekaiAuthor]

I think tnd314_fool hit the nail on the head. A unified language is the simplest to write but least realistic; many languages can get complex but is most realistic. Even within a single language are variations and dialects that can add complications. Think about mainland French vs French Canadian, or a Southern US drawl to a New England twist.

But at the end of the day, it's your story and your writing, so do what works best for your story.

 

[skip.knox]

The question isn't one versus several. The question is how you use language in your story. This can range from merely referencing the existence of other languages (you already noted this) to writing whole passages in another language. At the latter end, you'd best be a linguist, as making a convincing conlang is non-trivial.

Which leaves the vast middle ground of "some use" of other languages. You can add in touches merely for color, to create real barriers to communication in an important scene, for comedic effect (you noted that one, too). And so on. You sound like you're aware of all that.

The one angle I didn't see mentioned is the reader. How hard do you want to make the reader work? To take the famous and obvious example, Tolkien really didn't care much if you knew elvish. He gives us these long passages and I honestly don't know what he expected me to do. Consult the Appendix before continuing? Just read it out loud, mangling the words, just to hear them in some form? I do note that in many cases one can skip over the poetry without harm to the narrative. But when it came to the words inscribed on the One Ring, he gave us the Black Speech but then gave the translation. IOW, he used English where communication was vital. Whether the other characters in the scene knew the words wasn't really the important point.

So again, how hard do you want to make the reader work?

 

[ThinkerX]

Okay...

The primary nation in my primary world is the Solarian Empire, a very rough and twisted analog of the late Roman Empire. The Solarian 'heart lander's' - the quasi-Roman founders of this nation, grew their realm partially by conquering other nations and partly through binding alliances that became permanent. Each of these other fiefs boasted, among other things, their own languages. For most folks in these subject states, their original language (pre-conquest) is their primary tongue. However, people who interact with members of other subject states at all - peddlers, carters, mercenaries, scribes, sailors - use the Solarian tongue as a lingua-fraca or common language. It helps that there are colonies, enclaves, and fortifications populated mostly by heart landers across the entire empire.

This situation changes somewhat in the far western provinces: a large slice of the original populace originated from a nation across the western 'Sea of Shadows,' and did much the same as Solaria - conquer neighboring fiefs and impose their own language for general communications between them. Much later, after their language became diluted through prolonged contact (language mutate over time) the Solarian's conquered that entire region, and that language became the 'trade tongue' - which is almost entirely separate from Solarian. Solarian visitors to that area learn the trade tongue simply to get by. Likewise, ambitious locals will learn Solarian, because being on good terms with Solaria is how you get ahead.

I would suggest something similar with your world - ages ago, one of these 'villages' (call it 'Village A') managed to annex a large number of neighboring communities and established trade routes that extended well beyond their area of direct control. As part of this, at least a large minority of the locals in these villages and areas learned to speak Village A's language. Now, centuries later (or longer), 'Village A' may or may not be a major power - but a wide assortment of scholars, soldiers, merchants, innkeepers, and travelers will have at least some proficiency in the 'Village A' dialect.

If you are feeling ambitious or wish to add a bit more depth, you can have a 'Village B' follow much the same route, spawning a different common language. Which common language a given traveler speaks will say a great deal about said travelers background.

 

[Ned Marcus]

Having several languages is more interesting, and can lead to situations where friends have a 'secret' language or where characters can surprise with their knowledge. If you do this, it helps to have a common language, too.

 

[Prince of Spires]

It depends on the story you want to tell.

Having everyone speak Galactic Standard is such a common trope in SciFi / Fantasy that readers wont care too much if you go down that route. Especially not because you won't visit all 10 billion inhabitants or 1.000 villages in a single story anyway. Robert Jordan got away with it in The Wheel of Time, as did Tolkien in Lord of the Rings (yes, there's other languages there, but everyone understands each other all the time). If they can then so can you.

If your story is partially about the differences between the villages and their cultures, then having different languages can be beneficial, since they emphasise these differences and can increase misunderstandings. Just be aware that it can make writing difficult if you want to do it realistically. If you have a pre-modern setting with a lower class protagonist, then he will only speak 1 language in all likelyhood. And learning another language takes more than just a few sessions of listening to someone around a campfire. And then writing a story where the protagonist doesn't understand half of what's being said can be weird.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

This is an excellent reference for the burgeoning conlanger.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Language-Invention-Horse-Lords-World-Building-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZMVG/

 

[A. E. Lowan]

And as a side-note, in out urban fantasy series, we have characters speaking many different languages, English, Spanish, French, Faerie Gaelic, ASL, and BSL. Do we conlang this? Oh heck no. And it works.

 

[Aldarion]

Hi,

I post this threat because I recently advanced a lot in my fictional universe. I could say I intend to make a whole world with about 900-1,000 villages. Noting that in the context of my fictional universe, a "village" could be about the equivalent of a nation or community, and I had the idea to use this term to take inspiration from other fictional universes such as Naruto, with the concept of "hidden villages", but also some other things such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, where the "holiday towns" would also be de facto "national communities".

That said, an idea I had would be to include more than one language in my fictional world because the language is often extremely culturally important, and because it would allow me to differentiate my villages culturally. However, I know many people would prefer me to simplify things with only one language. But what I had in mind would be to only include the most predominant languages (so a lot of established villages could share a common official language) to avoid unnecessary complexity.

I could say that my fictional world will have about 10 billions inhabitants with more than 160,000 kilometers of equidistance for both the North-South and the West-East (that is much more than the approximative number of 40,000 kilometers of equidistance for the Earth planet), thus yes, my fictional world would be a planet which would have been culturally developed through several millenniums and centuries.

So, thanks you, and have a good night!

Seeing how it is a planet, and larger than Earth, you will have literally tens of thousands of languages. Do note however that having languages does not mean you have to develop them like Tolkien did. You can easily take names from real-life languages, few words here and there, and then say that they are representation of languages in your world (which is what Tolkien himself did - look at his notes on Hobbit and Rohirrim languages in Appendices to LotR).

 

[ShadeZ]

Several.

1. It sucks if you have warriors trying to communicate secrets in a way other might not know.

2. It adds a lot more diversity of culture.

3. Highly unlikely that you won't have many languages in a large world unless it utopian and even then morelike to have a universal translator device.