Simlish

Simlish is a fictional language featured in Maxis' "Sim" series of games. It debuted in "SimCopter", and has been especially prominent in "The Sims" and "The Sims 2". Simlish can also be heard in "SimCity 4", but far less frequently. It also featured to an extent in the Firaxis game "Sid Meier's SimGolf". Designer Will Wright was conscious of the need for dialogue in the game, but thought that using a real language would make it sound too repetitive and would also be too costly to hire translators for world languages.

Initially, inspired by the Native American code talkers of WWII, Sims creator Will Wright and language expert Marc Gimbel suggested experimenting with the Navajo language to create Simlish. However ultimately they decided that Simlish worked best as a "language" made up of gibberish words that couldn't be translated, so that its meaning would be left open to the imagination of the player. [ [http://uk.videogames.games.yahoo.com/ngc/previews/the-sims-bustin--out-e72277.html The Sims Bustin' Out Designer Diary #3] ] Wright later commented that using "nonsense language" turned out to be the right development choice, as people were capable of imagining it more realistically than a computer could simulate a real one. [cite journal|journal=New Scientist|publisher=Reed Business Information|volume=199|issue=2675|title=Interview: The games master|author=Celeste Biever|date=24 September 2008]

Music

Sims have been able to listen to Simlish music on their cheap boomboxes, or fancy stereos since its inception; since "", they have also heard music on wall speakers on Community lots.

In ' and ', Sims sing campfire songs. They are sung to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain", "Michael Row the Boat Ashore" and "On Top of Old Smoky". Lyrics for these songs were posted on the official website. A free full-length soundtrack album for "" has also been released for download (complete with cover art), with several tracks sung in Simlish. [ [http://thesims.ea.com/us/getcool/graphics/superstar_cd.html Make Your Own Superstar Soundtrack CD!] , Thesims.ea.com. Retrieved 14 October 2007.]

Outside artists

For "The Sims 2" expansion packs ' and ', rather than creating unique Simlish music, recording artists cut new performances of their songs with Simlish lyrics. These artists include Annie, The Pussycat Dolls, Dexter Freebish, Paramore, Abra Moore, Charlotte Martin, Da Riffs, The Daylights, The Perishers, Cansei de Ser Sexy, Reggie and the Full Effect, Acceptance, Go Betty Go, Steadman, The Faders, Adam Freeland, Hyper, Junkie XL, Lemon Jelly, MxPx, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, Timo Maas, Barenaked Ladies, Natasha Bedingfield, Lily Allen, and Trivium. The songs included in any one game depend on the localization. Kajagoogoo's Too Shy also appears on the New Wave music channel. Fellow Briton and synthpop artist Howard Jones re-recorded his hit song "Things Can Only Get Better" in Simlish. It also appears on the New Wave channel.

Keke Palmer contributed her song "The Game Song" from her album So Uncool in Simlish for "".

The Black Eyed Peas also contributed to the recording of Simlish hip-hop songs in "".

British electronic band Depeche Mode recorded a Simlish-language version of their single "Suffer Well" for "".

Heavy metal band Anthrax made a Simlish version of their song "Now It's Dark" from their album "State of Euphoria" in "The Sims".

Barenaked Ladies re-recorded three songs ( [http://thesims2.ea.com/getcoolstuff/music/BNL_Easy.mp3 "Easy"] , [http://thesims2.ea.com/getcoolstuff/music/BNL_WhatALetDown.mp3 "What A Let Down"] , [http://thesims2.ea.com/getcoolstuff/music/BNL_WindItUp.mp3 "Wind It Up"] ) from "Barenaked Ladies Are Me" in Simlish for inclusion on the "" pack.
Skye Sweetnam recorded her song "Boyhunter" in Simlish prior to its appearance on her album "Sound Soldier".Several artists re-recorded hit songs in Simlish for the expansion pack "", including Aly & AJ doing their "Chemicals React" [ [http://gameboy.gamezone.com/news/08_08_06_01_37PM.htm EA and Aly & AJ collaborate on signature song for The Sims 2: Pets] from GameZone. March 1, 2007.] , The Flaming Lips with "Free Radicals", The Pussycat Dolls with their top chart hit "Don't Cha", The Format with "The Compromise", and Saving Jane with "Girl Next Door". In the Spanish version, La Oreja de Van Gogh remade their hit "Dulce Locura". The band Malbec has also had their song "Given the Times" translated into Simlish.

Country artist Cowboy Troy also recorded his song "I Play Chicken With the Train" in simlish for an expansion.

Lily Allen re-recorded her hit "Smile" in simlish, which also has a music video, featuring a "sim Lily Allen". It has been watched more than 4 million times on the site YouTube. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJsZhiOhUVg]

In the "" expansion pack, The Veronicas have re-recorded their single "When It All Falls Apart". The Breadbox Band also added their song "N". Pop star Tata Young contributed a Simlish version of her song "Zoom".

Natasha Bedingfield has also recorded a new song in Simlish. The song, as well as the new album, is titled "Pocket Full of Sunshine" (which is the U.S. version of her N.B.), and appeared in the newest Sims 2 Expansion Pack, .

Celtic band Gaelic Storm made a Simlish version of their song "Scalliwag" from their album Bring Yer Wellies. It appears in and .The Simlish version of Chemicals React can be downloaded in iTunes.

NLT recorded their song, "That Girl," in Simlish.

Katy Perry's song 'Hot n' Cold' features in

Written Simlish

Signs in "The Sims" games usually do not contain text, but consist entirely of graphics. For example, a pet shop sign in "Unleashed" displays a paw, a stop sign in "Hot Date" displays a white hand, and in "The Sims 2" the sign for a grocery store depicts a cornucopia.

In "The Sims", the headline "The SimCity Times" is visible on the daily newspaper, in English and in the Comic Sans MS font. (The game uses this font, with the Simoleon sign [closely resembling §] as the currency symbol.)

In "The Sims 2", most text is only distinguishable at very close zooms. On book covers, newspapers and "Nightlife's" "Sims Must Wash Hands" sign, the lettering is all nonsense characters that bear about as much resemblance to Latin characters as they do to Cyrillic. Almost no actual characters from any known alphabet are used. When Sims are writing novels or term papers, dingbats from the Wingdings font appear as text on the screen. Finally, the notebooks used for homework contain writing composed of random lines.

In "The Sims 2", Simlish words occasionally appear on television screens. They are written in the same Simlish alphabet described above, or using the font Wingdings to produce symbols like Aum or Zodiac signs. In "The Sims 2 University", eight "SimGreek Letters" appeared as signs intended for fraternity and sorority houses. "University" also contains the most unambiguous existence of actual English language in the whole The Sims 2 series; the words "Open house" are shown on a decorative noteboard on the top right announcement various times. It can only be seen at a very close zoom and is slightly garbled because of the JPEG compression. Most other appearances of English are logos for Maxis, Electronic Arts, or GameSpot. Also, the video games SSX3, The Sims Bustin' Out , SimCity 4 and The Sims 3 (available exclusively in Mr.Humble's Computer object in FreeTime, brought by Mr.Humble, a Rod Humble Sim character), found on the Sims' computers and TVs have numbers and English letters and a rug from the H&M Fashion stuff pack features the letters H&M. The marketing of contains excerpts from phony "hobby magazines" with front cover texts bearing some resemblance to the Latin alphabet. For instance, one magazine about car restoration has a title which can be read as "skitbil", meaning "shit car" or "shitty car" in Swedish. In Create-A-Sim some of the clothing has writing on it too.

Sleeping sims are illustrated by Zs floating around their heads, as usual in comics.

Also when a vehicle arrives on the lot, the number plate shows real numbers; similarly, police cars in the game have real numbers on top of them. When a sim plays on the electronic entertainment, "EA Games" is mentioned in English, but "Challenge Everything" is in simlish.

In "The Sims Online", however, all text is in English.

In a recent trailer for The Sims 3, a bill board in the town shown in the video depicting a local celebrity who later in the trailer performs for the town, the words "Coming Soon" can be read easily, with the letters only being turned different directions. The rest of the text on the billboard is the usual simlish, and is unreadable.

ee also

*Gibberish
*Gobbeldygook
*Grammelot
*Greeking
*Nonsense

References

External links

* [http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=nws2LLyELww&feature=related Charlotte Martin - Keep Me In Your Pocket (in Simlish)] - in the Sims 2: Bon Voyage
* [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/thesims2/news_6119747.html "Spot On: Simlish stylist Robi Kauker"] . Simlish music in The Sims 2: University.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJsZhiOhUVg Lily Allen - Smile (Simlish)] Music Video - Lily Allen's Smile in Simlish
* [http://thesims2.ea.com/getcoolstuff/music.php Some songs in Simlish] . Official The Sims 2 Site.
* [http://thesims.ea.com/us/getcool/graphics/index.html Official Simlish Lessons] . Official The Sims Site.
* [http://bbs.thesims2.ea.com/community/bbs/messages.php?&openItemID=item.2,item.43,item.61,item.41,item.23&threadID=8d04f2582c30dca38b0a2d07d28fb420&directoryID=2&startRow=1#5b3c9c18c3808d99f1e04c01fdb828ea The Big Simlish Dictionary] The Big Simlish Dictionary thread on The Sims 2 Forum (BBS)
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18270JPKwj4] A video of simlish.