Simlish

Simlish

An example of Simlish text in The Sims 3.

Simlish is the language of the Sims. It is assumed that Simlish is the official language of SimNation.

There is no official Simlish dictionary, but an unofficial dictionary, based on The Sims 2, can be found here.

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.

Some say it may be a mixture of Ukrainian, Navajo, and Tagalog, but this has not been confirmed.

Non-Simlish phrases

On occasion, non-Simlish phrases are heard in the Sims games.

• In The Sims, when a child is eating food, he/she may say "This sucks mommy!".
• In The Sims, when a female adult is chopping food sometimes they will say "Ouch!"

• In The Sims 2, a toddler eating in a high chair seems to be saying "Yucky, yucky".

• In The Sims 2: University, Sims who reject the "school cheer" interaction say something that sounds like "no love for gerbits". (Gerbit appears to be Simlish for llama.)

• In The Sims 3, a female character on the KidZone television channel says "Well, hi there!".

• Sometimes in The Sims 3: Late Night, when a Mixologist serves a good drink, the Sim who drank it will say "awesome" 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.

• Rarely, French phrases, such as "bonjour" (hello), are heard.

• When there is a child aging up with the Birthday Inferno Birthday Cake, if there's another child on the lot, that child will say "Happy birthday!", if you listen very closely.

• In The Sims 3, when child female Sims drink juice, they sometimes say "Green iguanas flying in the sky".

• When a toddler is trapped in a high chair, (s)he will scream "stupid".

• In The Sims 3, 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 are - "You're blonde! Zep you're blonde." and "You're..You're Jessy Madoo!".

• During scouting events in The Sims 3: Generations, a child may ask "Where do nooboos come from?" (Nooboo is the Simlish word for baby).

• In The Sims 3, when playing computer games, you can sometimes hear 'Ref. 59' from the game.

• Sometimes an adult will do the happy thing and say "Jiggle jiggle poop!"

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. Some common phrases are "ralalalalib bubaya", "commun snanna", and "o frazinnratt", but the number of available phrases were limited, which led to some repetition.

The Sims 2

The Sims 2 comes with better heard and newer phrases like "e wam". Common phrases are now "daj daj" and "ackabunad." Common greetings include "sule-sule" and "dag dag". When there's a problem, they will say "Shoo Flee" and "anaconda" a lot. When some female Sims walk by another Sim, their greeting will be "Ooh, voodoo!" Sometimes they'll say "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 they may say "Oh! Ambloo. Umm...sesaru?" and males will usually say that too except they do not say "haloo". 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

The Sims 3 has the largest Simlish vocabulary. Common phrases are "teg teg", "swebsi madoo", "madoof napso!", "abondandlain... en som?", "hubble herbi", "etne condoroy","shawbo glub", "switz zorg", "tippaha yooredful", "shabow", "sussel!", "ibzy biz ochoy", "ayba miyba mo!", "sa dooga", "ib ou!", "narbo puhzed", and "yargbo bay tazzle". Sims also shout "Shamo! Jatzkey!" or "Wala!" when they cannot reach a certain area (accompanied by a "no footsteps" speech bubble).

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.

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 resembles languages such as French. 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, having many celebrity players, 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 Veronica's "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" could be heard in The Sims 2 for the PS2, 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. <videogallery> Video:Lily Allen - Smile (in Simlish) - using Sims 2 Seasons|Lily Allen - Smile (The Sims 2 Season) Video:Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful Of Sunshine (Simlish)|Natasha Bedingfield - Pocketful Of Sunshine (The Sims 2 Freetime) Video:Datarock - Fa Fa Fa (Simlish)|Datarock - Fa Fa Fa (The Sims 2 Freetime) Video:Katy Perry - Hot n Cold (Simlish)|Katy Perry - Hot n Cold (The Sims 2 Apartment Life) Video:Pixie Lott|Pixie Lott - Mama Do (The Sims 3 World Adventures) Video:Nelly Furtado - Manos Al Aire (Simlish)|Nelly Furtado - Manos Al Aire (The Sims 3 World Adventures) Video:Lady Antebellum, Need You Now - The Sims 3|Lady Antebellum - Need You Now (The Sims 3 Ambitions) Video:Jessica Mauboy 'Saturday Night' Simlish Recording Session for The Sims 3 on Console|Jessica Mauboy - Saturday Night (The Sims 3 for console) </videogallery>

Known Simlish Translations

Hello: Zue zue

Goodbye: Egay

No: Wibah

Yes: Oujarh

You: Etne

Me: Wui

Will: Betzy

Marry: Conda

How: Ripsa

Are: Newie

Fine: Metcha

Thanks: Awa

I: Ebarna

Love: Catju

Inlikewise: Ticha nowessa.

Linda: Zue zue.

Morgan: Zue zue.

Linda: Ripsa newie etne?

Morgan: Metcha. Betzy etne conda wui?

Linda: Ouhjarh!

Morgan: Awa

Linda: Ebarna catju etne.

Morgan: Ticha nowessa.

Appearances outside 'The Sims' games

SimCopter

SimCopter was the first game to feature Simlish.

Sid Mier'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.

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.

See also

• Songs in Simlish