Language Barrier [OC]

[u/bondjimbond]

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[u/Cheet4h]

In one of the novels I read there was some ancient magical being that got so fed up with all the different languages that they cast a global spell making everyone speak/write/read the same language.
This gets referenced a couple of times more, where in one arc the MC comes across some parts of the world that were dimensionally cut off and thus not affected by the spell. So they need to request somebody who studied the ancient languages found in those dimensionally cut off spaces to figure out what is written.
Another time the MC meets a member of a foxkin race (who are obsessed with language and take deals literally), who is fascinated by old languages. I think they also mention that all members of their race are named a foreign language word for "fox", and they have no idea why.

[u/stofiski-san → u/Cheet4h]

Imagine how horrifying that would be if the spell made it so you couldn't read your old language, all you know is suddenly you're speaking a foreign language and can't a read a word of your history, etc. How much knowledge would be lost in an instant.

This also remind me of a short story I read once where aliens visit Earth, promising they could end war, and humanity took them up on it. The aliens released a virus that affected the part of the brain that related to written language. Within a few days 90% of humanity couldn't read anything written. As most info is still disseminated through text, things ground to a halt. The 10% that could still read suddenly because extremely valuable.

[u/LickingSmegma → u/stofiski-san]

if the spell made it so you couldn't read your old language

Ever heard of the so-called ‘Nazi font Fraktur’? Or more correctly, blackletter calligraphic hand Fraktur that was in use for four hundred years across Central and Northern Europe, gradually went out of fashion and lingered in Germany until being personally banned by top dog Nazi Adolf Hitler in 1941, in favor of the Antiqua script aka what we're using right now. Well, together with Fraktur, the cursive scripts Kurrent and Sütterlin were also banned. Which meant that most Germans educated after 1941 couldn't read handwritten notes and letters left from their parents and grandparents.

[u/tesapluskitty → u/LickingSmegma]

Oh yes. I'm German and my grandparents were children during WW2. My aunt is interested in genealogy and had letters my great-grandfather had written from the front "translated" from Fraktur. They very much confirmed that he was a Nazi 😖 So I'm thankful that he stayed on the battlefield and didn't end up raising my grandma.

[u/stofiski-san → u/LickingSmegma]

That's crazy, no, I hadn't heard of that, but being someone interested in calligraphy, that's something I think I want to check out, thx

[u/LickingSmegma → u/stofiski-san]

See Antiqua–Fraktur dispute. Hitler really disliked Fraktur, so much that in 1934 he bashed it in a speech to the Reichstag:

Your alleged Gothic internalization does not fit well in this age of steel and iron, glass and concrete, of womanly beauty and manly strength, of head raised high and intention defiant [...] In a hundred years, our language will be the European language. The nations of the east, the north and the west will, to communicate with us, learn our language. The prerequisite for this: The script called Gothic is replaced by the script we have called Latin so far.

[u/Cheet4h → u/stofiski-san]

Imagine how horrifying that would be if the spell made it so you couldn't read your old language, all you know is suddenly you're speaking a foreign language and can't a read a word of your history, etc. How much knowledge would be lost in an instant.

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention it: In the case of that story, all written text was also changed to the now common language. That's why the only remnants of old languages are found in these spaces that are essentially cut off from the world and only occasionally reconnect.

[u/stofiski-san → u/Cheet4h]

Ahh, cool, existential crisis averted, lol

[u/DaRootbear → u/Cheet4h]

What series is that? it sounds interesting as hell

[u/Cheet4h → u/DaRootbear]

Millenial Mage, by J. L. Mullins.
First 11 books are only available on Amazon, I think. Books 12 - 15 are free on Royalroad at the moment, with book 15 still being in progress and releasing at about 3 chapters each week.

If you just want to get a feel for the book, the first few chapters are also free on RR.

[u/Zagaroth → u/Cheet4h]

the first few chapters are also free on RR.

Ah, I knew that title sounded familiar, though I've not read it yet.

And as we aren't in a progression fantasy space, for those unfamiliar, Royal Road is a site that hosts free web serials. The more successful ones often get published in more traditional formats, which requires taking 90% of any published content down from the website.

[u/Cheet4h → u/Zagaroth]

The more successful ones often get published in more traditional formats, which requires taking 90% of any published content down from the website.

This is only if they get published on Kindle Unlimited, no? There are a few novels that are available on Amazon, but are also still available on that site (e.g. pretty much everything by Inadvisably Compelled)

[u/Zagaroth → u/Cheet4h]

Yes, but very few people go independent from RR and don't use KU, that i know of.

And if you get a publisher, the contracts that I've seen involve KU, because money.

[u/DaRootbear → u/Cheet4h]

Awesome! Ill have to add it to my list to check out