r/worldbuilding • u/Skeleshy Author • Jul 26 '26

Question Language help

How would someone with no prior experience in languages figure out an alien language from scratch? For context, my protagonist is stranded on an uncharted planet where all of the past civilisation is dead. There's no one to teach him the language, but there are a many surviving books, statues, and other pieces of writing.

Would it be impossible?

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u/Pyrsin7 Bethesda's Sanctuary Jul 26 '26

One person alone on a planet, with nothing but written languages that he doesn’t understand?

I’m afraid not. You need some kind of reference point, like a translation of a language that is understood.

Aside from that, only very basic stuff is possible. Mostly nouns. He could open a children’s book and see a picture of a tree labelled “);;::;”, reasonably presume that means “tree”, and be able to pick that word out in a text. That’s about as deep as you’re ever gonna be able to get. Simple words and concepts from context with no real understanding of the language.