Simlish – the ‘made-up’ language of The Sims

One of the most instantly recognisable features of The Sims’ franchise is the characters’ use of Simlish, a completely made-up language by game designer, Will Wright.

The jumbled dialogue adds a comical touch to the popular simulation game, and it’s just as vivid and expressive as it is confusing.

How was Simlish developed?

The majority of Simlish is made up on the spot by voice actors, but there are certain widely used words throughout the game. The most prominent example is “sul sul,” which means hello, and has become the most recognisable word to game players.

The creators of Simlish attempted to model it after existing languages like Estonian and Ukrainian, but the resulting language was something entirely different.

Wright was eager that Simlish be treated as a separate language from the rest of the world’s dialects. To encourage players to develop their own unique interactions between their characters, and prevent them from being bombarded with the same voice line over and over again as they experiment with the game’s settings, a language with no structure and no repetition was developed.

Game designer Claire Curtin tried out an improvisation game in which one actor delivers a poem in a made-up language, and another actor translates it into English for the audience – which played a huge part in the development of the game’s language.

The recording process

The initial attempts to record in Simlish were very trying. Kauker and Wright together with voice director Claire Curtin, sound designer Kent Jolly, and composer Jerry Martin initially tried using musical instruments, but it “failed spectacularly,” in Kauker’s words.

So, improvisation actor Stephen Kearin was brought into the studio and given written Ukrainian and Navajo with the instruction to record the words exactly as they appeared on the paper. Wright considered the phrases unintelligible even when removed from any context or obvious interpretation.

To record Simlish, a voice actor is given an animation, a word count, and a time limit. It is then completely up to the voice artist to fill in the rest until the result elicits a convincingly human emotional response, while remaining as essentially meaningless gibberish.

Famous Simlish speakers

Due to the language being completely improvised, in theory – any one can speak it! This has been particularly handy when casting for The Sims games and recording the games soundtrack. Well-known actors and musicians have also provided their voices/songs for the game franchise over the years. Big names such as Lizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen, Soulja Boy, and Paramore have all recorded Simlish versions of their songs.

Take a look at this mind-blowing video of Katy Perry singing her number one hit, “Last Friday Night,” in Simlish, which was “translated” from English when the song was imported into the Sims universe. Kauker states that converting a song from English to Simlish is more like to a transcription than a translation because the melody has to be recreated from scratch using the Simlish syllabary.

Do you require the skills of a voice artist for a project of your own?

Here at Matinée Multilingual, we have a vast database of talented voice artists who specialise in everything from explainer videos to interactive toys. Whichever language you require a voiceover in, (we offer over 80!) and whatever your next project is, let us help you bring it to life with our expert voiceover services.

We’ll help you connect and engage with your audience with the perfect voiceover, all the way from offering a selection of hand-picked voice demos, to recording and editing the final audio file. Why not get in touch with us today and find out more about how we can help you?

Call us on +44 (0) 118 958 4934

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