Simlish

Simlish is a fictional language featured in Maxis' Sim series of games. It debuted in SimCopter, and has been especially prominent The Sims and The Sims 2. Simlish can also be heard in SimCity 4, albeit far less frequently.

Simlish is almost completely improvised, and there are hardly any words with actual meanings; it is more concerned with using sounds to express gameplay-related emotions. 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. Credit for "inventing" Simlish is given to voice actors Stephen Kearin and Gerri Lawlor, who worked on the original Sims game.

Despite it being entirely improvised, it does have a reasonably consistent sound. The vowels are more heavily emphasized than in English. It is also almost entirely spoken with the front part of the tongue and mouth; ee (as in meet) and the letter y are commonly used, and there are few, if any, guttural sounds, thus adding to the overall "cute" feel of the game.

Simlish words and phrases

The following are a few Simlish words and phrases (spelled out phonetically) and possible translations. There is currently no official Simlish dictionary, so not all translations below are necessarily correct. Spellings vary according to how words sound from various different sound cards. Not all sound cards distribute sounds identically, so there are variations in possible phonetics, such as in frotogé vs. frehd-eshay.

The Sims

Confirmed by Maxis

Chumcha

"pizza"

Dag Dag

goodbye, which by coincidence can also means "goodbye" or "bye bye" in Dutch

Nooboo

"baby"

Unconfirmed

No pala!!! Ooh kay kay keelah!!!

Sims 1 adult male, meaning "No fulfillment! Help ease my suffering!" "Pala" usually refers to the Comfort need, though can be used for others.

Wah-sinakay!!!

Sims 1 adult male, meaning "I'm suffering!"

Deh Dah Da

Hello

Dis gweld es frotogé, en a wooka-dis now!

Sims 1 adult female phrase, meaning, roughly, "the world is full of those! And that's a plain fact"

Egadasiliwahowlahoo'enburwati

Sims 1 adult male phrase of indeterminate meaning, often used during conversation

Feefeena!

"Feed me!"

Misbalah!

expression of dismay or intense frustration

Mokey-hokey

meaning "okay"

Plicka

meaning "kitty" or "cat"

Que-moh-nuzhnee? Esta booka-dee schvallow en dough cheeky-a-vunch!

Sims 1 women, meaning: "Are you joking? I know exactly where that's going and I couldn't agree more!!!"

Kominsnala!

Sim female adult greeting. Means "hello!"

Ee lala kala!

"I need a shower!"

Myshuno!!

"I need to use the bathroom!". It can also be noted that this is the name of an object in The Sims 2.

"Sabaduchia!

"Sims 1" Child phrase, used when leaving for school. Perhaps meaning "I'm off!"

The Sims Bustin' Out

Bustin' Out for Game Boy Advance uses very little Simlish, because the music is instrumental and the dialog is text-based and in real languages.

Comprendom

(Used when in conversation with another sim, possibly signifying comprehension or understanding.)

Dee a fehboga chizi neg

(Male: Either a way of saying thank you, or what they say when getting the door)

Agachi [bleep]

(Curse words)

Shee kwa [bleep]

(Curse words)

Aah, batatoba tatoo

(Used when cheering someone up or saying "Ah, I get it")

Tungblanana! Tar!

(Get out of here, I'm using the bathroom!)

The Sims 2

Please note that the spelling and definitions of most of these words are estimated, and that they come from a variety of Sims games and expansion packs. Sims 2 Simlish is markedly different from the Simlish of the original games.

Yubelikhte?...Loliba-koctoe...

roughly means "Next target? That (over there) looks fine..." spoken only by teen females when gazing through the telescope.

Ka friabai?

adult women, means "An engagement ring?"

Moarsh doove, Moarshdoove

meaning "Ha-llo!!!" or hello dragged out by teen females. May also mean "howdy, neighbor!"

Ai! Kavtoosonne!

another teen female telescope phrase, meaning "Eureeka! There it is!"

Awwww!...Mea-gufaaw!

male adult, meaning "Oh...that makes sense to me now..."

Kavaala! Midoo!!!

teen female, meaning "Over here! I'm desperate!!!"

Kailora! Pukalarado!

"Hey there! I'm hungry!"

Oh, lipen!

adult women, meaning "Wait! Hold that thought!"

Choe-kaase!!! Loof-leegah!!!

teen girls, meaning: "No way!!! That's for certain!" Usually announced when they tilt heads back with enlightenment. Sounds like: "choke us!!!"

Mistufa! Estoofla!!!?

female adult, meaning "(This) blocks my path! Please move it!"

Oh, abalada!

adult males, meaning "Wait! I just recalled..."

Meena ladien

I want to get close to you!

Roochi mailor!

Let's make WooHoo.

Shoshu

"bye bye"

Kamora!

Said when a sim, usually female, is fanning themselves from being in love

Koodara, hm... Leeroray!

Said by adult females when ordering food. Roughly "I'll take the (any food item)."

Burnee hmmm...ad-tropheesh!

Said by adult males when pondering their next move

Mayabellui

often used in dirty jokes by adult males

Maracha-lah vee???

cried out by teen females when desperate, especially when made pregnant with third-party mods

Oogibra!

adult females, meaning "I'm over here, help me!"

In The Sims 2 expansion pack The Sims 2: University, Sims can do a school cheer that goes:

Baya su da karn

Baya su da bawnk

Baya baybi ohga aybee

Donk donk donk!

Gurbits! Gurbits! Voooooe Gurbits!

(Gurbits appears to be Simlish for llamas.)

The interpretation of the cheer is as follows:

Beat them now

Beat them well

Win the game!

Yeah yeah yeah!

Llamas! Llamas! Goooo Llamas!

Baya seems to be beat; however, it could also mean win, and basha beat, but obviously the words win and beat are in the cheer. The other words are simply estimates, though "don" seems to be yes, or perhaps win.

Music

In The Sims, Sims sing campfire songs. One is to the tune of "She'll be Comin' 'Round The Mountain". Another is "Hallelulia".

From the beginning, Sims have been able to listen to Simlish music on their cheap boomboxes, fancy stereos, or over loudspeakers as they shopped. For The Sims 2 expansion packs University and Nightlife, rather than creating unique Simlish music, recording artists cut new performances of their songs with Simlish lyrics. These artists include Dexter Freebish, Paramore, Abra Moore, Charlotte Martin, Da Riffs, The Daylights, The Perishers, Acceptance, Go Betty Go, Steadman, The Faders, Adam Freeland, Hyper, Junkie XL, Lemon Jelly and Timo Maas and Trivium. According to Trivium singer Matt Heafy, whilst recording 'Like Light To The Flies' for The Sims 2, he was given 'a complete translation' by the Maxis team although rumours abound as to whether this was a word for word translation or just a translation to convey the general idea of the song.

Written Simlish

Signs in Sims games do not contain text; they consist entirely of graphics. For instance, the stop sign in The Sims is a red octagon with a flat, white hand. In The Sims 2 it becomes a white bar instead. The sign for a grocery store depicts a cornucopia, and that of a restaurant shows a hamburger or a place setting.

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 softened edges, and with the Simoleon sign replacing the dollar sign.)

In The Sims 2, lettering is only distinguishable at very close zooms or when editing the texure files. On book covers, newspapers and Nightlife's "Sims Must Wash Hands" sign, it is in the Cyrillic alphabet. When Sims are writing novels or term papers, dingbats from the Wingdings font appear as text on the screen. (They look strange, even from a distance, because they are blue on gray and because the font is monospaced.) Finally, the notebooks used for homework contain writing that appears to be composed of random lines.

The writing on police car doors reads: Yulhullie mud lapllahaduhil, roughly meaning "To Serve and Protect".

In The Sims 2, Simlish words occasionally appear on television screens. They appear to be written in the Greek alphabet.

External links

• Spot On: Simlish stylist Robi Kauker (an article on the Simlish music in The Sims 2: University)
• This page has a few songs in Simlish (offical sims 2 site, scroll down until you see tunes )