As a linguistics enthusiast, Chants of Sennaar is the puzzle game of my dreams. Almost zero context from the get-go, discovering multiple different cultures, uniting those cultures with the ultimate power of communication — what’s not to like? The defining component of this game is, obviously, the set of languages the player spends the entire game deciphering. With five languages that all differ from one another in a variety of ways, we’ve decided to rank them from best to worst.
Now, also due to being a linguistics enthusiast, it is painful for me to determine any language as “the worst.” All languages are magical in their own ways because of what they say about the cultures they represent. Additionally, the appearances of several CoS languages are styled after real-world orthographies (the Bards’ after Arabic, the Warriors’ after old Norse, etc.). So how do we determine a ranking?
We’ll be using three categories: aesthetic appearance, ease of translation, and vocabulary variety. Each category is scored on a scale of 1-5 (with 1 being worst, 5 being best), and the totals are added up for an overall score. Ready to see what we’ve decided?
5. Anchorites
| Aesthetics | 1 |
| Translation | – |
| Vocabulary | 3 |
It may seem a little unfair to rank the Anchorites’ language dead last since they weren’t really given a fighting chance. We didn’t get to dive as deeply into this language since the game demands a speedier translation to get through to the ending. This means we don’t even get that cool experience of helping translate a different level’s words into this language, and vice versa, as we do in the terminal puzzles.
However, we also rank them last because the words are wholly aesthetically displeasing. Look at it. It’s just a bunch of lines. It looks like someone threw some sticks at a board and called it good. Sure, it’s incredibly functional — but it’s not appealing. Although this design choice does give the Anchorites the advantage of having a plural designation built into the character rather than dealing with extra characters, we remain firm in my grading choice.
Most of the points here come from the vocabulary, which gets bonus points for being the only language with the word “Disregard,” even while boasting the smallest lexicon.
| Total Score |
|---|
| 4 |
4. Devotees
| Aesthetics | 3 |
| Translation | 5 |
| Vocabulary | 2 |
We didn’t want to do this. We really didn’t. But their limited vocabulary could not be ignored.
Overall, we love the language of the Devotees. By nature of it representing the first level, it’s easy to understand, and the glyphs are sensibly designed so that differentiating between a person, a place, or an object is simple. Using double glyphs to represent plurals is also an intuitive move that removes the need to translate any additional glyphs. High translatability and its syntax lining up with English make this a simple one to transpose.
The look of this language isn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off, but at least it isn’t ugly in its practicality. These glyphs put me in mind of Egyptian hieroglyphics, which immediately sets the tone of adventure and exploration for this game.
Still, there’s not a lot that we can say in this language. It has 34 glyphs, the second smallest lexicon in the game, and most of those words are fairly utilitarian.
| Total Score |
|---|
| 10 |
3. Warriors
| Aesthetics | 3 |
| Translation | 4 |
| Vocabulary | 4 |
The Warriors have an interesting language. Though their world seems entirely dedicated to more spartan pursuits, including the orthography itself, the words we learn from them tell a different story. Composed of a bunch of straight lines like the Anchorite language, these glyphs still manage to be pictorial, giving us an idea of their meanings without needing too much context.
And, like the Devotee language, the Warriors rely on a few patterns for different word categories, such as a downward-pointing angle to indicate the word is a verb. This language would have gotten a perfect score for translation… if it wasn’t for that dang plural glyph coming BEFORE the object. We don’t think we ever once got that right on the first try when doing conversational translations.
In terms of vocabulary, the language of the Fortress boasts 36 glyphs, two more than its predecessor, and in that lexicon, we are given such beautiful words as “Moon,” “Vessel,” and “Balance.” I’ll even forgive them for referring to everyone who isn’t a Warrior or a Bard as “Impure” because that’s just so metal.
| Total Score |
|---|
| 11 |
2. Bards
| Aesthetics | 5 |
| Translation | 2 |
| Vocabulary | 5 |
It may insult the Bards to learn that they did not end up being #1 on this language list, but at least they can take comfort in their perfect score on aesthetics. Do the glyphs have a sensible pattern? Absolutely not. Do they look graceful, dramatic, and important with that ongoing underline? Definitely. The Bard glyphs are varied and swoopy, making them the prettiest to look at, if not the easiest to comprehend.
Speaking of comprehension, this lovely language ends up being kind of garbage to translate. The syntax is different from English, demanding that the object of each sentence come before the subject and predicate. That means extra thinkin’ time for some of us when translating Bardic phrases into others, and vice versa. And I’ll say it again: these beautiful glyphs can get tricky to differentiate when trying to parse out definitions.
But if you can get all those definitions correct, boy, do you have a vocabulary to work with. The Bards have a 42-glyph lexicon, and there are so many great words! “Beauty” and “Comedy” are obvious favorites, but “Ascend” and “Path” are unique to this language as well. We also offer the Bards points for having the most variety of terms for people. We have “Bard,” “Brother,” “Man,” “Monster,” “Warrior,” and “Idiot,” as opposed to the Warriors’ blanket “Impure.” What is one word that isn’t included in the Bard vocabulary, though it appears everywhere else? That would be “Death”. Perhaps priority was given to “Pliers”.
| Total Score |
|---|
| 12 |
1. Alchemists
| Aesthetics | 5 |
| Translation | 5 |
| Vocabulary | 3 |
It should say something about this language that as soon as we saw a sneak preview of it on one of the terminals, we got an immediate thrill for what was to come. We recall describing it as “Time-Lord-esque.” The circles? The lines? The triangles? It’s like each glyph is its own miniature magic circle. And, it’s not all for show, as the Alchemists continue the tradition of keeping certain design elements within each category of word.
The syntax of the Alchemist’s language also lines up perfectly with that of English. Though they have an extra glyph to denote plurals, that glyph follows the object it’s affecting, which is what we are accustomed to in English. We never once struggled with translating phrases into the Alchemist language, so they get the high score in translation.
Unfortunately, though they boast a whopping 42-glyph lexicon to match the Bards, many of those glyphs are merely numbers. On the one hand, it’s great to finally be able to do math in the game (we guess). On the other, numbers aren’t all that interesting in terms of vocabulary. Including words like “Refectory” and “Transformation” is pretty cool, though, so they can still get a 3.
| Total Score |
|---|
| 13 |
This guest post was written by Justine!
Justine is novelist with a long time casual interest in video games. If you’re interested in reading more of her gaming-related work. you can visit her Medium page.
Tremendous thanks to Justine for contributing to the site and supporting one of the most unique indie games of 2023.