The Legend of Zelda – Skyward Sword: Hylian Decoded
Zelda fans are generally known for being always willing and eager to solve puzzles. It was probably part of their attraction to the franchise. It was not a surprising turn then that Zelda fans were able to figure out what the supposedly “untranslatable” language of Ancient Hylian was saying.
This language has just been introduced in Skyward Sword and gamers have been able to decipher it already. Well, this is mostly thanks to Sarinilli of Zelda Universe who solved the cipher that was the Ancient Hylian language. She went on to examine the littlest details of the game. Through Sarinilli’s careful perusal of these details, a one-to-one cipher emerged. This code is even ready to be used by us, who have not participated in the translation. Sarinilli’s font is based on the text.
Those who are also fans of the Zelda comics will be happy to have received more translation-related news. Glitterberri has released an English language translation for the first 15 pages of the Skyward Sword manga. It has also promised to provide more related translations. Japanese is turning out to be a more complex language than Hylian but there are 127 million Japanese speakers in the world who can at least contribute to the translation project. Ancient Hylian, on the other hand, has to depend on the devotion and careful perusal of people such as Sarinilli.
Translating Hylian in the Legend of Zelda (Credit: DeviantART/ Sarnilli)
One thing is for sure in all of these exercises, though. Zelda fans will not just back down because their favorite stories are being weaved in languages that they are not familiar with.
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