Neopia's Hidden Languages

Altador

This beautiful place uses a variety of glyphs in their written language, as seen here:

They are well known to be steeped in history and are proud of their ancient root. Being able to write Altadorian would certainly impress any native of this proud land.

Haunted Woods

The Haunted Woods does not technically have a language of its own, but as it's home to many of the wizards, witches and magic users of Neopia, it deserves an honourable mention. Many spell casters use an old form of written language in their spells which require perfect pronunciation or dire consequences could be had.

These spells are usually performed by trained magic users and apprentices are schooled for many years before being allowed to practise on live spells.

Kreludor and Virtupets

The name of Neopia's moon and home to the Alien Aisha tribe, Kreludor is a scientifically advanced society within Neopia and as can be seen here:

They are adept at communicating by the binary system which is a series of 0 and 1s placed in a logical order which makes the code easily legible to other binary readers. Virtupets is a space station that is home to the famous Grundos and has been included here because they also prefer binary as their native tongue.

Lutari Island

There is very little known about this exclusive place, most adventurers are unable to reach the shores of Lutari Island because of the frequent storms that rage there. There is speculation that its inhabitants prefer to keep their Island away from explorers and prying eyes and therefore call up the storms themselves. There are also rumours that the natives speak a completely unique language which has never been heard before. There are no facts to support these rumours though, and Lutari Island remains one of Neopia's many mysteries.

Maraqua

This underwater metropolis is home to a beautiful written language that in usually portrayed in the colour Maractite. The inhabitants of Maraqua decorate their weapons, armour and other artefacts with mysterious swirling patterns believed to have meaning only to those that live beneath the waves. I have managed to find several images for these items which can be seen here:

Mystery Island

This tropical Island in the middle of the ocean is home to perhaps one of the most famous written languages on Neopia. We've all seen the elaborate runes carved into codestones and even painted upon Island Neopets themselves:

But Mystery Island is also home to our first uniquely spoken language as well. Deep within the jungles lives a tribe of fruit loving Neopets that have a festival for fruit called Gadgadsbogen. This is the only word of theirs currently in widespread use across Neopia. 'Gadgadsbogen' translates to mean 'Good good day.' There is still much to learn about this particular language as the tribe is very secretive.

Shenkuu

The written language of Shenkuu uses many characters that are created with decorative brush strokes and often look quite elegant in design. It is widely believed that Shenkuu sees the written word as an art form and therefore great time and care are taken in the writing of anything, especially with the use of calligraphy for which they are famous.

The Lost Desert

Deep within the sands is a land whose primary language consists of elaborate hieroglyphs. Knowledge of these symbols is widespread and most young Neopets are taught how to recognise Qasalan tablets at an early age. These pictographs have been used since ancient times and it is believed that Qasala and Sakhmet have each developed their own different forms although the Qasalan tablets:

are more widespread throughout Neopia.

Tyrannia

Tyrannia is the odd one out of our lineup because rather than a written language they are more well noted for their spoken one. Tyrannian is still widely used in many areas of Neopia and most schools offer this as an option for a second language. The typical 'Ugga-Ugg' sound of the native Tyrannian is believed to have different meanings depending upon the tone and frequency of which it is said. It is a wide held belief that although many people can understand Tyrannian, only Tyrannians themselves can speak it properly, although that doesn't stop there being a book on that very subject.

Other Languages

With all these existing languages already listed to learn about, I'm sure there is no need for further information, but interested scholars may like to learn that as well as these more famous written and spoken languages there are also several ancient languages of Neopia that they could also show an interest in.

This book features many of them and is my recommended reading of any Neopet that would like to further their knowledge.

This, of course, leaves several places with no fixed language of their own, including: Brightvale, Faerieland, Kiko Lake, Lutari Island, Meridell, Moltara, Neopia Central, Terror Mountain and Krawk Island. The latter deserves a small mention though for being the only Neopian land to possess its own form of currency in the form of dubloons.

Hopefully, there will be great advances into the world of Neopian languages this year as more and more Neopets are travelling further in search of adventure. It is my hope that these languages, especially the more ancient ones, will not become lost over time but will flourish as more people learn of their existence. If you're planning on visiting one of these exotic lands in the future, please take some time to learn a few words before you do. The natives will be delighted and you'll have a huge sense of being part of something when you can communicate without the aid of a translator. Regardless of where you go though, have fun!