SS Hylian Alphabet

Edit: Thanks to the efforts of Sarinilli, Meralia, Disciple of Midna, myself, and several others, we have achieved the full Skyward Sword Alphabet! As such, this thread can additionally be dedicated to any SS text found in the game and what it may say.

A beautiful (and downloadable!) font for this SS Hylian has been created by Sarinilli for free use. :3 Many thanks!



-OP-

I'm honestly surprised I couldn't find a thread about this already. Put it in the spoiler section just in case.

But yes! We've known for a while now that SS has a new alphabet. What I want to know is if anyone has taken the time to take note of the instances in which the text appears in the game, and if it says anything. I'll use this first post to make a catalog of all of the text found, and what they say.


Skyward Sword text Found so Far:

If you haven't already, check out Sarinilli's Complete Alphabet Font!

• The Image With the Full Alphabet!
• WiiMenu/Start Screen - Gibberish
• Wooden Signpost - Read me please
• Stone Signs/Tablets - You can read this
• Goddess Sword Pedestal inside the Statue of the Goddess - Hylia
• Worn-out text within Statue of the Goddess [2] [3] [4] - Partially illegible; columns may read Din, Farore | Hylia, Nayru | Farore, Din
• Dowsing Option - Dodsing/Dowsing
• Wall within Lanayru Mining Facility - Factory
• Neon sign in LMF [2] - Gate Open | Belt Conveyor System | All Right
• Signs in Lanayru Caves - (upper mid) Sand Sea | (bottom mid) Desert | (bottom right) Ghost Mine
• Signs in Lanayru Shipyard - Ride | Curve | Brake | Fly | (upper right) Station | (bottom left) Dogu/Wogu Ship
• Dormant Door of Time [1] [2] - Complete gibberish, unfortunately
• Safespot in Silent Realm - Siren
• Gaepora's Official Art - Theology

So, has anyone found more words? What do they say? Which one's your favorite?

I have to say, my favorite are the stone tablets. It just goes to show you, Nintendo DOES pay attention to us. XD

I've been wondering about the alphabet, other games have had real writing so this one should too. And there it is! Thanks for that pic! The letters resemble the Japanese Hiragana a bit, they look really nice. But don't seem to have much in common with the other Hylian letters from the other games. But maybe Hylian comes later, and that's some other language... So does the text translate to Japanese like in the other games, or to English?

A tad unrelated, but I dunno how many other people noticed the TP Hylian on the U.S. boxart.

Originally Posted by AXavierB

A tad unrelated, but I dunno how many other people noticed the TP Hylian on the U.S. boxart.

Really? Where? is it on the front behind Link in the circle?


Also, If we can find the missing letters, I'd be willing to make this a font for you fine gentlemen/women

Yeah, on the Gate of Time design. I could make out the names of Din and Nayru and the words "power" and "wisdom". Farore and "courage" are probably behind Link.

Originally Posted by AXavierB

Yeah, on the Gate of Time design. I could make out the names of Din and Nayru and the words "power" and "wisdom". Farore and "courage" are probably behind Link.

You mean this? (do note whoever made this image boxed the wrong word in regards to Din; the actual lettering for Din is down and to the right of that box). Yeah, definitely TP's alphabet. A theorist's nightmare, right there.

Originally Posted by Meralia

I've been wondering about the alphabet, other games have had real writing so this one should too. And there it is! Thanks for that pic! The letters resemble the Japanese Hiragana a bit, they look really nice. But don't seem to have much in common with the other Hylian letters from the other games. But maybe Hylian comes later, and that's some other language... So does the text translate to Japanese like in the other games, or to English?

I know, it drives me crazy that it doesn't look similar to other Hylian texts, especially since TP's alphabet looked so much like English text that it really didn't take long at all to be able to read it fluently. But this? I have a hard time memorizing characters.

And the text translates to English, like TP.


Here's the Sword Pedestal.

Image quality sucks, but this pretty much confirmed it translates to English.

New Image - Start Screen:

I'm trying to figure out what it says right now.


On a side note, I'm currently geeking out over Fi's Hylian gibberish, mainly because there are patterns in it consistent with those of other Nintendo gibberish-speaking characters like Pikachu. Sure, it may be the anime, but all the same there are certain strings of words that actually mean something - Pika-Pi meaning "Ash" for instance.

I noticed that the same holds true for Fi. She has a distinct pronunciation for not only "Master" but "Link" as well.

Originally Posted by Topaz Mutiny

On a side note, I'm currently geeking out over Fi's Hylian gibberish, mainly because there are patterns in it consistent with those of other Nintendo gibberish-speaking characters like Pikachu. Sure, it may be the anime, but all the same there are certain strings of words that actually mean something - Pika-Pi meaning "Ash" for instance.

I noticed that the same holds true for Fi. She has a distinct pronunciation for not only "Master" but "Link" as well.

Yeah, I noticed she consistently said something that sounded like "Mati Madas" for "Master [Insert whatever you named Link]"

CrankyStalfos, it sounds more like Madi Madas to me, but that's kind of beside the point. I've heard her say Madas alone, which makes me wonder if that's what she's calling Link. Kind of hard to work out.

What I find interesting also is when Zelda is singing it sounds like garbled Japanese, some actually sounding like real words mixed in with the garble.

Anyhow.. I've been hunting through the game for text also (surprise surprise) and can personally confirm everything except b and v so far. I haven't seen b, and I'm not really sure if v's assignment makes sense. I'd like to hope that the title screen says something, and "Dv" doesn't exist in the English language. Any reference to back up that assignment?


EDIT: ok, seen the b and v now. And I hate to say, but it's obvious that the letter for t and d is the exact same character. Confusing, but true. I wonder why they wouldn't have made two separate characters. ôO;

Pictures say it all.

Quite obviously says "gate open" and "belt conveyor system"
I need to try and get a better picture to read the smaller text though.

Hooray for others working on this! Now that the entire alphabet has been found, it'll make things much easier.

I don't have an image, but the sign that appears in Beedle's shop after you've bought an item says "sold out." ^^; Also, Sarinilli, D and T are not the same, as sown by the image in the first post.

Also, since we're dealing with native speakers of Japanese, keep in mind that some letters are interchangeable, since they're pronounced the same in Japanese.

Letters that are interchangeable in Japanese: R and L; B and V; F and H; I don't think I missed any...

I'll be on the lookout and post any new findings here~!

Disciple of Midna, the image in the first post isn't a screenshot. What I just posted is, and it seems pretty clear that the one character means both. I think the chart above was made by misreading the wooden signs, in the hopes that the character on them was different. Which it's hard to tell because of the wood pattern, but it's the same thing alright. I've been looking through the game so far and that's the best example. They are the same, or so it looks like from that sign.

From everything I've found, R and L have their own characters, as do B and V, and F and H. Don't forget J and Z in Japanese are also interchangeable... I have yet to see a Z or J however. May be one of those two from the title screen.

I would like to see what the people of ZI have managed to work out and why they think P is different. I've pretty well worked out most of them on my own except for the b and v which I found here after seeing most everything else.

I'll post some more screenshots once I've gotten more game time in. I have a few good ones but I would like to see if I can get better shots of some of them. :3

At least Fi's language isn't as bad as Midna. Midna loves cupcakes and her favorite phrase on my game is "Lick my ♥♥♥♥"

Behind those hearts is a very naughty word, children.

Originally Posted by Sarinilli

And I hate to say, but it's obvious that the letter for t and d is the exact same character.

Pictures say it all.

Quite obviously says "gate open" and "belt conveyor system"

Originally Posted by Disciple of Midna

Sarinilli, D and T are not the same, as sown by the image in the first post.

Originally Posted by Sarinilli

Disciple of Midna, the image in the first post isn't a screenshot. What I just posted is, and it seems pretty clear that the one character means both. I think the chart above was made by misreading the wooden signs, in the hopes that the character on them was different. Which it's hard to tell because of the wood pattern, but it's the same thing alright. I've been looking through the game so far and that's the best example. They are the same, or so it looks like from that sign.

Lysdexic much?

T and D ARE different, it's the P that looks really similar/exact to the T.

Originally Posted by Sarinilli

I would like to see what the people of ZI have managed to work out and why they think P is different. I've pretty well worked out most of them on my own except for the b and v which I found here after seeing most everything else.

Made especially funny because you actually correct yourself here. XD

But I agree - T and P look more the same than the cypher shows. Maybe I should boot up the game and check those signposts.

Also, my efforts on the dormant Door of Time seem to be in vain. I stared at that thing and could only make out meaningless gibberish. Oh well.

Originally Posted by Topaz Mutiny

T and D ARE different, it's the P that looks really similar/exact to the T.

...oO;; I would crack that up to a seriously crazy typo, but.. wow. I have no idea how I did THAT. I did mean T and P, not D at all. Can I call it a typo, even though I obviously overlooked it twice? *sheepish*

On a much more upbeat note than typos and weird letters being the same (T and P...I actually think it's a subliminal joke reference to Twilight Princess)... I found the F! *grabs camera and uploads pic*
See!

It's kind of hard to tell, but it says "factory". :3

I don't remember what the sky writing from TP looks like... anyone know if its similar?

So I notice that Fi's dialog box background has a bunch of Hylian letters floating around in it periodically. Anybody able to get a capture of them? Because I can't note them down by hand.

Originally Posted by eiyuu_004

I don't remember what the sky writing from TP looks like... anyone know if its similar?

Sky Writing looked absolutely 100% nothing like this. It was just little circles and squigglies. This looks much more detailed and, honestly, realistic.

Ah nevermind, not very similar at all

Originally Posted by TheGhostOfMandrag

So I notice that Fi's dialog box background has a bunch of Hylian letters floating around in it periodically. Anybody able to get a capture of them? Because I can't note them down by hand.

I got a bunch of pictures actually. They're really hard to see though, but from what I can tell it looks like gibberish. I can post them up though if anyone else wants to take a shot.



EDIT:
New findings. Yes I've been busy. xD
So I noticed that in the selection menus, there's also text. In the item select screen it says "item". No screenshot here. I did however screenshot the one from the dowsing screen, which, provided an interesting confusion before I noticed... the character for D is also W.


Obviously, this does not say "dodsing" like I first read. So D and W are the same letter. I"m a little bit confused by all the doubles..and sadly certain parts of the game like the Title Screen and Door of Time (which I've finally seen) are still gibberish...but now we're 5 letters away from a full alphabet. Possibly less if I'm right in assuming some other characters might also have double readings.

If I find more, I'll post it. :3

...I should probably get in touch with the guys who did the first run of transliterations and have a chat with them. >>

Originally Posted by TheGhostOfMandrag

So I notice that Fi's dialog box background has a bunch of Hylian letters floating around in it periodically. Anybody able to get a capture of them? Because I can't note them down by hand.

Ghirahim in his true form also has a dialog box like that.

Originally Posted by Topaz Mutiny

I'm honestly surprised I couldn't find a thread about this already. Put it in the spoiler section just in case.

But yes! We've known for a while now that SS has a new alphabet. What I want to know is if anyone has taken the time to take note of the instances in which the text appears in the game, and if it says anything. I'll use this first post to make a catalog of all of the text found, and what they say.


What we know so far:

Goddess Sword Pedestal inside the Statue of the Goddess - Hylia
Wooden Signpost - Read me please
Gaepora's Official Art - Theology
Stone Signs/Tablets - You can read this
Dormant Door of Time - ???
WiiMenu/Start Screen - DV*A OCI*


And here's the (incomplete) cypher from ZI.

So, has anyone found more words? What do they say? Which one's your favorite?

I have to say, my favorite are the stone tablets. It just goes to show you, Nintendo DOES pay attention to us. XD

You can read me?

Read me please?

HAHA, that are some hilarious easter eggs.

Been busy. based on the recent finds, here's a more up to date and much more accurate table of the characters so far, known and not.



Edit: Updated this again after checking the ZI thread. Lots of pages of info and multiple claims confirming that E is also K. So we've got one unknown character and four letters to go.