I wonder if there are any older languages in Equestria? Luna knows an older form or the language, but are there any other tongues (besides Squirrel, which Twi doesn't know)?

@kegi My school was completely bilingual, with several subjects during the first years given in english, and anyone with a higher rank than a normal teacher had to be spoken to in english at all times. It seemed to work for me, but I also happened to play a lot of videogames in english, so that probably helped.

edited 29th Nov '12 2:44:02 PM by Lopiny

Apparently that Rosetta Stone program is pretty effective, though. My dad used it to learn some Portuguese to better communicate with a bandmate from Brazil, and he learned a good bit in just a few weeks.

@Ace The Goats had their own language, which Iron Will seemed to be able to speak.

edited 29th Nov '12 2:46:19 PM by PerpetualLurker

@keg: "One Bad Apple" was written by Morrow.

And yeah, even if she had given a solid yes or no, they could still later decide to make it the other way around without it being a retcon.

Oh yes, that too. I would expect the Gryphons have their own racial language which would be nigh-impossible for ponies to speak in normally, because pronunciation requires a beak.

@Lopiny: Ah, well that's a tad different then. When I say language isn't learned in a classroom, I mean having someone stand up at the front of the room and tell you to repeat verbs ad-naseum won't teach you. Being taught in another language will help you to learn it, yes, because that's how languages are learned: Through use and interaction in a real-world setting

givne which, one wonders how Gilda and Gustav managed to speak equestrian, mosto f the sounds in which require lips...

Also, Given the advance of language and the fact that Equestria has been around for ofver 1000 years, I'm going to say there's an 'old equestrian' that's nigh-incomprehensible(The Cantebury tales, written a mere 600 years ago, are borderline gibberish to most people)

I also tend to think of their being a collection of countries across the sea that didn't interact with mainland equestria for several thousand years, so they'd likely develop language on their own until first greeted by Equerstrians(Trottingham being where they landed and spread the language to first, in a delightful reversal). So I imagine in addition to Fancee you might have a sort of nordic equivalent. Pegasi being what they are, a greek equivalent may exist as well.

edited 29th Nov '12 2:58:46 PM by kegisak

Oh, don't forget whatever language Zecora was chanting in in Bridle Gossip.

Ah, languages. I've studied Spanish, Italian, German, and French, and man, I can't speak any of it. I can sing in it, though. I can also sing in Russian to an extent.

Ahoy hoy again. How goes it?

Hey, it took me eight years...but I finally got all the gang tags in GTA: San Andreas. And I wish I had done it sooner. The benefits are immense! Especially in the early stages of the game.

@Kegi: The Crystal Empire appears to using a similar-enough variant of Equestrian that probably dates back to that thousand years back, and Twi has absolutely no problems with the old books there, never mind the rest of the Mane Six interacting with the Crystal Ponies without major communication problems.

I believe Sereg has a theory on Cadence facilitating understanding via magic... but given that Luna had little trouble communicating I imagine you're right on that note. still, it's very unlikely that the language has never evolved. It's actually possible, I think, That Celestia sort of(Pardon the word but it's the most appropriate I can think of, denotatively speaking) retarded the development of language to help Luna re-integrate when she came back?

That was another theory going around that day. I'm by no means a linguist, but I think having an immortal ruler keeps languages relatively unchanged in time.

Celestia being around constantly for that thousand years probably stabilized the language and minimized drift.

Also the most she seems to have done was discontinue the use of Formal Court Languagethe way Luna used it.

edited 29th Nov '12 3:13:01 PM by AceOfScarabs

I'm with lopiny, kind of hard for language to shift, when you have the leader of your society be immortal and able to keep it from drifting, simply by not changing her own speech patterns and language use.

As for Gilda and Gustav being able to speak Equestrian, F- pronunciations and all, they probably have a trick to it.

Unless you have a good grasp of the language and even better programming skill, translation magic is probably as bad as Google Translate or even worse, lol.

So programming = spellwriting? That doesn't sound that bad. Debugging must be hellish, though. I have a basic grasp of Java, and I can already imagine what sort of nastiness would ensue if you misplaced the equivalent of a a decimal point in a particularly elaborate spell.

edited 29th Nov '12 3:19:44 PM by Lopiny

Looks like we're getting another book next year:

Looks to be really basic, considering that it's a paperback aimed at the earliest of readers, but that premise is something that I think would be really cool to see as an episode. I don't know whether to be impressed by the effort being put into these ideas, or disappointed that they're going into young children's literature and not the show.

edited 29th Nov '12 3:20:46 PM by PerpetualLurker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9ddef05b1k

Great, now it's on YT, I don't need to look for this in other places.

It has a decent grasp of the show, so I guess there's hope.

edited 29th Nov '12 3:22:13 PM by Lopiny

Dam that would have made a fine episode.

We've also got more-detailed descriptions of the previously announced bunch of books, including these two:

Twilight Sparkle and the Crystal Heart Spell:

Under the Sparkling Sea:

That second one is particularly interesting, and King Leo being Princess Celestia's cousin is kinda funny since he almost has the same name as her other cousin Léon

edited 29th Nov '12 3:49:27 PM by Whatshisgame

Cosmic Council?!!

Oh hell yes!

Just when I thought that the world-building in that seapony book couldn't get any more crazy...

And it's all official right?

@What What's the source on those new summaries?

Pretty much. Of course, people are free to disregard it however they choose, considering that it's just Expanded Universe stuff.

edited 29th Nov '12 3:49:35 PM by PerpetualLurker