"What should people from X sound like?"

[The Shining Fool]

In my experience "what should people from X sound like" seems to be a fairly common question on these boards. I think that's a great question, but I think that we usually approach it the wrong way.

Generally, when people ask that question, they are asking for real-world accents to use for various Golarion locales or real-world languages that are representative of Golarion's languages. I think this might be making things too difficult. Accents are extremely difficult to do well, and too often they sound either silly or indistinct. Foreign languages are great, but leave two hurdles - first, you've got to go look up phrases in the language to add some flavor, and second, you have to either translate for your players or use languages they already know. If you do use a language your players already know, you remove the mystique that the use of a second language is trying to accomplish.

In my experience working with language I have found that there are two simple to recognize things that make foreign language "distinct" and "flavorful."

The first is the use of prepositions. Languages tend to use prepositions differently enough that improper use of prepositions is an easy way to notice a non-native speaker of a language. Unfortunately for people looking to insert flavor into their game, using the wrong preposition will probably only make your NPCs seem ignorant, and it will be jarring to most players.

The second is the use of idiomatic language. Oaths, "foul" language, sayings, proverbs and more are woven into the tapestry of a language and make it distinct and unique. By using this sort of language carefully, you can highlight cultural differences, identify the origin of NPCs, and give your game world a little life, all without having to torture your voice or learn another language.

In that vein, I thought I'd collect a few examples of each. In honor of the end of Mummy's Mask and Wayfinder's focus on Osirion, my examples are Osiriani. I have culled my understanding of Osirion from "Osirion, Land of the Pharaohs" and pathfinderwiki.com. I have not yet read Mummy's Mask, nor have I yet purchased "Osirion, Legacy of Pharaohs."

Clearly, none of this is canon, it's just some examples and suggestions on how to enliven your world's languages in an easier way.

Oaths
For my purposes, an oath is a mildly profane expression. Oaths generally have have two origins: those things which are sacred, and those things which are profane. In english, this category includes "By God," "For f***'s sake," "Mercy's sake" and many others.

D**n or Bloody:

Sands

I chose "sands" because it is quintessentially vulgar (read: common) in a desert setting. Additionally, it gets in your food, your teeth, your house…everywhere.

Oh my God; Holy Cow:

(On) Sphinx's shores

Upon seeing/hearing s.th. perverse/disturbing:

Lamashtu's Flowers

Foul Language
I don't think that this bears discussing in this forum. However, it is a very rich and easy to fill area of human language. Think about the annoyances and affronts of life to fill these slots. My use of "sands" under oaths could probably have gone here.

Sayings/proverbs
I would argue that there are differences between sayings, maxims, and proverbs, but for the purposes of enriching your game world, they can all be lumped into one. I would avoid overusing this section, as too few sayings too much used become burdensome for the listener. However, used properly, this can be one of the most telling things you can use to add linguistic flavor to your world. Used over multiple campaigns, you can start identifying NPCs through their use of saying, rather than their descriptions. After all, no-one but an Osiriani would ever compare your conundrum to the jaws of a hetkoshu.

Remember when thinking of sayings/proverbs that they stay in use long after the original cause is longer relevant.

In time/Everything has its time:

Even pharaohs die

Up S**t creek:

In the night without Wadjet

"night" here is not literal night, but an allusion to Apep

Lion's share:

"Sultan's share" or "Qadira's price"

Between a rock and a hard place:

Jackals on the sand and hetkoshu in the water

Mind your Ps and Qs:

The Sultan's ears are here

A wolf in sheep's clothing:

hetkoshu swim under the lotus

Out of the blue:

like an eagle/hawk on jerboa

Jerboa are a kind of small desert mouse. If golarion has their own small desert mouse, I don't know of it.

Sound and fury/a lot of hot air:

A wind in the desert

A piece of cake:

Like (taking) coin from a Taldan

Get down to brass tacks:

Move the (this) obelisk

Asking for it:

Whistling at Lamashtu/jackals

Born with a silver spoon in one's mouth:

He has a crook in his hand

Caught with your pants down:

Khamsin season and you've no tent

Eat glass:

kiss a Qadiran

Earning your bread/keep:

taking your lash

Other
There are lots of thing that could go here, but I've only written about currency names tonight. Currency names are another very easy item you can use to add flavor to your world. Everyone may use gold pieces in Golarion, but every region will have their own names. This is one that I've been able to successfully use in many campaigns without being problematic, because it is only a few words, and it is fairly easy to come up with a story for each for each major region.

Copper Lashes:

Derived from a time when day laborers earned their wages under cruel taskmasters. Earning your bread became known as "taking your lash" and the currency used to buy that bread took the name too.

Silver Sphinxes:

The Sphinx is the lifeblood of Osirion, and for most of the common people, silver is the currency of every day life. Silver coins also share their color (in ideal conditions) with the river.

Gold Flames or Suns:

Both refer to the yellow color of gold. The use of "flames" is more common to strong supporters of Khemet III, who has issued coinage with a stylized flame on the obverse while "suns" is more commonly used by the day-to-day merchant class as well as devotees of Seranrae.

Platinum Swords:

Named for the crossed scimitars on Keleshite platinum pieces. While still common, this name for platinum coins has become increasingly de-classé over the past century.

Y'all have fun!

[The Shining Fool]

I realized I had forgotten a bit when I posted this last night. Mea culpa, it was a little late.

The reader might ask "why not just use real-world idioms? Especially idioms from cultures I am trying to emulate?"

Doing so poses a number of problems. First, you have to find a listing of idioms in that other language that serve your need - it won't do you much good, for example, to find a lot of idioms that deal with business dealing with that's not the sort of message you want to deliver in your game world.

Second, you're probably going to have a hard time finding idioms for many of the cultures you'll want in a fantasy world. Even if we can all agree that Osirion (to continue with that example) is an ancient Egyptian analog, where are you going to find ancient Egyptian idioms? Modern Egyptian simply doesn't fit the bill - its culture is wildly different from the culture most people think of when they think of ancient Egypt, and not just because it's modern. But what on earth will you use as a Numeria analog? What human culture has idioms suitable for Avistan's gaping portal to hell?

Finally, unless your list of idioms was done remarkably well, you'll need to figure out what the idioms really mean in addition to what they literally mean. I have a pile of flash cards on my desk from when I was learning Urdu, each with an idiomatic phrase - no more than a few words - on the front, but filled with cramped writing on the back explaining the history of why something is used, what it really means, and when it should be used. One of my favorites is "to kill a fly with a fly." What on earth do you suppose that means?

to kill a fly with a fly:

To ape; to copy something mechanically without understanding it.

A man was writing a manuscript, and as he wrote, a fly landed in the ink of the line he had just finished. The man swatted the fly, which stuck to the page.

Years later, another man was hired as a scribe to copy the manuscript, but he was not literate - he just had the dexterity to copy well the actual scribblings on a paper in front of him. When he got to the page where the author had squished the fly, the scribe doodled a dead fly on the page, as though it was the next character, and moved along with his work.

Making up your own idiomatic language lets you sidestep all of those concerns. You can choose to reference historical events that the players may know about, instead of occurrences that might make sense to a living breathing person in your world, but leaves your players blank. You know the history, because you either read about it before you created your idiom, or you made the history up yourself. Finally, it allows you, or even encourages you, to plug in the reality of the world into the game you are playing.

In a world with a tarrasque, don't you reckon there'd be a few references to it in language? In a world where there are people like paladins, who are almost literally embodiments of human virtue, don't you suppose that the way people speak would reflect it?

Anyhow, I'd be interested to see what other people have for other areas of Golarion, or Osirion, for that matter. In your Golarion, what do Sczarni say that makes them stand out from other Varisians? What does a pesh merchant mumble under his breath when he's shocked? What ironically defeated phrase does a guardsman from Corentyn utter when he is frustrated with his lot?