Hey everyone. I am curious, what language might be close to Kelish? Or for that language, what do you guys think the regional languages out here are similar to?
You're talking real-world analogues to Golarion languages? Best guess for Kelish would probably be Arabic, both associated with historically wealthy and powerful empires in desert regions.
Oooh, let's do some more!
Kelish->Arabic
Skald->Icelandic/Norwegian/Old Norse
Hallit->Proto-Indo-European
Varki->Finnish
Tien->Mandarin
Minkaian->Japanese
Varisian->Romani
Vudrani->Sanskrit
Taldane->Greek
I think Kelish would be Turkish, but possibly Arabic or Persian.
Yeah, I am leaning more to Persian myself, but it is nice to hear about what you all think of Golarion's languages that are similar to ours here on earth.
Edit: Well, I think Taldane is common, which might be similar to English. But who knows.
Well, lets look at the described relationships between the languages.
First we have Ancient Azlanti. Presumably, Ancient Thassilonian would have evolved from Azlanti, considering the Rune Lords came from Azlant.
Taldane is described as being based on Azlanti and Varisian.
Varisian is based on Thassilonian, Giant, Orc, and proto-Varisian.
Shoanti is based on Hallit, Varisian, Giant, and Thassilonian.
So if Azlanti is a Classic Latin analogue, then Thassilonian is Vulgar Latin.
So Varisian could be Romanian, Taldane could be Spanish or Italian, Shoanti could be French (which is humorous). They descend from Thassilonian/Azlanti as the Romance languages come from Latin with local native influences.
Hallit would be Celtic maybe.
Skald makes sense as Old Norse, and Iobarian Slavic.