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<blockquote data-quote="Chaoszero" data-source="post: 5047739" data-attributes="member: 82248">I have my own home-brew setting and I take a lot of cues from Tolkien and I am a bit of a language-lover myself. In that vein, I have a lot of racial specific terminology that I put in the wiki for my game.However, a friend of mine says this terminology renders the articles unreadable for all the &quot;gibberish&quot; (as he puts it) that is featured. Now I always put in definitions in with the terms, but after that I stick with the term. I can see how it would be difficult, especially with the Elven and Sylvan languages which is based off of Welsh and Irish-Gaelic respectively.I prefer the racial terms. It creates the idea that the races aren't all the same. It is how we do things in the real world. We don't call samurai &quot;knights&quot;, we call them samurai.HERES THE QUESTION: Is it better to have english words describing racial specific culture concepts for simplicity sake or is it better to have these terms in a language that evokes the mood and feeling of a different culture and world?For those who would like some examples of terms I use:EladrinArd Ordu: The Eladrin ruling councilGol Uirthi: Eladrin earrings that denote castePéarla Foirfe: The term for the whole of Eladrin SocietyScáth Amharc Ar: The Eladrin secret policeElvesAngau Helfa: The elven death huntRhythid: Elven concept of freedom and destinyTherwyth: Elven druidDwarvesAtmenschreiben: Ritualistic rune readingKunstmadchen: Dwarven entertainer-girlsTodessuchen: Dwarven rite of passage of wandering the landHalflingCacike: Halfling family leaderGuani: Extended family or clanBija: A red dye halfling warriors paint themselves in</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Chaoszero, post: 5047739, member: 82248"] I have my own home-brew setting and I take a lot of cues from Tolkien and I am a bit of a language-lover myself. In that vein, I have a lot of racial specific terminology that I put in the wiki for my game. However, a friend of mine says this terminology renders the articles unreadable for all the "gibberish" (as he puts it) that is featured. Now I always put in definitions in with the terms, but after that I stick with the term. I can see how it would be difficult, especially with the Elven and Sylvan languages which is based off of Welsh and Irish-Gaelic respectively. I prefer the racial terms. It creates the idea that the races aren't all the same. It is how we do things in the real world. We don't call samurai "knights", we call them samurai. [B]HERES THE QUESTION:[/B] Is it better to have english words describing racial specific culture concepts for simplicity sake or is it better to have these terms in a language that evokes the mood and feeling of a different culture and world? For those who would like some examples of terms I use: [B]Eladrin[/B] Ard Ordu: The Eladrin ruling council Gol Uirthi: Eladrin earrings that denote caste Péarla Foirfe: The term for the whole of Eladrin Society Scáth Amharc Ar: The Eladrin secret police [B]Elves[/B] Angau Helfa: The elven death hunt Rhythid: Elven concept of freedom and destiny Therwyth: Elven druid [B]Dwarves[/B] Atmenschreiben: Ritualistic rune reading Kunstmadchen: Dwarven entertainer-girls Todessuchen: Dwarven rite of passage of wandering the land [B]Halfling[/B] Cacike: Halfling family leader Guani: Extended family or clan Bija: A red dye halfling warriors paint themselves in [/QUOTE]

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