What would Equestrian really sound like? Translation Convention and MLP

[Buck Testa 5,503]

The Translation Convention Trope has been employed in entertainment for pretty much as long as entertainment has been around. What the translation convention is is a narrative tool that says that "Even though the audience hears the characters speaking one language, it is implied that they are in fact speaking another and its being translated for the audience to understand instead of employing subtitles."

 

 

What if MLP:FIM  used the translation convention trope and the language they were really speaking was something that you'd find believable of an intelligent race of equines to come up with?  

 

I'm not saying that it DOES use the trope mind you, Equestria Girls alone could be pretty solid evidence against that notion. I'm asking "what if it did?"

 

What would an intelligent pony races language REALLY sound like? Would it be neighs and whinnies, or would it be something else entirely? People whom are separated from each other by a few thousand miles have developed wildly different ways of speaking in some parts of the world, especially if we turn back the clock a few centuries. Imagine the differences in communication there would be with an entirely different sapient species in an entirely different reality?

 

    

[HorsesandMOARGaloar 300]

I might imagine Equestrian to sound like gibberish, with some occasional neighing.

[SilverStarApple 849]

I think it would be a language made of clicks, whinnies, phrrrrrhs, hummed notes, and assorted mouth noises.

[PinkieatHeart 208]

I want it to sound Hawaiian with some neighs and things thrown in. Because it would be pretty.

[KatonRyu 1,026]

I figure it would sound exactly like horses do on this planet. Neighing, whinnying, that sort of stuff. But then, who knows? Maybe they all sound like killer guitar solos.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

Because I feel I have to:

 

Though I believe they're simply speaking English, and we've already heard bits of French (a.k.a. "Fancy," if you ask AJ) and German.

[Luigi 7,868]

I'll be honest, I don't really expect much difference between us and pony accents at all.

[AlbaTross 1,581]

I'm not sure how the Equestrian language sounds but I'm more intrigued by the fact that the dialect, whatever it may be, hasn't changed all that much in the last millennium if it's easy to pick up a book from that long ago and read it with ease. I have trouble with Shakespeare and English really isn't that old of a language compared to others. I've heard that there are really old Italian tomes that the vast majority of native speakers can't decipher, and it takes a scholar who specializes in reading old texts to be able to understand its contents. I suppose Twilight could possibly be that kind of scholar, but if we can infer that all of the Crystal Empire's books are at least 1000 years old(aside from any that may have been added since the empire returned), how could all of Twilight's friends also understand them? I guess Celstia, who would have spoken an older dialect, is still around so maybe she helped direct the progression of the local language. But then that doesn't explain why Luna spoke an old dialect before Twilight corrected her.

[Azatrot 66]

I doubt they are not speaking english, since a lot of puns wouldn't work then. Still, a race of intelligent horses would probably speak with neighs and whinnies, but be a lot more varied and complicated than ordinary horse noises.

 

Edit: Holy #@$! I didn't notice that I have alicorn as my rank! I think I know why...

Edited April 1, 2016 by Psychopathrik

[FluffyGoat13 375]

I'd think it would be simple enough: it would sound like horses having a coherent conversation, in horse noises.