Twenty Thousand Hertz Explores The Virtual Language Of Simlish

  Humans are a visually dominant species. It's our "go-to" sense. Studies show that even when listening to podcasts, humans visualize the narrative of the podcast in their heads.

 That's why a podcast about sound like Twenty Thousand Hertz continues to break the sound barrier in podcasting. Consider its inaugural 2022 episode about language. After all, spoken language is sound modulated to communicate among species. While human language offers a complexity hard to replicate in the animal world, there are species like whales, dolphins, prairie dogs, and chimpanzees with complex language forms.

 Twenty Thousand Hertz kicks off 2022 with a deep dive into the strange, lovable sonic world of The Sims. Titled "Sul Sul," the episode uncovers the story behind Simlish, the gibberish vernacular of the game's life-simulating franchise — and why artists like Black Eyed Peas, The Flaming Lips, and Katy Perry have all recorded Simlish versions of their hit songs. Host Dallas Taylor begins by exploring the creation of the language with Claire Curtin, The Sims' Designer and Voice Over Director, before speaking with voice actor Krizia Bajos, Lead Composer and Audio Director Jerry Martin, and Sims fanatic Rachael (known online as Rachybop) about the technique behind the perfect Sim vocal.   

Listen to "Sul Sul" Here

Claire Curtin, The Sims' Designer and Voice Over Director, opens the episode by explaining the core dilemma the game's creators faced when inventing the language of The Sims: repetition. The in-game dialogue needed to ensure that as players worked tirelessly away at their perfect universe, their ears never became used to what they were hearing — or worse, bored of it. And so, Simlish was born, managing to entirely subvert the structures of language through carefully constructed gibberish. 

Though there are a few official Simlish words — for example, "sul sul" means hello and "dag dag" means goodbye — Curtin reveals that 99.9% of the dialogue in the game is improvised on the spot by voice actors. In allowing the gamer to imagine what the characters might be talking about, the player replaces the gibberish with their own personal experience, making the virtual reality all the more their own. 

Effectively, Simlish has become a unique means of expressing emotion and intent in the world of The Sims, and beyond. Veteran Sims voice actress Krizia Bajos explains how she puts herself in a free-flowing, improvisational mindset when speaking Simlish, while Audio Director Jerry Martin expresses that not just anyone can pull this off. As the game's Lead Composer, he's created both The Sims' sonic aesthetics and coached studio musicians to sing in this gibberish language. As the series grew, artists like Depeche Mode, The Black Eyed Peas, Soulja Boy, Fun., The Flaming Lips, Nelly Furtado, Katy Perry and more re-recorded their own hit songs in Simlish, for use in the games. Both Bajos and Martin agree: for the perfect Simlish, you've got to let go of control. Famously, actor and game show host Drew Carey just couldn't grasp the art — so he restrategized, and decided to write these strange sounds out phonetically. 

It's been more than twenty years since the first Sims game came out, and the series is still going strong. As host Dallas Taylor expresses, "Simlish is just one part of this game, but it's a crucial part. It's a gibberish language where the only meaning comes from the emotions behind the sounds. And that means that anyone can understand it, and anyone can speak it."

Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by Dallas Taylor and the team of sound designers at Defacto Sound, whose thousands of projects include numerous blockbuster video games. This past fall, the podcast illuminated the auditory experience of blind gamers in "Video(less) Games," and other highlights from the show's vast explorations of the world's most recognizable, interesting sounds include the stories behind the score and sound design of Minecraft, the Xbox Startup Sound, Video Game Soundscapes and more.  

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Twenty Thousand Hertz is a lovingly crafted podcast that reveals the stories behind the world's most recognizable and interesting sounds. With 20 million+ lifetime downloads, 125,000+ listeners per episode, and 3 Webby awards to its name, Twenty Thousand Hertz is the world's leading podcast about sound.

Dallas Taylor is the host and creator of Twenty Thousand Hertz, and is also the Creative Director of Defacto Sound, where he has led thousands of high-profile sound design projects - from blockbuster trailers and advertising campaigns, to major television series and Sundance award-winning films. Additionally, Dallas is a TED mainstage speaker, a regular contributor to major publications, and a respected thought leader on the narrative power of sound.