The language of the White Legs is spoken by members of the White Legstribe. The White Legs speak an unique version of English, Spanish,[Non-game 1] and Shoshoni developed in isolation from the outside world. This article lists phrases spoken by members and their translations.
A few dialogue lines are shared with the Dead Horses language.
Behind the scenes[]
The line spoken by Joshua Graham to Salt-Upon-Wounds, "Kale watcha nei conserva oh," has yet to be translated, and project director Joshua Sawyer refused to do so when asked on Formspring.[Non-game 2] He noted its mysterious nature and when asked if the line was translatable or nonsense, clarified that the line is not nonsense.[Non-game 1][Non-game 3] In response to the translation inquiries, he explained that he believes authors of content should leave the interpretive aspects of their work as-is once released. He continued, stating that that he thinks content should be discussed but not be re-framed.[Non-game 4]
The full context of the line is as follows: ""You took advantage of us at New Canaan to drive us out, and like the dogs of Caesar you are, you followed us to Zion. And now you stand on holy ground, a temple to God's glory on earth. But the only use for an animal in the temple is sacrifice! Kale watcha nei conserva oh! You understand me, don't you? Don't you?" One of the proposed translations in this context suggested by fans was "As God as my witness, none of you shall survive."
The pidgin languages used by the tribal groups in Zion was actually done in an effort to cut costs, so that many of their voice lines wouldn't need to be localized.[Non-game 5]
References[]
Non-game
↑ 1.01.1Question: "What did JG say to Salt-Upon-Wounds in Latin?" Joshua Sawyer: "It wasn't in Latin. It was in the White Legs' tribal language, which includes elements of Spanish (hence the common Romance language roots with Latin). Also, *~ mysteries ~*" Joshua Sawyer's Spring.me June 6, 2011 (Archive)
↑Question: "Is what Graham said to Salt-Upon Wounds something we can find out for ourselves eventually(translate), or is it a nonsense phrase that will forever remain a mystery?" Joshua Sawyer: "It's not nonsense." Joshua Sawyer's Spring.me July 18, 2012 (Archive)
↑"Question: Any reason why you wont tell us what JG said to Salt Upon Wounds?" Joshua Sawyer: "Years ago, Ridley Scott changed Blade Runner. He decided to change an ambiguous aspect of the central character to something not ambiguous at all. The movie that Blade Runner fans fell in love with because of that central uncertainty lost something because the author simply changed his mind years after the fact. I think that authors of content should leave the interpretive aspects of their narrative work alone once it goes out into the world for consumption. I think we should discuss it, argue about it, but we shouldn't try to re-frame it. It shouldn't really matter whether what's there is intentional or accidental. It's what's in the game and what the player experiences that matter." (Joshua Sawyer's Spring.me July 5, 2012 (Archive)
↑Joshua Sawyer on Something Awful forums: "Even the pidgin languages the tribes speak in Honest Hearts were just an attempt to keep costs down. All of the DLCs feature very few speaking characters because Fallout games have localized text and VO. That includes background characters and their reactive barks, so we made pidgin languages for the tribes so they wouldn't need to be re-recorded. Of course, the tribes were also supposed to be multi-ethnic, so you'd see white Dead Horses, black Dead Horses, etc. And again, Daniel was supposed to be Asian. It was incredibly frustrating to get halfway through production only to discover that making ethnic variants for every tribe would completely blow the already limited in-game memory limit. It wasn't a problem of 'Ah, this will take more work,' but, 'The game will crash as soon as this area loads.' "
