The Sims series introduced gamers around the world to a whole new language called “Simlish,” a gibberish-like language with fans (including myself) attempting to translate every word said in the game. While we have celebrities like Katy Perry showcasing their linguistic skills through singing, it’s now the voice actors’ turn to show how this is really done.
Voice actress Krizia Bajos shared a behind-the-scenes video on what really happens in the recording booth. If you remembered playing this life sim, you would know that your character can’t sing well, especially in karaoke, until you level up your singing skills. This means, not only did these voice actors have to sing flawlessly in Simlish, but they also had to sing terribly in this fictional language.
It’s one thing to intentionally sing badly if it was improvised. However, Bajos revealed that sessions like these are scripted. We can only imagine the skill and discipline required for the voice actors to do something like this and not laugh mid-recording. Fans were impressed that she was able to hold it together for this long, but Bajos claimed that she and her co-workers ended up laughing the entire day.
Bajos released numerous videos discussing Simlish, such as doing some requests using this video game language, but also why this was the go-to dialect for the game. According to the voice actress, Simlish was made so that the game can be accessible to international players.
“Everybody from around the world loves to play it. So, we make it accessible to everybody’s language. Nobody feels excluded, everybody could feel included because its not a particular language. So that’s what makes it beautiful.”
The Sims 4 is free to download on the EA’s Origin app and Steam.