Question: “The novel says Yuuya felt his words were being translated automatically. Is this a novel only thing? Does the language aspect get explored further? Why are their words getting translated and yet phrases in other languages are not? Is there any popular discourse?”
1. Is this a novel only thing?
Thus far this explanation of how Yuuya is able to communicate in Twisted Wonderland has appeared only in the novel, with no mention to similar systems at work in the game or manga.
Yuuya can also read his textbooks. It is unfamiliar vocabulary but he can still read the words, which he possibly wouldn’t be able to do without the translation. The words he struggles with are magic terms that he possibly wouldn’t have understood in his native language.
2. Does the language aspect get explored further?
No, not in the novels, game, or manga. There is no line of “There is a translation spell on the island,” or “Everyone who arrives is blessed with the ability to understand and be understood,” or anything at all.
We are not even given a hint that Crowley–or anyone–knows it is happening. All we have is the one thought from the perspective of a confused Yuuya trying to make sense of his situation.
3. Why are his words getting translated and other phrases are not?
We do not know why certain words are not getting translated! And it is not just Rook, with other characters occasionally using untranslated English-language words both in the game and novel.
Is it possible that the system does not replace words that the listener recognizes? Is Rook actually speaking French 100% of the time, but as the prefect recognizes words such as “oui” and beauté,” they are not being filtered?
The prefect, Silver and Grim also cannot understand the soldiers in Lilia’s dream. Sebek explains, “Different groups of fae speak different languages and enunciate words in different ways, but magically imbuing one’s voice makes it possible to communicate regardless. In modern times most people even in Briar Valley speak Common, and speakers of fae languages are somewhat rare…” and it seems that Malleus’ father Raverne is responsible, with Lilia saying that Raverne learned the Common language and then taught it to Lilia and others, so that they might be able to communicate with humans.
Has Yuuya been granted the ability to speak and understand this “common” language in the novel—a language different from his native Japanese?
4. Any popular discourse surrounding this topic?
There is a thread on twstsoku where someone suggests that the cast all understands one another and only Yuuya is being translated in real time. Ideas from other commenters are:
1. “Hypothetically, for example: If Esperanto, which is based on Latin, were used as the common language, and the translation magic depends on the native language’s distance from it:
・German speakers, Japanese speakers → translation needed (as determined by the magic)
・Italian speakers → translation not very necessary (determined by the magic)
・French speakers → grammatically, translation is almost unnecessary (as determined by the magic) but their speech is the hardest to understand. Something like that? Just an example, though.”
2. Another commenter points out that Ruggie has memorized greetings in 10 different languages. In another thread, the poster says Twst using English would mean that Twisted Wonderland has been following a similar geographical and historical path to that of planet earth:
“I personally don’t think it’s a common language with the real world, so I hadn’t considered it much. But if it’s English, that means Twst has a geography and history similar to the real world, with just different country names, etc.”
A commenter responds that this is not impossible, as the world of Twisted Wonderland has identical food to what exists in the real world, so maybe they have walked a similar historical path.
Someone points out that this may make sense based on the clothes and smartphones, but maybe we are just not meant to think too much about it as a fantasy world, and another says that studying animal linguistics should be unnecessary if there is translation magic at work.
There is also the question of Azul’s contracts being in English, but Rook using both French and Japanese, and Epel’s dialect being undecipherable to everyone but the people of his own village.
The “Common” language of the Twst universe might be what is being spoken at NRC.
Is it possible that Twst being a “mirrored” world is affecting its language? During the Nightmare Before Christmas event, for example Sebek talks about a story he read: Omero and Lietju (for Romeo and Juliet).
As a “mirror” to the real world, is the language itself backwards or shuffled, and the filter is putting words in order for the prefect? There are many possibilities.
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 