Language System

Language System adds a full in-world language system to Minecraft: 13
languages, each with its own real writing system, its own color, and its
own voice theme. Understanding isn't global — the same message looks
different to every single reader, decoded live based on their own personal
progress in that language. It works everywhere: chat, written books, and
even real vanilla signs.

Simple Voice Chat is fully optional. Everything else works standalone.

Highlights

• 13 languages, each mapped to a real Unicode script: Runic, Glagolitic,
    Cherokee, Braille, Ogham, Hebrew, Tifinagh, Coptic, Georgian Asomtavruli,
    and Dingbats.
• Per-syllable deterministic cipher — text is split into syllables, and
    whether a given syllable is "understood" depends on progress, not random
    chance. The same syllable always resolves to the same symbols for a given
    reader, so familiar roots and endings start being recognized across every
    word as progress grows — not just in one message.
• Two-sided understanding: a message is filtered once for how well the
    SPEAKER can actually form the language (below 15% they can't say anything
    coherent at all; 15-74% comes out "broken"), and then filtered AGAIN,
    separately, for each READER based on their own progress.
• Progress grows passively — from standing near fluent speakers of a
    language, and from reading that language's tome.
• Hijacked vanilla signs: write on a normal sign like always, but the
    text painted on it in the world is always shown enciphered. Right-clicking
    it as a reader opens a proper 3D read screen showing the message exactly
    as much as *you* personally understand it.
• Language paper: a blank paper item that becomes a language-specific
    written document once signed — texture, name, and lore all update to
    reflect it.
• 13 tomes, one per language, each with a unique 3D model and a ribbon
    recolored to match its language's color. Crafted from a themed ingredient,
    but only if you already know the language at 70%+.
• Permanent speech defects (rhotacism, lisping/sigmatism) — a character
    trait assigned by an operator, distorts pronunciation in chat regardless
    of who understands what.
• Simple Voice Chat integration (optional) — a speaker's voice gets
    muffled for listeners who don't know their language well, and several
    languages layer in themed creature sounds instead of a flat filter (see
    table below).

Languages

How understanding works

When a message reaches a specific listener, the game looks at that
listener's own progress in the speaker's language:

• 100% — message shown as-is.
• 0% — fully replaced with that language's own symbol set.
• In between — some syllables show as real text, others as symbols.
    Which ones is determined by the syllable itself (not its position), so
    the same root or ending "unlocks" consistently everywhere it appears as
    progress increases — much closer to how real vocabulary acquisition
    actually feels.

Sign Language is a special case: it's visual, not spoken, so understanding
requires actually seeing the signer (line of sight, limited range) on top of
knowing the language.

Commands

- `L` key (configurable) — opens a GUI to pick your current speaking
  language from the ones you know, with your progress in each shown.
- /language give <player> <language> [percent] — grant/raise a language
  (operator only). No percent given = 100%.
- /language take <player> <language> — forget a language entirely.
- /language list <player> — see everything a player knows and what
  they're currently speaking.
- /language defect give|take|list <player> [defect] — manage speech
  defects.
- /langvoicedebug — toggles chat debug messages for the voice filter, to
  confirm the Simple Voice Chat hook is actually firing.

Installation

Requires NeoForge for Minecraft 1.21.1. Drop the jar into your mods
folder — client and/or server, both need it for full functionality.
[Simple Voice Chat](https://modrinth.com/plugin/simple-voice-chat) is
optional; install it too if you want the voice-muffling feature, or skip it
and everything else still works normally.

Source & license

Source available on [GitHub](https://github.com/Makarexe/langsystem-mod),
licensed under MIT. Issues and pull requests welcome.

Credits

- Makarexe
- medbratishka