Al Bhed language

Al Bhed language
The Al Bhed lauguage is a fictional language from the videogame Final Fantasy X and it's sequel Final Fantasy X-2. During the game, apart from the main protagonist who may learn it, the language is spoken only by the Al Bhed people themselves. Although it seems at first like a foreign language, it is actually a cipher, a system of transposing certain letters for others. It shares the same syntax and grammar of English.

Here is how to convert English to Al Bhed:

English: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ Al Bhed: YPLTAVKREZGMSHUBXNCDIJFQOW

For example, "you" in English is rendered as "oui" in Al Bhed:


 * Y → O
 * O → U
 * U → I

Certain keywords are not translated into Al Bhed in the game. Most keywords are proper nouns, but some common nouns also are not translated, such as "fiend" ("Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!" / A fiend! In human disguise!), "magic" ("Ouin bnaleuic magic yht Aeons yna caymat" / Your precious magic and Aeons are sealed), and "airship".

In the game, Al Bhed words are differentiated from the common language of Spira by being printed in blue text (for non-translated words) or pink text (for translated words, represented here in bold). The player can learn the Al Bhed language by picking up items called Al Bhed Primers. Each Primer translates a single letter of the alphabet. This sometimes results in bizarre statements such as "Ouir breleuis magic yht Aeons yne seymet!". There are several Al Bhed to English translators available on the web including this one

Al Bhed in Japanese
The original Japanese version of the cipher uses the syllable-based kana system of writing where each symbol represents a combination of "consonant + vowel" (or simply a vowel). In general, each symbol is mapped to another with the same vowel, but a different consonant.

For example, "sa" maps to "ra", "se" maps to "he", and "na" maps to "ha". The word "sayōnara" (goodbye) is transformed from

"sa-you-na-ra" to "ra-fu-ha-na".

"左-様-な-ら"  to "ら-不-派-な"

As with English, proper nouns and game-specific concepts are not translated. Al Bhed is written in katakana.