Create a Fantasy Language in 7 Easy Steps

Are you writing a fantasy or sci fi story with its own language?

These fictional languages, like Elvish in the Lord of the Rings or Wakandan in the MCU, are called conlangs.

On the surface, these languages sound like they took years to build and develop. But in reality, you can build your own conlang in a day.

Today, we’re going to talk about how to build your own conlang in 7 easy steps.

Do you already have a conlang?

If you already have a basic language system set up, but you need to create a writing system for it, go ahead and skip to step 3.

I’m super excited to share these resources with you, so without further ado, let’s get into it!

1. Learn the Phonetic Alphabet

You don’t have to know the phonetic alphabet before you start your own language, but it is super helpful.

Different types of languages include different phonetic sounds, and there are a lot of sounds that aren’t even present in the English language. So in order to keep track of all the different sounds, we have the international phonetic alphabet (IPA).

Before you begin, here is a webpage that has the pronunciation of every sound in the English language: https://www.londonschool.com/blog/phonetic-alphabet/.

If you want your conlang to sound similar to a real-world language (for example, my conlang is somewhat similar to Kazakh), you can google that language’s IPA phonetics and learn what they sound like.

For your first conlang, try to stick with sounds that you can pronounce. Once you start to gain more experience with languages, you can expand into some of the less common sounds.

You can hear all of the sounds on the IPA chart at IPAchart.com.

2. Generate a Language Starter with Vulgar

I found this tool through a video on Pinterest, and I am now obsessed with it.

VulgarLang.com is a conlang generator that uses the phonetic alphabet to create a unique language for you, with just a click of a button. It generates grammar, spelling, and a starting vocabulary of 200 words.

Of course, you can always add on to this. I tend to use Vulgar as a starting point for my languages, then branch off and add my own flair to it.

You even have access to a smart translator button, where you can type in a word and the system will translate it into your conlang for you.

There’s an option to pay for a larger vocabulary list, but I’ve had great success with the free version. You can purchase a plan that allows you to save your languages, or you can copy and paste it into a Word document.

Once you generate a language that you’re happy with, go ahead and start building up the vocabulary for this new conlang.

3. Create Vocabulary for the 625 Most Common Words

This is a post I found that originally came from tumblr, but now has spread across the internet. This person created a list of 625 words you should learn in your target language, and it is actually an amazing resource for any language you want to learn.

So why not use it for conlangs?

Here is the list:

And if that image doesn’t load for you, here is the link to check it out: BoredPanda.com/625-words-to-know-language-learning-hack/

I highly suggest making some words for story-specific things as well. (Places, leadership titles, battle terminology, etc.)

Once you have a wide vocabulary to use, you can move forward with step 4, creating a writing system.

4. Create a Writing System with Grapheion

This is another website that I could literally spend all day playing with.

Grapheion is a great way to generate a fictional alphabet. It has two versions, both completely free to use.

This is the 2014 version of Grapheion, and this is a good one to use if you’re looking for more flowing letters. You can select which traits you like, and keep generating new symbols until you start to see the style you’re looking for. (It usually starts to match your preferences after 10-20 generations.)

The link for this program is https://lingweenie.org/conlang/grapheion/

And this is the 2020 version of Grapheion, which as you can see, is much better suited for angular, rune-style letters. The link for this version is https://lingweenie.org/conlang/grapheion2/.

The system works the same way for both programs, and when you’re finished selecting an alphabet, you can take a screenshot and save it for future reference.

• Make sure to keep track of what sounds are included in your language. You’ll want the number of letters to (approximately) match the number of sounds. So if your language has 28 sounds, you can make between 25-30 letters.

5. Assign Letters to Sounds

For this step, you can use a pen and paper, or create a table in a Word document.

• On one side, you list all the IPA phonetics that are in your language. (VulgarLang.com lists these towards the top of the page.)
• Then match the letters with the different sounds.

And that’s really all there is to it.

So now you have a basic language, and an alphabet to match. (Yay!)

The next step involves making it unique to your story world.

6. Slang, Idioms, and Dialects

No language is complete without some slang and idioms. And of course, if your conlang has been spoken in your story world for over a hundred years, there will be some strong dialects.

How do you create these?

• First off, create some idioms. Fantasy Name Generators has a great idiom generator, which helps get the ideas flowing. You could also try googling idioms from different cultures and see if that gives you some ideas.
• Once you have some idioms, try making up some swear words.
• What is the currency called? Do the words for currency have any other meanings? (i.e. the word for penny might also mean “small one.”)
• Other slang might include contractions (combining two words), shortened words, and words that relate to technology. For some English examples, y’all (you all), sus (shortened form of suspicious), and Google (used as a verb to search online).

If you’re looking for some ideas to help build your story world, check out my post on worldbuilding 101: The Beginner’s Guide to Worldbuilding (Guest Post)

Also, be sure to consider how geography and socioeconomic issues might affect your language over time. For example, the wealthy villages would have more access to books and learning, so they might have a bigger vocabulary than the poorer villages.

And last, but certainly not least, let’s talk about how to use your new conlang in your story.

7. Writing With Conlangs

Once you have completed your conlang (or at least built enough vocabulary for it), it’s time to talk about conlang manners.

Most readers won’t care about your conlang unless you give them a reason to care.

And sorry to burst your bubble, but even though you have 200+ vocab words in your fictional language, readers will only learn about 10 of them.

So how to you use this made up language in your story? Some words you could include are:

• Proper nouns. This might include town names, country names, and tribal names.
• Greetings and goodbyes. (You don’t need to include translations for this, because your reader will figure it out pretty quickly.)
• Convey secret meanings. Perhaps some words are used as magical spells.

• Words with no real-life equivalent. This could include fictional animals, technology, or phrases (like muggle from Harry Potter).
• Any ritual sayings or prayers that your characters repeat throughout the story.
• Your conlang swear words. Made up swear words are especially easy to include in your story, because the reader knows that it’s supposed to be a dirty word, and it doesn’t need to be explained.

The most important tip for including your language in your story is to keep the reader focused on the story, not the language.

Try to avoid any situation where you have to translate words for your reader. If you stick with the list above, you shouldn’t have to translate more than one or two words. (Maybe a sentence, if you include a ritual prayer.)

The art of creating languages can be super rewarding. Just make sure that you are doing it because you love it, not because you want to show off to the reader.

The conlang is more for the author’s enjoyment than the reader’s. So have fun with it! Make up all kinds of goofy words. Write some songs in your language. Allow it to enrich your story and your story world.

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And there you have it– 7 steps to creating your very own language!

Do you use a conlang in your story? What is your favorite part about creating a language? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back soon with a new post!