Stories and guides about languages, ciphers, and translation.
Not every writing system is an alphabet. Arabic skips most vowels, Hindi attaches them to consonants, and Japanese kana write whole syllables. Here's a clear guide to the four main types of writing systems — with examples and fictional scripts too.
Dothraki isn't Arabic, and High Valyrian isn't Latin — but both borrow ideas from real languages. Here's what Game of Thrones languages really owe to Earth's languages, and what was invented from scratch.
Braille is read by touch; Morse code is read by sound or light. Both were invented in the 19th century and both turn letters into patterns. Here's how they compare — and which one is easier to learn.
A bind rune merges two or more runes into a single symbol. The most famous one is on your phone right now — the Bluetooth logo. Here's how bind runes worked historically, how modern ones are designed, and what's myth versus history.