Nasuverse What languages and writings do the Servants know?

[Crusader]

Apart the fact that all the Servants summoned for the Grail Wars seem able to understand and speak Japanese fluently as well as understanding the writing systems of the country I was wondering if anyone have listed what languages and writing systems each Servant should know due to their backgrounds.

The Lancers of the fourth and fifth Grail War due to their Irish background can speak and understand Irish in all its various stages through history and write using the writing systems used in Ireland through the history.

Archer (possible future Shirou Emiya) due to being born Japanese never needed to learn Japanese through the summoning since he was a native citizen of the country from the start and knows the writing systems there, and speaks heavily accented English with a Japanese accent and could possibly know how to read and write English (which uses the Latin alphabet).

Assassin(s) and True Assassin from the fourth and fifth Grail Wars speak Arabic and Farsi (Persian) and has a high probability to know old Frankish and Latin and can write in the Arabic and Persian alphabet.

I have trouble figuring out what Servants like Saber can read and write as well as Archer (Gilgamesh), even though some of the Servants like Fourth Grail War Caster (Gilles de Rais) are easier to figure out or imagining what languages they can speak and write.

 

[Cherry_lover]

Well, Saber should be able to read and (probably) write Brythonic (essentially ancient Welsh) and probably Latin (although she may only be able to write in Latin, rather than in Brythonic, due to her upbringing). She might also know a little bit of Old English, through contact with the Saxons (even though they're mostly at war, they must have had negotiations at some point, and I'd imagine she must have captured prisoners and the like too).

Most of the rest are pretty obvious (the Greek heroes speak Ancient Greek, and probably nothing else because the Ancient Greeks had an even worse attitude to foreigners and their language than America does today). Fuck knows what languages Gil would speak, though. Something totally made-up, probably....

 

[Crusader]

I think Caster (Medea) spoke the Zan language used in Colchis and was taught Ancient Greek quite early and knew how to read and write using the Greek alphabet..

 

[Delta Green Friendly]

Gilgamesh is fairly easy to figure out as well. He spoke a Semetic/Proto-Iranian language, most likely Ancient Sumerian or a closely related language.

I'd wager Herakles being knowledgable in several languages, however, as he went around quite a lot according to legends.

Cu Chulainn speaks Gaelic, or rather its mid to late 1st millennium AD ancestor.

Alexander the Great would be proficient in both Koine Greek, Farsi/Ancient Persian and, if Plutarch and some other sources are to be believed, Ancient Macedonian.

And for the other Greek Heroes, the specific dialect of Greek remains in question. Medea could have been taught Mycenaean Greek, the earliest known dialect which survived to the Classical Age as the Arcadocypriot dialect, or any of the later Classical dialects such as Doric, Ionian or Aeolic. Homeric Greek, to clarify to everyone, is a mix of Ionian, Aeolic and Arcadocypriot with Doric terms mixed in.

Most Greek Heroes should in fact speak Mycenaean Greek, with maybe some Egyptian and Phoenician (the Mycenaean civilization traded quite a lot with both Aegyptus and Phoenicia).

 

[Elf]

I think EMIYA Archer would be fluent in English, since he had to live in England for a while, and probably knows some Chinese and Korean as well.

The Lancers would speak ancient Gaelic . . .

 

[Crusader]

I think EMIYA Archer would be fluent in English, since he had to live in England for a while, and probably knows some Chinese and Korean as well.?

Too bad the voice actor make it seem that Archer's English is spoken with a heavy Japanese accent.

Considering that his main swords are a pair of Chinese dao made by a legendary Chinese blacksmith, I think it's possible that Archer Shiro may have proficiency in speaking Cantonese and Mandarin and studied the old Hanzi writing system.