How to Speak Oppish

Writing

Choose a sentence to write in Oppish. This will be an easier way to begin than speaking, because you can take your time. Try a sentence with simple words that you would use in everyday life. Write down the sentence in regular English. Make sure some of the words have more than one syllable. This will give you practice with different kinds of words.

Add the syllable “opp” after each consonant or pair of consonants. Do not add an “opp” to the end of the word, however. Try writing each word in Oppish underneath the English version of that word. For example, under the word, “cat” you would write, “C-opp-at”. Under the word “hello.” you would write, “h-opp ell-opp o.” Some Oppish speakers insist on an “opp” after every single consonant, so the word, “flip” would be spelled, “f-opp l-opp i -p-opp.” For short words, particularly the words "I", "a" and "an" insert an "opp" before the word. So "I" becomes "opp-I". "An" becomes "opp-an" and "a" becomes "opp-a." Write out Oppish in a way that you will remember and understand. After all, it’s a secret language for you.

Practice with more complex words and sentences. Try some more difficult words, such as, “computer” (c-opp omp-opp ut-opp er) or “yesterday” (y-opp est-opp er-opp d-opp ay). See if you can write down a sentence only in Oppish without having to write the English version out first. You can also practice translating paragraphs from articles or books into Oppish.

Speaking

Choose one of the simple sentences you’ve written in Oppish. Practice reading it out loud. You may need to practice each word several times until it rolls off your tongue easily. Continue to practice one sentence until you can say it as though you were speaking English. If the way you’ve written the Oppish words is difficult for you to understand, you can re-write them in a way that is easier to read.

Choose more sentences to read aloud. Try reading an entire paragraph out loud in Oppish. If you stumble over certain words, just keep practicing. Oppish is considered the most complex of the invented languages, so it may take some time to master.

Speak a word out loud without writing it down. This step can be a difficult one. Choose a new word that you haven’t written down. Practice saying it aloud in Oppish. It may take a few tries to figure out the translation. Start with a simple word with one syllable. You can use something simple like “house” or, “h-opp ouse”

Continue practicing with new words and sentences. Think of a short sentence that you’d like to translate. Say it out loud to yourself, then try to translate it into Oppish. For example, you could say “I feel hungry,” and then translate it to “I f-opp eel h-opp ungr-opp y.” Try to practice until you can say a sentence fluently, as though Oppish came naturally to you.

Conversation Tips

Find another Oppish speaker. For some people, this may be the most difficult part of having a conversation! However, if you’ve decided to learn Oppish, chances are that you already know at least one other Oppish speaker. Ask them if they’d be willing to help you practice. Some people use Oppish as a secret language because they don’t want to be overheard by others. These people may not want to help someone else learn their secret code.

Start with basic conversation. As with any language, you need to build up slowly. You can begin with simple greetings and conversations such as, “H-opp ell-opp o. H-opp ow ar-opp e y-opp ou t-opp od-opp ay?” If your partner starts off speaking very quickly or using complex words, you can ask them to slow down. You can say, “I’m h-opp av-opp ing a h-opp ard t-opp ime und-opp er-opp st-opp and-opp ing y-ou. C-opp an w-opp e pl-opp ease sl-opp ow d-opp own?”

Build on your conversation skills. Once you’re able to easily understand your conversation partner, you can build your skills with more complex words and sentences. You may still have a hard time speaking Oppish fluently, but keep practicing. If you know multiple people who speak Oppish, try talking with more than one person. People will speak slightly differently, so it’s good to practice with multiple partners. You may be able to find videos online of people speaking Oppish. You can watch these videos to practice understanding others.