How to read Enchanting Table language in Minecraft

Minecraft has many interesting items, including enchanting tables that allow players to apply special powerups to their tools, weapons, and armor. If you are new to this game, you may be fascinated by the special language used in this block. Many may not understand what this language means since it is completely fictional.

However, the dedicated Minecraft community didn't take long to figure out where this language came from and even created a chart that directly translates the letters to English. Although a direct translation doesn't accurately entail anything, it is still a fascinating process. The story of this mystical language is also interesting to learn.

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Origins of the language in Minecraft's enchanting table and how to read it

Origin of the language

Enchanting table's language is from another game (Image via Minecraft Fandom Wiki)

If you guessed that this secret language is something from an ancient Minecraft civilization, you would be wrong, since it is from a completely different game.

The language is called 'Standard Galactic Alphabet' and was first featured in a game series called 'Commander Keen'. This title is an old 2D side-scroller from the early 90s which used the language on different signs that showed up in the game's world.

These fictional alphabets were a clever substitution of the actual Latin alphabet and were first written by Tom Hall, who slightly changed the alphabet to create a new language. When the sandbox game was created, the developers used this language for the enchanting table since it looked rather mysterious and cryptic.

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How to read the enchanting table language

The chart that translates all the Minecraft enchanting table alphabets into English (Image via Reddit / u/cadeflame)

Since Minecraft has been out for so long, the topic of the enchanting table's language has already been discussed several times. Hence, the moment you search 'Standard Galactic Alphabet' on Google, the entire chart of the language translated into the English alphabet will show up.

You simply have to load up the game and this chart side-by-side to read what is written on the enchanting table's GUI or which alphabet is flowing from bookshelves to the table. Once the translation is complete, you will be able to read all of the words written on the block.

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Enchanting table translations might be confusing

How the enchanting table language look when it is translated in the game through a mod (Image via Reddit)

You would think that the English translation to this cryptic language would clearly tell you what the enchantments are, but that's not what happens. When you translate each and every alphabet, the sentence that comes up will look confusing and senseless. This is not the case in the Commander Keen game series since the words on the signs actually mean something.

It will only translate the enchanting table's language into random words that have no connection to the actual enchantment. You might be disappointed since the translation does not entail anything. However, it is probably for the best to ignore this language since Mojang only tried to create a mysterious scenario by adding a fictional language.