Heaven’s Vault makes me feel guilty about my dying language

“Not all that is lost is all lost.”

A village elder speaks these words on a farming moon in Heaven’s Vault, the adventure game about deciphering an ancient space language in dusty old ruins. You're in his village to ask what he makes of a small artifact you’ve found. He plucks the artifact apart and reads from an ancient inscription. Your character, Aliya, is surprised. This remote farmer can read these words? Even though they are thousands of years old? “Not all that is lost is all lost,” he responds. I pause when he says this. I write the line down. I’m feeling something here, something is bubbling up, what is this?

Oh no. It’s the old, dead language. It’s coming up for air, that dread belch of memory and school lessons and guilt. Hello, Irish. How are you?