There are different Sangheili languages - the ones we hear in [i]Reach[/i] and the ones in [i]Halo 4[/i] are different, as far as I'm aware, with the latter being a much older language - Neru Pe 'Odosima, for example. It sounds Japanese. You've got to wonder if there's something to that; one of the Sangheili's oldest languages uses the same phonetics as Japanese, Ancient Human ruins in [i]The Babysitter[/i] are Feudal Japanese in appearance... I'm studying the English Language at an analytical level, and that includes researching it's origins - I've read a fair few books on the subject, and inevitably learned about other languages too. Unlike English and most other languages, Japanese is a language with hazy origins; no one really knows where it first came from. It may share a similar font to Chinese in written language (Kanji), but spoken it's not like any other language on Earth, which is a rare thing in linguistics. Some of the more absurd theorists suggest the language was brought by Ancient Aliens. I know, obligatory 'I'm not saying it's aliens but aliens meme.' In the context of the Halo universe though, it's not so ridiculous. We [i]know[/i] we were visited by Ancient Aliens. What if the Japanese language is a descendant of whatever the Forerunners spoke? It'd make sense for an isolated island nation like Japan to be most influenced by the language spoken by the Forerunners, since they had little to no exposure for tens of thousands of years to other human cultures. Over time the original Forerunner would warp until unrecognisable, but it'd contain the same phonemes and phonetics. If the Sangheili were a servant race of the Forerunners (pretty clear they were, by all the Forerunner relics on Sanghelios,) it'd explain why one of the oldest languages their people speak is so similar to Japanese. It too is a bastardisation of Forerunner; that much is apparently said in [i]Ghosts of Onyx[/i]. That's why the Sangheili in [i]Halo 4[/i] sound Japanese. [Edited on 11.04.2012 10:02 AM PST]