Knowing multiple languages or speaking languages other than english can add a lot of depth to the RP but for new players starting out there isn't much support to help drive the desire to choose the different languages out there.
It can be quite frustrating to have no way of interacting with most players right out of the box, and yes that's a choice you make when creating your character, but ontop of that the game design shouldn't punish you for making that choice as well. There are 60 million people in the dome right? Surely there are more than english speaking people running stores and delivery services.
I think we should take advantage of the many bars/organizations on Red and use them to setup simple launch platforms for new players.
Adding a courier service and a information giving npc for each language group by region of the world..
For instance, there are locations that could be the base for running NPC based courier missions for asian speaking players... and others could be the base for another region of languages, etc etc..
The new players could consult with these npcs there and be referred to the corresponding NPCs running courier jobs just like what happens for the english speaking new players.
At the very least this will help make the new player experiance in the dome feel more productive rather than completely pointless when picking other languages.
Being able to afford to purchase simple things like booze, cigarettes, drugs, etc are all RP enhancing things and it's hard to get involved in that respect without being able to work for for a courier service right out of the box.
This could also open up new RP avenues for the GMs when having to work around players that don't speak english.
I don't know, just something that crossed my mind, there is definently room on RED for this type of thing and I highly doubt it would do any harm to the game.
EDIT- Took some IC content out of the post.
(Edited by DigitalTyranny at 11:31 am on July 18, 2008)