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Character's Native Langugage Issue
Aka I don't know how to talk the language of my land

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The issue I witness more and more is how people are unable to make characters from other places than America knowing both their native language and English in order to play the game effectively.

One would say that there's an option to have two languages known for your character on the entry of the dome, but (hopefully not getting too deep into it) I think that you are very limited to the UE distribution when you simply want to make a believable chatacter from the overseas.

This results in various characters awkwardly not knowing how to talk in their native to the other characters from the same background.

I think letting characters know two languages on the entry (following their background allows it) is going to both eliminate the awkard situation statrd above and make people use languages other than English more in game.

By ZaCyril at Feb 25, 2021 8:38 AM
Yes I know there's a mistake in the title pls don't laugh at me.
By ZaCyril at Feb 25, 2021 8:42 AM
I think we'd have to let everyone know two languages then, regardless of background or having already been in the city.

(Edited by Johnny at 8:43 am on 2/25/2021)

By Johnny at Feb 25, 2021 8:42 AM
What about letting people waste some of the starting UE on having additional language known specifically instead of spening more on the alternative?
By ZaCyril at Feb 25, 2021 8:46 AM
i think a suggestion has come up before about something similar to this, and honestly i support it. the mix always comes off as/is described as a cultural hotpot, and the room descriptions especially make me buy into this - i always get the impression that at any one time many different languages are being spoken. yet, generally characters only ever seem to speak english and mixmash (and occasionally, japanese) from my experience

it would be great to have characters speaking their native languages - and i think it would incentivise people to learn different languages or buy skillsofts more often, as well as make connections with people who know other languages and reinforce the cultural hotpot nature of the mix in general

i only hope that im not being too naive in assuming that people wouldnt just stop making american/british characters who only know english

By not_anon at Feb 25, 2021 11:16 AM
I think it would be really cool if people could speak two languages out of chargen. I like the language system, and two people speaking it creates a fun kind of exclusion/inclusion that drives RP. It's also fun to commit crimes and communicate "in code" during (which can be a clue later on), or talk shit on people next to them who may or may not be able to know what's happening. Those are great scenes.

Last time this was brought up there were a few translator characters who felt they'd be getting shafted by the change, which is understandable. Maybe they can get compensated somehow? I dunno. It's a big change. I'd love it personally and it makes so much sense ICly for my char to speak it.

Besides all that, I think it would stop the problem of "I'm from mexico but speak English" handwaving that happens all the time. It's a common newbie question, and culturally if everyone chargenned out with it the local ghettos would have local chatter and maybe even cultural PC enclaves like IRL. Could be very cool.

By floored at Feb 25, 2021 12:00 PM
There is nothing stopping you from starting with a second language. There are actually various ways to do this. They just all involve UE expenditures that most players are unwilling to make in character generation. Plenty of characters come out with second languages.

Plenty of characters also focus on learning other languages as soon as they get to the city. You just have to stop worrying about min-maxing.

I highly encourage people to learn languages and weave this into their RP. The 'break' from focusing on your speed/combat skills/main skills/whatever is far outweighed by the enjoyment you'll get out of the language roleplay.

By BigArg at Feb 25, 2021 12:03 PM
You understand that to have second language straight from chargen you have to essentially minmax right.
By ZaCyril at Feb 25, 2021 12:19 PM
I'm advocating that characters who come from overseas don't have to choose between minmaxing to be believable and know their own language from the get go and learning their own language after they arrive to the city because they somehow forgot it on their way there.
By ZaCyril at Feb 25, 2021 12:33 PM
I agree that some scheme allowing this would be nice in a fashion that balanced UE fairly.
By Pavane at Feb 25, 2021 3:12 PM
I've always had my character start off 'speaking a different dialect' than the actual language spoken here, Withmore they speak different dialects which is why your character doesn't know the language, that's how I usually see it.
By NyanChicken at Mar 9, 2021 12:52 AM
If a second language is super important to your character, spend UE on it. If you're spending UE on stats and skills, then that suggests they're more important to you than your character's native language.

It takes about a month of UE to become fluent in a second language. (This is publicly stated on the boards already by staff.) That's not a lot of UE, comparatively.

Also, UE spent on languages is graciously refunded to your max UE pool.

You can also start off knowing any other language and gradually learning English. It's just not recommended on your first character.

And as luck would have it, you get a 6% UE bonus for your next character, allowing you to play a bilingual character fresh out of the gates.

To say you have to minmax to get a second language is to say the same about any other skill that requires UE investment.

There's just many ways to make it work.

- Spend the UE (and get it back to your UE pool)

- Or start as non-native English speaker

- Or use your next-character UE bonus to make a bilingual character

By alittlelonger at Mar 9, 2021 9:38 AM
I'm not completely against this but I want to raise a different point than has been made already:

For new players, the game is difficult enough without having to navigate multiple languages. I think this adds complexity that we don't need and doesn't increase RP.

The good news is that if people want to start not speaking english and instead be fluent in Euro or something else, they can xhelp and we do allow it, but we warn heavily that it makes the game less fun to play, especially for new characters. In the end, we are playing a roleplaying game focused around talking to each other and if you can't do that, especially when you are new, it's super tough.

I usually only recommend this avenue for new characters (but longer term players) since they have other avenues to find RP / work / etc. and may be looking for a bigger challenge.

By Slither at Mar 13, 2021 9:31 AM
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