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> Native Language, Free or not
Grimtooth
post Jan 10 2005, 03:42 PM
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I have been reading Mr J's Little Black Book and have noticed something interesting. In the contacts section none of the contacts have a language listed except when it is something relevant to the write up.

How do you handle native language? I have been making my characters pay for it out of starting points.

This was a gaming table discussion on Saturday.
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DigitalMage
post Jan 10 2005, 03:45 PM
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At character creation each character gets a numbe rof Language POints equal to his Intelligence x 1.5 (round down) - these are spent like Skill Ppints with the assoicated Attribute being Intelligence.

So an average human (Intelligence 3) will have 4 Language Points to spend and so their native language will usually be at a Rating 3 (a rating of 4 would cost 5 points as the fourth point costs double due to it being in excess of the related attribute), with a rating 1 in another language.
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Grimtooth
post Jan 10 2005, 03:47 PM
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That is what i thoughy.

Then along those same lines why do the write ups on contacts have no native language?
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Lindt
post Jan 10 2005, 03:49 PM
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I personally (and aginst cannon) give my PCs a native language of their choice, at the cost of half their avilable lan. points. So for someone with an int 6.

English (native)
Spanish 4
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Kagetenshi
post Jan 10 2005, 03:52 PM
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Typically someone with English 3 would have R/W 2 (1 free from base 3, 1 from the leftover language skill point) rather than a point in another language (barring additional skill point expenditure).

I think they didn't put in languages because they're assumed to be monolingual and it isn't usually that important.

~J
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Grimtooth
post Jan 10 2005, 03:56 PM
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Do the archetypes in the BBB have native languages listed?

Did they spend points on those languages or were they just dropped in with no expenditure?
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Solstice
post Jan 10 2005, 04:02 PM
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i don't charge points for native language. It's not consciously learned as a second language would be.
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Kagetenshi
post Jan 10 2005, 04:09 PM
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So you think every average Intelligence 3 person would know a second language? For that matter, that every Intelligence 1 person is mildly bilingual?

~J
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CoalHeart
post Jan 10 2005, 04:17 PM
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I find it amusing that the Language point calculation leaves the 'Average' troll unable to speak or understand his native language. :) Poor guy.

I feel trolls should get a break and get a chipjack with a rating 4 language soft glued into it for free. No essence cost, and not removable.
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Kagetenshi
post Jan 10 2005, 04:20 PM
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Troll: language 1 before additional skill point use. They can speak it, just not well.

~J
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Nikoli
post Jan 10 2005, 05:21 PM
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Also, for NPC's, the GM would just choose the languages based on the needs of the game session or campaign, so no point in detailing them as it would not promote anything to the NPC. Now, notable persons, like Damien Knight, etc. the develpoers would detail the languages, because this is a story line driven character, it's important to know if they speak the south western dialect of Swahili in addition to teh click language of the bushmen in the north.
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Solstice
post Jan 10 2005, 05:40 PM
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QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
So you think every average Intelligence 3 person would know a second language? For that matter, that every Intelligence 1 person is mildly bilingual?

~J

No but if they want to spend points to up their command of spoken english and writing skills to fit the vision of thier character then so be it. I give an average English skill for free because every person who is not metally deficient has at least a passing proficiency with the language spoken in their household. It doesn't have to be english either. If one of my players has a Latino vision for thier character, they can have Spanish 2 or 3 for free if they wish instead of English.

Also, bilingualism isn't anything difficult, it just takes time. Spanish was super easy and I'm not that smart. I can see anyone with a 3 + int being bilingual without a problem. Especially in the sixth world it would seem knowing multiple languages would be much more common/necessary than present day or the past. but maybe it's a dying art because of linguasofts I don't know.
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bitrunner
post Jan 10 2005, 07:29 PM
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just my two nuyen worth...

You get your Int * 1.5 for language skills, down, so you get at least 1 point...that means that the troll with 1 point of Int can have a language at rating 1 - they sound like the stereotypical troll -"Me hungry" or "Me hit you hard!" it is enough to convey basic ideas and emotions with a TN of 2, or some more complex concepts every once in a while...

According to the (active) skill level descriptions (the Knowledge skill level description doesn't really fit), rating 3 in a language would be equivalent to a high school graduate in that you are proficient in the language and can carry on normal conversation and not sound like a moron (it's easier to hit the TNs of 4-6)

now, from a real life standpoint - my wife is Ukrainian. After a small amount of instruction in English, and then living here for a year, she MIGHT have a 2 in English - she can make small talk and party conversation, but has trouble if people talk too fast or too technical. we watch tv with the subtitles for the hearing impaired, so that she can read the English along with what they're saying. She can definitely read on a 2 level. However, she can't write for crap - definitely a 1 level.

i'm the same way with Ukrainian and Russian - because i was trained in Russian, i can understand enough Ukrainian to get the idea, and speak enough to get my point across, but i must sound like a troll with Int 1 or 2 to them. And i haven't learned their alphabet yet, which is different from Russian.

Also, the family across the street is latino, and the wife has been here for 5 years and speaks almost no English - she can't even respond to simple questions i've asked her, like "When will your husband be home?"...

different languages have different difficulties - sure, spanish may be easy to some, because it is based on the same linguistic roots as english...i took high school and college French, and Russian was MUCH harder (it took a whole year just to get high school level, or level 1 proficiency by the government's standards on a 5-scale). i learned about (SR skill) level 1 Japanese as well while i lived in Japan, but never learned how to read or write it - another side note for those not aware of it - Japanese has like 4 alphabets: kanji (the pictographs), katakana/hiragana (when they don't have kanji for something), and romanji (latin alphabet).

so i'm not all that convinced that characters should get their native language for free, or that every character can be bilingual - it takes an effort - if they want it, make them spend the points on it...
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Adarael
post Jan 10 2005, 07:44 PM
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Just as a note, since many of us are Americans....

Most 'intelligence 3' europeans are bilingual. Many are multilingual. Or Indians. Or Chinese. It's only growing up in a country where one language is so terribly hegemonic that we assume learning other languages is some kind of impossible task that cannot be undertaken save by the majestically intelligent or the specialized.
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Austere Emancipa...
post Jan 10 2005, 07:56 PM
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bitrunner: It's all about getting immersed in a language when you're young. Learning a language only gets more and more difficult as you get older. If you start learning a second language when you're under 10 years old, getting to the equivalent of a rating 1 skill takes very little effort, and even a rating 2 skill only requires a bit of upkeep.

Having not yet taken university courses in second language acquisition, I would go as far as saying that what SR considers Intelligence has almost nothing to do with learning a second language. He/she might never become a great writer or a witty talker, but an "Intelligence 2" person could certainly be fluent in several languages.

Anyway, I use BeCKS, where everyone gets one language skill at rating = Int, and then gets Int x 15 Karma points to spend on Knowledge (or Language) skills. It works well enough for me.
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Kagetenshi
post Jan 10 2005, 07:58 PM
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I'm not saying that learning additional languages is difficult. I'm saying that, at least in the US, most people just don't, while a free first language plus language skill points would make nearly everyone bilingual or more.

~J
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Austere Emancipa...
post Jan 10 2005, 08:05 PM
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QUOTE (Kagetenshi)
I'm saying that, at least in the US, most people just don't, while a free first language plus language skill points would make nearly everyone bilingual or more.

Oh I agree with you there. Even with a surge in the popularity (in some parts of the society anyway) of Japanese and a number of other languages, a system of allowing starting characters a free first language and free language skill points would make everyone unrealistically adept at languages.
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hyzmarca
post Jan 10 2005, 08:07 PM
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The thing about languages is that rating 1 is considered to be perfectly fluent. Anything beyond that is useless except for certain language tests that rarely come up.
Writing a novel, legal brief, or research paper may require a language test. Deciphering a code without the necessary key or understanding a related but different language requires a test. Making a public speach may require a language test but it would more likely require a chrisma test. Writing the speach, on the other hand, would probably require a language test.
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Solstice
post Jan 10 2005, 08:09 PM
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I just look at it this way. None of us made a conscious choice to learn English, we just grew up speaking it and we learned to communicate English whether we wanted to or not. I prefer my char gen system to reflect that by giving a no cost head start in the characters native tongue. And if we want to assume that the current increasing trend in bilingualism (regardless of the reason) will continue then I see having the majority of the people being bilingual, or more realistic yet, knowning snippets of many languages from dealings with the various syndicates, metahuman groups, foreign investment groups, merc groups, NAN, elves etc.... I think that actually fits the Sixth world better than the current system.
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Solstice
post Jan 10 2005, 08:11 PM
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QUOTE (hyzmarca @ Jan 10 2005, 03:07 PM)
The thing about languages is that rating 1 is considered to be perfectly fluent.  Anything beyond that is useless except for certain language tests that rarely come up.
Writing a novel, legal brief, or research paper may require a language test.  Deciphering a code without the necessary key or understanding a related but different language requires a test. Making a public speach may require a language test but it would more likely require a chrisma test. Writing the speach, on the other hand, would probably require a language test.

Now this I didn't realize. It changes my view a bit. However, it very very rarely comes up in my game and I don't see how my little tweak breaks anything.

Edit: I allow free minimal points (only 1 now after reading the above) in the native language and I don't allow free language skill points...anything else including English R/W they have to buy.
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bitrunner
post Jan 10 2005, 08:19 PM
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QUOTE (hyzmarca @ Jan 10 2005, 04:07 PM)
The thing about languages is that rating 1 is considered to be perfectly fluent.  Anything beyond that is useless except for certain language tests that rarely come up.

i can't agree with that...the higher the rating, the more education and/or exposure to the language the person should have....

just based on the Language Tests, average conversation is a TN of 4. If you only have rating 1 in a language, you aren't always going to understand or make yourself understood for that...

with a TN of 2, you can easily express your base emotions or condition, but you'll rarely get a 6, which is required for more complex ideas/topics...

also remember that it is +2 for lingos - hence if someone comes up to me and says "shizznit" or whatever else ebonics, I'm going to have a hard time understanding them. same goes for L33T 5P34K - i can't read half of that stuff!! now, both are English (lingos), and yet, i'm nowhere fluent in them...i know what "homey" means, but past that, i'm very, well, "caucasian"...
or, in the immortal words from Airplane! "I'm sorry, I don't speak Jive..."

sure, as the book says, you don't need to make these rolls all the time, and i usually don't for characters that have at least level 3 in a language - but for anyone that takes level 1 - i usually make them roll, especially when they want something from a johnson/fixer, need info from a snitch, etc...

along these lines, are you saying that someone that takes Orzet or Sperethiel at level 1 is fully fluent??? um...no...
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U_Fester
post Jan 10 2005, 08:37 PM
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QUOTE (Lindt)
I personally (and aginst cannon) give my PCs a native language of their choice, at the cost of half their avilable lan. points. So for someone with an int 6.

English (native)
Spanish 4

I agree with you somewhat on this. I a give my PCs a native language equal to there intelligence. A PC with an INT of 6 should be able to read and write fluently their native language.
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Paco
post Jan 10 2005, 09:13 PM
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Just tossing my 2 cents in, I can see how having 1.5 * INT for languages is low, on the other hand it can be seen as too much, especially in America especially Indiana (I can't tell you how many people in the building I work in barely have English 3, let alone a second language) But then again the state of the world in the 2060's is much different, looking specifically at Seattle being very diverse in its enthic/multi-lingual population and closer to more nations, and extra territorial Coprs than RL Seattle today (not saying that its not today just less so than its SR counterpart), could justify giving someone their native language at their Intelligence, and allotting INT rating in points for additional Languages instead of INT*1.5. But personally I just use the book rules. Alternately we have a natural lingust Edge, and a similar flaw that we house ruled, each level adds/subtracts .5 to/from the multiplier for determining languages.
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Kagetenshi
post Jan 10 2005, 09:18 PM
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I don't like the Native Language=Int solution, but I can't put my finger on why. More later.

~J
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Kanada Ten
post Jan 10 2005, 09:39 PM
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There's nothing to say the average European (or Troll) isn't using some Knowledge (or Active) skill points to increase their Language skills.
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