Language learning

[*Wiro]

It'd be nice to have the "You have to learn a language" thing a bit more obvious, if it is event present in the current rules. I am not going to report anyone speaking a language without learning it anymore now, because it is too much trouble. Especially with people going "omg i read a dictionary and it said five words in english and i learnt englihs like that".

[Caesar]

My chars only use words my characters have either read in a dictionary or have understood by someone else using it in a context (s)he can guess the meaning.

[Piscator]

There is a guideline that a player has to roleplay language learning 2 (4?) years until he is allowed to speak it.

I used to be very strict about language learning and tried to use only words I either read or heard, but found out it's much to bothersome to remember which char knows which words, so I just try to follow abovementioned rule, even though I might end up using words the char never heared before. After all, it's just a game and we live with much more profound simplifications.

[Caesar]

I actually manage to remember every characters' vocabulary.. But that's probably just one of my own weirdnesses.

[*Wiro]

http://www.cantr.net/index.php?page=adduser&l=1

Nowhere does it say so. It's just a thing PD says sometimes here and there on the forum. You can't expect everyone to look on the forums. And even if they do, they need a good bit of luck to find out about it.

[Piscator]

Well, let's wait for an official statement from PD. Then we can just add the correct information. I also think it should be done.

[Comy]

Actually, it mentions the language learning thing on the character creation page, which I think is a pretty good place for it since people will have that reminder right as they're creating a character.

[BZR]

My only polish character to speak english was the one who spent 5 years in jail with an english prisoner. It's annoying when characters speak english fluently after observing people talking with traders.

It's strange but while one english pirate was robbing polish city, suddenly everyone knew how to speak english.

[*Wiro]

Comy - never even noticed that. :S
BZR - Yeah, eh? And when asked about it, they're like "Yeah my character learnt it from an English trader and from notes." and all that.

[Genevieve]

I think if someone spawned in a place where some people speak polish or spanish or whatever and some english, there would be no reason for that person to not fully know both languages (as much as the charries currently there do) after all---don't we just "know" english for example when we spawn in an english area?

That would work for me, and I pray to not have that happen -- one charrie left about 6 days ago from an area with no people, but the notes were all in another language -- fortunately, someone kindly left a dictionary so she can read the map lol and try and find her way to another town where hopefully SOMEONE speaks English--and if not, at least someone else lives lol

[Dudel]

I think if someone spawned in a place where some people speak polish or spanish or whatever and some english, there would be no reason for that person to not fully know both languages (as much as the charries currently there do) after all---don't we just "know" english for example when we spawn in an english area?

Unfair advantage as not EVERYONE (player wise) is bilingual. I don't like it! X|

I've go no problem with people learning but a newspawn going "Ja jestem.." then fourteen seconds later they speak fluent freaking English... I R gets MAD!

I guess if it would prevent more confusion it should be more obvious SOMEWHERE, as Wiro has said.

[Elros]

Unfair advantage as not EVERYONE (player wise) is bilingual. I don't like it! X|

Well I think someone that has spent years of their real life learning another language should not have to worry about it being unfair for another. Roleplaying is a use of our own personal knowledge and experience in life, and it is put into characters bits and peices at a time. It is like saying that someone who has been alive for 50 years would have an unfair advantage over a 16 year old since they have a wider range of experiences in their life that they can draw on to make their characters more profound or in depth.

Secondly, how does your charicter know English automatically when they spawn? The first thing most do is blurt out their name and ask for food or work. Is that wrong? No... So why would it be wrong for them to blurt out their name in English and Spanish? Who is to say that they only know one language each, and who is to say what that language is?

[joo]

Who is to say that they only know one language each, and who is to say what that language is?

The player makes that choice when they spawn a new character. There is a dropdown list of languages. That's a choice, and a definition once it has been made. The rules quite clearly state that the character is created with knowledge of that language and that language only.

[Piscator]

Who is to say that they only know one language each, and who is to say what that language is?

The rules of Cantr do. (I won't quote where it's written. That's quite the point of the whole thread.) You start with the wiki-knowledge and the ability to speak your chosen language. So every character starts with equivalent knowledge. Everything beyond that (maps, laws, stories, foreign languages) have to be found out in game.

Bilingual players do still have an advantage for they are to only ones who will be able to have (properly speaking) bilingual characters. Very few players will learn a language through and for a game and online-translators still suck most of the time.

[Doug R.]

When I get off my arse and finish it, there will be a Cantr TOS that will, among many things, detail the rules regarding language learning. I promise that I won't CA2008 it.