Originally posted by WJP:
There is a JTAS article that addresses languages in CT.
Hey Mal,
I received your PM.
The "Languages in Traveller" article can be found in Best of the Journal of the Travellers' Aid Vol. 4. (It's in an earlier one as well, of course, I just found it in the BOTJ first.)
The article is rather long, for JTAS standards. It covers a lot of ground.
TOPIC: LANGUAGES OF THE IMPERIUM - covers a basic definition of Galanglic, being a dialect of Anglic, which is used on many worlds in the Imperium much the way English is used as the international language of the world today.
There are various local dialects of Anglic, Galanglic being the one used in the Marches, mostly. The article describes how, on low tech and balkanized worlds, some/many people learn Galanglic as a second language, but Galanglic is typically only used around the star port. The local tongue is used in other/most parts of the world.
There's some more details, but without typing in the entire article, you get the idea.
One of the effects, though, is the NPC encounter Reaction throw from Book 3.
The article provides a table where you can find out how language barrier, accents, and local influences will effect PC encounters with NPC during their travels.
It's a very handy table. I use it in my games. Language is always an issue--just like if you travel to a different country in the world today.
I'll reproduce this table for you if you think yo need it.
TOPIC: EXCEPTIONS - In this part of the article, specific exceptions and situations concerning languages are addressed: Starports; Merchant Characters; and Balkanized Worlds.
TOPIC: SKILLS - In this part of the article, the skills that give a character a bonus when dealing with people who speak a foreign language are listed: Liaison, Streetwise, Broker, and Trader.
TOPIC: LEARNING LANGUAGES - This part of the article discusses rules for learning languages in Traveller.
The article basically says that a character starts with his own native toungue but can learn new languages at varying speeds, depending on the situation. There are a lot of "ifs" in the article..if a tutor or electronic guidance is available...if the character immerses himself in the culture of the language he's trying to learn...etc.
The character, after studying for two hours a day, will gain a rudimentary knowledge of a new language in about six weeks and a working knowledge of the new language in about six months (rudimentary Knowl gives a +1DM on the reaction/fluency chart I mentioned above while a working Knowl give a +2DM).
Characters who study the language for about a year will gain the new language on a roll of 6+ on 2D, but, again, there's a lot of "ifs" in the article, mentioned above.
Other "ifs" are things like the character's INT score (for example, INT 9+ reduces acquisition times by 25%), teachers both organic and electronic, and various translator devices (several listed in the article).
TOPIC: LANGUAGES - The last section of the article discusses how Galangic is decended from English on Earth, but there are other influences out there in space. English is the basis for Anglic, but there are bits of French, German, Russian, Vilani, Spanish, Japanese, and Mandarin absorbed into it over the centuries.
This part of the article goes into how members of the Imperial armed forces are require to speak Galanglic in addition to their native dialect, and it talks about languages used in the Solomani Confederation as well as the Sworld Worlds.
Like I said, it's a long article, and it's hard to cover all the detail without re-typing the entire thing.
Hope that general overview helps. If you are looking for something specific, I'll try to look it up in the article for you.
Best,
W.
