D&D General Languages suck in D&D.

[Micah Sweet]

And every gnome is a tinker or biologist. They have to read books too.

It's more that D&D forces you to make an excuse why someone doesn't know how to read and speak 2 or more languages.

How many people in this world know two or more languages? What percentage?

 

[Minigiant]

How many people in this world know two or more languages? What percentage?

Depends on the percentage of nonhumans of civilized "modern" culture.

 

[Lanefan]

How many people in this world know two or more languages? What percentage?

I have it that most "monster" languages are fairly simplistic and relatively easy to learn to speak, thus knowing six languages might not be the same feat it is in the real world.

I also have it that a lot of languages don't even have fully-developed written forms. In some cultures, learning and tradition might be passed on only via the spoken* word.

* - or sung; bards or skalds or equivalent would be a vital element in such societies.

 

[Hussar]

I have it that most "monster" languages are fairly simplistic and relatively easy to learn to speak, thus knowing six languages might not be the same feat it is in the real world.

I also have it that a lot of languages don't even have fully-developed written forms. In some cultures, learning and tradition might be passed on only via the spoken* word.

* - or sung; bards or skalds or equivalent would be a vital element in such societies.

Why would that be? What do you mean by "monster" languages? After all, I would think something like draconic,, as it's spoken by virtually immortal beings, would be an incredibly complicated language. Never minding something like Deep Speech or anything spoken by an aberration.

Any species with any level of society beyond basic hunter/gatherer would have a language just as complex as any human language. You have to have that level of complexity in order to communicate concepts required by a more complex society.

 

[Corinnguard]

Create a game mechanic that support having many languages in part of the game's design

@Crimson Longinus 's idea of a Linguistics skill could be that game mechanic. It could also be expanded to cover written and sign languages as well.

We may need some new spells:

3rd level: Mass Comprehend Languages

5th Level: Fluency: Touch a creature and immediately become fluent (speak, read, and write) in one of its known languages. If the creature is unwilling, it may make a Intelligence saving throw to resist. A successful save causes 8d8 psychic damage to the caster and a 1d4 loss to the caster's intelligence. A caster regains 1 point to their int score for every long rest.

These spells remind me of those Young Justice cartoon episodes where Miss Martian would telepathically link everyone together so that they could understand one another. While linked, each person would think they are hearing someone speak their language (even if the other person wasn't fluent in it). So, you could have a Goblin thinking everyone else was speaking in the goblin tongue, while everyone is thinking that the goblin was speaking their language.

 

[Minigiant]

I'll quote myself from the previous thread on the topic:

It has worked well enough for me.

@Crimson Longinus 's idea of a Linguistics skill could be that game mechanic. It could also be expanded to cover written and sign languages as well

Perhaps that's how you recreate the Linguist feat

Linguist
Origin Feat
You have studied languages and codes, gaining the following benefits:

Polyglot: You learn three languages of your choice.
Spell Reader: You always have the Comprehend Languages prepared. You can cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have.
Steganographer: You can add your Proficiency modifier to Intelligence checks to decipher and create arcane glyphs, magic symbols, ancient texts, written secrets, and unknown ciphers.
Philologist: You can make an DC 25 Intelligence check to learn a new language that you don't know. you may retry the check every day with the DC lowering by 1 for each day you hear the language spoken in a conversation.

 

[greymist]

How many people in this world know two or more languages? What percentage?

About 60%.

43% of the world’s population is bilingual, according to the Journal of Neurolinguistics, meaning almost half of all people utilize two languages daily. 40% of the world’s population is monolingual, using just one language. 17% of the world’s population is multilingual, or fluent in two or more languages.

How many languages does 1 person know? - Geographic FAQ Hub: Answers to Your Global Questions

How many languages does 1 person know? The average person knows at least two languages, and it’s rare to find a monolingual. Though in the US it is more common. How many languages can 1 person speak? An average person can speak two to four languages in a lifetime. However, human brains work...

www.ncesc.com

 

[Lanefan]

Why would that be? What do you mean by "monster" languages? After all, I would think something like draconic,, as it's spoken by virtually immortal beings, would be an incredibly complicated language. Never minding something like Deep Speech or anything spoken by an aberration.

Any species with any level of society beyond basic hunter/gatherer would have a language just as complex as any human language. You have to have that level of complexity in order to communicate concepts required by a more complex society.

That's just it, though: a whole lot of common monsters are still at the hunter-gatherer stage, if even that. Goblins, Kobolds, Ogres, Gnolls, Trolls, Lizardpeople, in fact most of the "classic" humanoids - all hunter-gatherers and (with rare individual exceptions) not exactly known for their high degree of culture.

Thus, learning to speak Ogre isn't nearly as challenging as learning to speak Elvish, or Red Dragon, or the language of Mind Flayers.

 

[Hussar]

That's just it, though: a whole lot of common monsters are still at the hunter-gatherer stage, if even that. Goblins, Kobolds, Ogres, Gnolls, Trolls, Lizardpeople, in fact most of the "classic" humanoids - all hunter-gatherers and (with rare individual exceptions) not exactly known for their high degree of culture.

Thus, learning to speak Ogre isn't nearly as challenging as learning to speak Elvish, or Red Dragon, or the language of Mind Flayers.

Except, no. Lizardfolk live in large towns. Danger at Dunwater. Kobolds are known for having large communities as are goblins. Ogres and trolls? Fair enough. Although, again, why are we insisting on species language? That’s edging into some really icky territory.

And, even if we do give every single species their own language, how is that going to be more interesting at the table? No one is going to bother leaning the language of a creature you might only meet a couple of times at low level and then never see again.

So every encounter becomes combat because there’s no way to communicate. Other than universal translator magic of course. Yayyy. Let’s make the game even more dependant on casters.

 

[pemerton]

Other than universal translator magic of course. Yayyy. Let’s make the game even more dependant on casters.

It's more realistic that way!