Does Tongues translate the written word?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This spell grants the creature touched the ability to speak and understand the language of any intelligent creature, whether it is a racial tongue or a regional dialect. The subject can speak only one language at a time, although it may be able to understand several languages. Tongues does not enable the subject to speak with creatures who don’t speak. The subject can make itself understood as far as its voice carries. This spell does not predispose any creature addressed toward the subject in any way.

A character in my campaign has a book he can't read. He's also near a Hallow effect that has a one-year Tongues effect attached to it. He wants to take the book into the Tongues area and read the book out loud.

Will this work? I can see arguments for both sides.

 

[Corsair]

I don't know, but as written it DOES allow creatures not normally capable of speech to talk. That alone was worth getting a wondrous item with permanent tongues on my druid.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Literally, it sounds like it is only concerned with spoken languages, and as such you'd want comprehend languages to read the (written) book.

I can see why a DM might allow the spell to supercede comprehend languages though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Since it's Tongues-as-an-area-effect, could two people standing in the area do it? One to read it out loud, one to translate the spoken word for everyone?

 

[Nail]

This spell grants the creature touched the ability to speak and understand the language of any intelligent creature, whether it is a racial tongue or a regional dialect.

If you speak English, and I write the word "Hello", do you understand me?

 

[Artoomis]

Since it's Tongues-as-an-area-effect, could two people standing in the area do it? One to read it out loud, one to translate the spoken word for everyone?

That has great potential to be very.... interesting. Mispronounced words might mean something other than what is written.

I'd allow it, but I'd be to have some fun mistranslations thrown in based upon mispronounced words.

Assuming the written symbols are understandable in the first place.

For example, I could read Portuguese, albeit badly, but would have no chance at all with Chinese or Japanese characters.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In this case, it's a language that is arguably the ancestor (albeit with several major steps along the way) of the common Imperial language, so the player character should be able to get reasonably close in his pronunciations. (He's also a reasonably well-educated paladin and cleric who's used to reading Mass in Celestial, so sounding out complex words has been something he's done for a very long time.)

 

[pallandrome]

In this case, it's a language that is arguably the ancestor (albeit with several major steps along the way) of the common Imperial language, so the player character should be able to get reasonably close in his pronunciations. (He's also a reasonably well-educated paladin and cleric who's used to reading Mass in Celestial, so sounding out complex words has been something he's done for a very long time.)

This being the case, I'd allow it. ESPECIALLY considering that the humor values of the inevitable mistranslations are simply too good to pass up.

 

[Fieari]

Inevitable mistranslations are fun! I suggest, to be fair, that you roll a decipher script check for each word to determine if it's pronounced properly. If not, substitute a random word ala Mad Libs.

For more fun, roll FOR them, behind the screen, so they don't know if a given word is right or not. Let them try as often as they like, but on each different "number" failure, use a different word. Of course, when they get it right, it'll always be right, but since you're rolling behind the screen, how do they know which is right?

And if some of the mistranslations make sense in the context of the script, I smell entertaining red herring...

The easiest way to get these sorts of red herrings is to pick words which are clearly opposites to the real meaning (in a sentence that's structured so it can go either way)... of course, nouns can simply be replaced with other nouns. But be appropriate, for best RBDM results. The occasional complete off-the-wall mistranslation will be good too though, so that they know the potential of getting words wrong. Make the really crazy stuff only on really low decipher script rolls.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Thanks, guys. I'm going to use the read out loud/fun with misprounciations and mistranslations route.