Have you played D&D in a foreign language?

[Li Shenron]

I am an Italian who lives in Finland and I play D&D in English.

That said, I was recently pondering about what D&D has given me in terms of the language, and I have to say that it gave me a big improvement! In a few years of reading many 3ed books all written in English plus gaming in that language (although the English we talk is not really accurate, more like an "international English for strangers" ) at least I noticed I have gathered a load of new words and expressions. Ok, maybe knowing all the animals and critters and dozens synonims of "hit" and "kill" could not be that useful IRL... but I really thank D&D to have found me an excuse to let my mother understand that there IS a good point in playing a game even when you are getting close to your 30s

On the other hand, D&D hasn't been able to prevent me still make a lot of mistakes, among which some memorable ones including trying to tell the friends that I spent the night before in my garage killing scarecrows with a broom (instead of cockroaches), or that I love listening to music with handcuffs (instead of headphones)

...just wondering if other gamers have tried to play in a language different than their own, and how they feel about it...

 

[Viking Bastard]

I've gamed both in Icelandic (my mother tongue) and English.

Now, of course, I find it a tad bit harder to game in english (especially
as a gamemaster), but the different feel of the games is strong. With
english the games always end up seeming more 'knightly' or sometimes
'celtic' while in Icelandic the game always gets polluted with a certain
strong 'Nordic' taint.

It's kinda funny.

 

[johnsemlak]

I tried DMing one session in Russian and got a bit overwhelmed. I think you've got to know the other language very well do pull it off. A lot of the vocab is the same, of course, but a large amount isn't.

Playing in another lanaguage is another thing.

I do play with Russians but the ones i game with speak great English.

 

[Zappo]

Not yet. Good chances for the close future, though.

 

[Allanon]

Yes, I'm dutch and played it in both English and dutch. I prefer English as it sounds and works better and we've learned to calculate in the Imperial system (which was a mayor pain in the ***). Somehow having to translate everything detracts from the fun when playing in dutch.

 

[med stud]

I have never played in English but all the reading of the rule books and message boards such as this has really improved on my understanding of written English. Sometimes I dont notice when I go from English to Swedish when Im reading.

It would be fun to play a campaign in English to improve the speaking skills as well, but then it would be with native speakers so I can get rid of the Swenglish accent once and for all

 

[Bagpuss]

My wife is Spanish and games in English.

 

[nimisgod]

I play games in Taglish, that is Tagalog (Filipino) and English. It isn't very grammatically correct, but amongst friends who think in their native tongue, its perfectly fine. Also, IMO, there are some things in one language that sound better than if it was translated to another language (cursing for example).

edit: I used to play games in Taglish. Since I moved to the States, no more games in pidgin Filipino for me

 

[Talvisota]

Russian DMing. Hard stuff, for real; you just can't be as erudite in a second language as in your native.

 

[diaglo]

i've gamed with a variety of non-English non-native speakers.

we also gamed in Klingon or Tolkien Elvish for a session or two just for kicks.