The Common tongue

[evildm]

Hey everybody. My friend and I were talking about languages in D&D cause we noticed Ravenloft doesn't have a common tongue, and I came to the conclusion that isn't it odd how in some settings (Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk in particular, I suppose) everybody speaks the common tongue? So much so that it really reduces the importance of other languages quite a bit. What's the point of speaking Chondathan and Damaran if both cultures speak common quite well. I understand that it's more important in reading languages on paper, but shouldn't it be more important to be able to speak languages or to get translators while in foreign lands? Like in the real world, we don't really have a common tongue (though there are certainly prevalent languages).

What do you think? Do you remove the common tongue in your games?

 

[Wormwood]

It's one of those illogical concepts that most people hand-wave away for ease of play.

Str Trek as their universal translators, Farscape has translator microbes, and in Star Wars they never even explain how everyone seems to understand English, Droid and Wookie. But they do.

Realistic? Not a bit.

But could you tell the same stories if nobody understood a word anyone was saying? Probably not.

 

[thundershot]

In my cross-polination campaign, language will make for some interesting role playing. English and Common will be different languages, and a WW II soldier isn't going to know Common any more than a Dwarf knowing English, or a Stormtrooper knowing either (I think SW calls it Basic). It sounds confusing, but I'm going to play the language barrier in this campaign, and the PCs will end up needing to take ranks in Speak Language..


Chris

 

[Kilmore]

It was so decreed by the God of Blabbering. As far as I can figure out, that's the most sensible explanation.

My campaign doesn't follow this philosophy.

 

[RangerWickett]

In my campaign, one empire conquered the entire world, so everyone does speak the same language, at least a little. Resistance movements tend to have their own private languages, though, and most cultures keep their own language in most circumstances. So knowing foreign languages is useful for spying and diplomacy, but not necessary.

 

[johnsemlak]

I don't think the existance of a widespread 'trade language' is that unrealistic of a thing, though it certainly helps game play. Various real world international langauges: English, French, Latin, Koine Greek, etc have filled this role. Also, The 'common' tongue doesn't have to be every person's first langauge.

One thing D&D deosn't at all deal with is people who only speak a langauge 'a little', which would presumably be the case about the common tongue. In D&D people either 'speak' or 'don't speak' a language.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Language.

I don't have a common tongue in my campaign. I explained this at the beginning, so all my players chose the national language of the main country their PCs are in, as well as various others depending on their backgrounds and interests.

I find that this works well. They all speak the national language, as does most everyone else in the nation (obviously). And I can use foreign languages now and then to add flavor and intrigue. It's always fun when the party finds a secret communique...in a language nobody can read.

 

[Tonguez]

Really it depends on the scope of your campaign

For instance my Campaign is set in Mythic Polynesia and historically the various polynesian languages were essentially dialects of a single language such that a Tahitian and a Hawaiian could communicate with only a little difficulty.

Also historically the Chinese Empire made cantonese and/or Mandarin pretty much Lingua Franca across East Asia
Greek and after Islam Arabic had a similar status across Asia Minor and later Latin did the same in Europe.

Remembering that all PCs are literate it can be assumed IMHO that they are literate in the Common Tongue (ie Latin for Medieval Europe) - ie it is quite possible that a Fighter from London (for instance) would be able to read and write in French and Latin but NOT English which however is their native spoken language.

 

[Flyspeck23]

Not being a "native speaker", I "translated" that into my campaign. Meaning:
There is a prevalent language which is called "Common", and which would be called "English" in our world. It's the one and only official language in the country where the campaign (mostly) takes place.
But most of the PCs (not being "native speakers" too), heading from a neighboring country, do speak "Common" (if Int allows that...) - their native tongue is different though (based on "German").
That way, it doesn't sound awkward, if an "Owlbear" is named "Eulenbaer" from time to time, or a "Beholder" is named "Betrachter" (a "Goblin" is still a "Goblin"...).

Back to the point at hand: if you don't speak five or more languages yourself (as a DM), or if you haven't designed that many "fantasy languages", I'd say stick to the concept of the "Common language". Unless, of course, you can come up with foreign-sounding names on the fly all of the time.

 

[Alzrius]

There was an article in Dragon a while back (not sure if it was pre-3E or not...I think it was) that deeply analyzed languages in the Realms. It went on about how they had evolved, what languages were related to each other, where they were spoken, etc. It was somewhat difficult to read, but damn interesting. You should look into that.