What language is the Common of our world?

[Col_Pladoh]

Well:
Ta ma duh!
You're obviously not a fan of Firefly or Serenity.

Mandarin words are um-ho, just lop-sop. Only a lai-nou would think otherwise.

(Pardon the phonetic spelling.)


Gary

 

[Torm]

Torm, the Cartoon was set in "the Realm", not "The Realms."

In order of strength of argument, from least to greatest:

1. Kelek (Valley of the Unicorns), Warduke (Search for Dungeon Master), and Strongheart (Servant of Evil) were all in the Dungeons and Dragons module "The Shady Dragon Inn", which would arguably have taken place in either Greyhawk or Faerun (and I would argue it fits better in the latter).

2. Lolth was the focus of an episode (The Hall of Bones), which once again places them in either Greyhawk or Faerun (and you know which one I'M thinking ).

3. The only temple shown in the entire cartoon run was a temple to Lathander.

4. Hank and Bobby both appeared in Baldur's Gate II.

5. I have knowledge of Paladins, Knights, and Cavaliers in areas I influence - even if they are whiny little biyatches.

I think "the Realm" was one of "The Realms", eh?

Plus, Faerun did not become purchased as a D&D setting until after the cartoon went off the air.

Stop METAGAMING!!!!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

1. Kelek (Valley of the Unicorns), Warduke (Search for Dungeon Master), and Strongheart (Servant of Evil) were all in the Dungeons and Dragons module "The Shady Dragon Inn", which would arguably have taken place in either Greyhawk or Faerun (and I would argue it fits better in the latter).

It's an OD&D product. It's in Mystara.

 

[Torm]

It's an OD&D product. It's in Mystara.

Well .... I did put it as my weakest point for a reason.

 

[Wombat]

While English is the single most common second language in the world (according to a couple of different studies I have read), I don't think this makes it Common in any serious sense, in that Common is spoken (...and read...) by absolutely everyone with absolutely no variations everywhere in the world.

Heck, get a Brit, a Yank, and a couple of folks who picked up their English in either India or the Carribean and tell me that English is really undifferentiated...

 

[Banshee16]

Anywhere on the island of Montreal, you can get away with only speaking english. Every store/service place will have at least one person who understands/speak it at least well enough for the purpose of the store/service.

Quebec City isn't quite as easy, but you could still easily manage.

Anywhere else, including fairly big cities (Trois-Rivières, Rimouski, Gaspé), it gets a bit iffier. I mean, you won't die of starvation 'cause you couldn't order from a restaurant or anything, but your visit wouldn't be that great. Amusingly, in the far north of the province, in native americans reservations, it's reversed, and speaking only french won't work.

The point though is that even in North America, in a place where english is an official language, you'll find plenty of people that don't speak it at all. So comparing it to common in D&D is not that good, despite what the poll says.

I'm not sure it's as clearcut as that I'm bilingual, though my French is admittedly rusty. Of course, if I'm talking to you in French for an hour, by minute 55, I'm doing much better than I was at minute 5..

What I have noticed, however, is that east of St. Laurent Blvd in MTL, the use of English decreases dramatically. West of it, yeah, lots of English speakers. When I went to John Abbott, many of my friends spoke *only* English..which I found pretty incredible.

But I've talked with companies in Montreal that refused service if I didn't speak French. My fiance, who is English-only, was with me on St. Hubert, and we were in a fashion store, and nobody working there could assist her, because none of them spoke English. I ended up needing to translate for both her and the shopkeepers, so they could conclude their transactions. It was the same thing in Quebec City, when we drove back from Halifax...we stopped in places up there where they only spoke French. We went into a gas station, and she had to leave, because she couldn't communicate with them, so I went in and handled things. The majority of my relatives, beyond my immediate family, are Francophone, with many of those from Eastern Quebec speaking no English, or very little. There are plenty of places where if you don't talk French, you're going to have a real tough time accomplishing anything.

In Rome, we were ok, as long as we were at the tourist areas....but at the airport, I was using my phrase book, because nobody at the airport spoke English...again, in Venice, many who spoke a tiny bit of English, but not nearly as many as in Rome.

On the topic of gaming, there's a very cool shop down the street from the Vatican, called Storiae Magica, I think, that had all sorts of fantasy stuff....swords, axes, sailing ships, gnomes, resin knight figures, etc. Huge selection of cool stuff, much of which I've never seen before. Closest I've seen was the Red Dragon in MTL, but that shop closed in February, and the one in Rome had a much bigger selection.

Banshee

 

[TheAuldGrump]

The seventies isn't ancient history?

I kid, I kid.

Aye baen maun auncient a'days.

Anyone want to date that form of English?

The Auld Grump

 

[Banshee16]

At least in France, it was more of the problem that the people would not speak English, even if they could. I still remember a conversation in a bank in Calais, where I spoke English and all answers came in French. The guy understood me perfectly, but he would have never used a single English word. In my experience, it was a good strategy to try your luck in French first. If the people got the impression that you mutilated the French language in a way that they felt physical pain, they were much more open to converse in English.

Nowadays, this has changed a lot, though. The younger generation in France doesn't object to talking English.

It is a a matter of respect when in another culture to at least try, even if it's only a few words. In Paris, given my fiance is English, I usually opened up conversations in French, and then switched over to English for her benefit, if the person was able to talk in that language. I understood that having an accent that is a mix of Franco-Ontarian, Outaouias (Sp?), and Quebecoise, I probably sounded like a bumpkin, but they did appreciate it

In any case, I'm not going to harp on the matter. I'm not sure Earth has an equivalent of Common. The implication of Common in RPGs is a language that all humans speak. There's nothing like that on Earth. I kind of like the idea of different characters needing to use translators or learning new languages when travelling to new lands, and the multi-cultural melange that you get in a city market or whatever, with people speaking a whole whack of different languages. I don't know...there's something romantic about it.

Banshee

 

[Angel Tarragon]

English. But I think over time it will switch to Latin.

 

[shadow]

As I stated earlier, in spite of the prevalence of English, it's still not quite the common tongue found in most D&D campaigns. Every D&D campaign that I've played in assumed that common was the tongue that every sentient creature spoke by default. I have never played in a campaign where PCs had to hire interpreters or learn a second language. (Not that those campaigns don't exist, but they are not terribly common.) In fact I once had a player state to me that Speak Language was "the most useless skill ever" because in most campaign settings everyone spoke common.

Now in the real world English is definately becoming "the international language". However, not every person on the planet speaks it. Just a few months ago I went on a vacation to Thailand. Even in Bangkok, the capital city, I found most people did not speak English, or had very limited English proficiency (they knew just enough to English to quote the price on whatever they were selling). I often had to have Thai speaking friends act as translators for me. Yes, English is the language that everyone attempts to learn, but it is hardly as universal as Common in D&D.