What languages do you speak?

[Viking Bastard]

Mastermind,

Yup.

If I remember correctly that Dutch controlled island you're talking about she studied on, and she speaks that language fluently.

Danish controlled. Not Dutch controlled.

The thing about this place Færeyjar (as we call it, I have no idea what's it's called in english, but it sounds like Pharoh but spelled completely differently) is that it was like Iceland settled by vikings, just a bit later, who all talked Old Norse.

In the first 400 years or so after it was settled we did the whole viking thing, exploring, stealing, raping etc. But here have never grown big trees so we couldn't build new ships so we in time became a very isolated community, holding onto old ways, including the old language.

Meanwhile, the other scandinavian countries were becoming very influanced by german and england, resulting in a gradual change in the langauge. Here, on the other hand, very little change occurred, so we can pretty easily read 1000 year old texts (the Icelandic Sagas, once you get past that weird medieval font it's a peace of cake, we read 'em at school).

Færeyjar were very similar, smaller islands, fewer people, no trees. But they were much closer to Denmark, so they were more influanced by the change, yet not as much as scandinavia.

Creating kinda weird mix language.

 

[Avarice]

Yup.
Danish controlled. Not Dutch controlled.

The thing about this place Færeyjar (as we call it, I have no idea what's it's called in english, but it sounds like Pharoh but spelled completely differently) is that it was like Iceland settled by vikings, just a bit later, who all talked Old Norse.

.

Its written as Faeroe in English.

 

[Draxus the Tainted]

I live in North Carolina, USA, and I always speak in English, with a bit of ebonics mixed in that I picked up from people at school... It's kinda weird actually, a sort of English with ebonics, and country words you only hear in the south...don't try to understand it if you're not from around here

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

1.) Where do you live? (Country, community, etc. at whatever level of disclosure you feel comfortable.)

I now live in Miami (yes, we are a different country ), but I hail originally from Puerto Rico. My answers from now one are divided by a slash, with the information provided for Miami/Puerto Rico.

2.) What is the primary language in your area? (...and is it a notably different dialect than its original?)

English and Spanish/Spanish. No dialect, just local colour.

3.) What languages do you speak? (...and dialect if appropriate, please)

English, Spanish, Italian

4.) At what level of competency? (...if other than your primary language.)

English-fluently; Spanish-native tongue; Italian-moderately well (I can understand it quite well, and I can speak it slowly; I just need practice)

5.) What language do you use at the gaming table? (...or in online games?)

English/Spanglish, or Gamer Spanglish (things like, A quien to worshipeas? Castea tu spell! Rollea tus dados.)

6.) In what language are the gaming materials you use? (...and is it the language you prefer to use for gaming?)

English, but that's because (A) that's all you can get in both Miami and PR, and (B) I prefer English for such an endeavour. However, I had various friends who are not as fluent in English leave gaming because they had trouble with the material, where a Spanish translation would have been heaven-sent, but none was available. I've heard the same story again and again from people I know from all over Central and South America.

7.) How well serviced is the area in which you live in regard to gaming materials? (Miles/Kilometers to the nearest game store, what materials do they carry, etc.)

Well on both accounts. I have a handful of stores within a 20 mile radius, both in Miami and in Puerto Rico (San Juan, where I lived).

On a side note, anyone who speaks a langauge other than English and who might like to participate in a project translating gaming materials into a language other than English, please contact me via Email (in English, please ) at the following address-

Already did.

 

[Tonguez]

1.) Aotearoa/New Zealand

2.) English (New Zealand) and a Maori-English hybrid

3.) English, Maori, aforementioned Hybrid, a few phrases of Samoan, Japanese, Tokelauan, and Hausa which I use for dramatic effect in games)

oh and one other language but I don't know what it is yet

English, Maori, aforementioned Hybrid - fluent
others as above

5.) aforementioned Hybrid and English mainly but will throw in words and phrases from the est for dramatic effect

6.) English

7.) Terrible! I live in a small town (2000 people) and the nearest shop WAS a 2 hour drive away. that shop has closed down and NOW the nearest shop is 4 hours drive away
It does offer an email shopping service but there's nothing like going into a shop and browsing! (which I do whenever I can get to the city!!!)

 

[Frosty]

Re: What languages do you speak?

1.) Katrineholm (140 km south of Stockholm), Sweden.

2.) Swedish (which is similar enough to Danish and Norweigian.)

3.) Swedish, English. (Je parlé en peu de francais aussi.)

4.) Swedish 5, English 4, French 1.

5.) Swedish (along with English vocabulary.)

6.) American English

7.) A couple of friends own a gaming store a stroll away from where I live.

 

[Perun]

1.) Where do you live? (Country, community, etc. at whatever level of disclosure you feel comfortable.)

City of Split (a bit less than 200,000 souls), in the Dalmatia region of Croatia.

2.) What is the primary language in your area? (...and is it a notably different dialect than its original?)

The Official language in Croatia is Croatian (doh!), but we speak a local dialect, moderately heavy influenced by Italian language.

3.) What languages do you speak? (...and dialect if appropriate, please)

Well, Croatian, af course. I'm fairly fluent in English (fluent enough to translate a couple of books for a minor publisher, anyways). I heavily prefer British English. I have a passive knowledge of Italian (I can understand most of what is said, but I have difficulties when trying to speak anything more complicated than "My name is..."

4.) At what level of competency? (...if other than your primary language.)

See above.

5.) What language do you use at the gaming table? (...or in online games?)

We used to play in English for a couple of years, but we use Croatian now, with English gaming expressions (e.g. kastat spelove, vizardi, elfovi, dvorfovi, etc.)

6.) In what language are the gaming materials you use? (...and is it the language you prefer to use for gaming?)

There are no Croatian translations of the D&D products. We use books in English exclusively (obtainedy mainsly through Amazon.com -- cheaper and more customer friendly than the store in Zagreb, Croatian capital). Although one of our players did get a DMG in Italian, but that was back in 2E.

7.) How well serviced is the area in which you live in regard to gaming materials? (Miles/Kilometers to the nearest game store, what materials do they carry, etc.)

The nearest game store is about 350 kilometres away, in Zagreb. They are the official distributors for WotC materials in Croatia, so they have most of their products.

 

[Maldur]

1: The Netherlands or Holland ( thats what most foreigners call it)

2: Dutch

3: Dutch, English, German, swearwords in about a dozen other languages

4: Dutch (native, and I can copy most dutch accents), English(competent), German(enough to have a conversation)

5: Dutch and English

6: English

7:Quite good, store at about 10 minutes.

If i need other language skills, my girlfriend speaks (and reads/writes) arabic, french Hebrew and several other languages. My sisters speak french, spanish, Turkish. And my foster brother knows a variety of oriental languages( japanese, madrin, kantonese, laosian, vietnamese)

 

[mostrojoe]

1.) Where do you live? (Country, community, etc. at whatever level of disclosure you feel comfortable.)

ROME

2.) What is the primary language in your area? (...and is it a notably different dialect than its original?)

Italian

3.) What languages do you speak? (...and dialect if appropriate, please)

Italian

5.) What language do you use at the gaming table? (...or in online games?)

Still Italian, and I don't play on line (or I should use English)

6.) In what language are the gaming materials you use? (...and is it the language you prefer to use for gaming?)

English, and I prefer it

7.) How well serviced is the area in which you live in regard to gaming materials? (Miles/Kilometers to the nearest game store, what materials do they carry, etc.)

Very well serviced. If the shops don't have the material that you are searching is often possible to order it.

 

[Steven McRownt]

1.) Where do you live? (Country, community, etc. at whatever level of disclosure you feel comfortable.)

Italy, Rome (there's no need to explain further, i hope!)

2.) What is the primary language in your area? (...and is it a notably different dialect than its original?)

Italian, and we don't have dialects here, just loads of different 'accents'

3.) What languages do you speak? (...and dialect if appropriate, please)

Italian, French, English, Spanish, just some basics in German (I'll study in the near future)

4.) At what level of competency? (...if other than your primary language.)

French and English fluently, Spanish quite well, ..and for German just wait some months more!

5.) What language do you use at the gaming table? (...or in online games?)

Italian, but IMC we use to name spells in latin!

6.) In what language are the gaming materials you use? (...and is it the language you prefer to use for gaming?)

I'd say 50% Italian 50% English. The truth is, I have the 100% of gaming materials with me, the rest of the group just prefer to have them in Italian. IMHO the translations here are very very poor...

7.) How well serviced is the area in which you live in regard to gaming materials? (Miles/Kilometers to the nearest game store, what materials do they carry, etc.)

The nearest game store is about 15 minutes by car, another one is not over 25 (if u find the car park immediately)


Steven McRownt