Languages and defaults

[Mercutio Montecchi]

Hi, how do languages with defaults work in GURPS 4e?
I'm about to start a GURPS Conan campaign and there are many, many, many languages, most of which default to other languages, ranging from -2 to -6.
The problem is that I couldn't find in any current 4e GURPS book any indication on how to treat defaults in languages.

I planned a character using 3e rules and basically by knowing my own language + 6 additional languages very well (11 INT, 1 point in Language Talent and 10 in Linguistics, 1 or 2 points in each language), I can be a proficient speaker in 15 languages or so.
So basically I'm spending 10 pts for Literacy, 2 for Language Talent, 2 for Linguistics and 10 for the individual languages, for a total of 24 points (40 if you count the points spent for 11 INT) and I know all those languages at 12-15; the languages I know by default range from 7 to 10, which is still considered accented by 4e standards.

Using the new rules, I could take Language Talent (10 pts), and with 2 points (broken/broken) in each language (6 languages, for a total of 12 points), I know them all at an accented/accented level. In total I spend 22 points instead of 24 but I know them all at an accented level instead of the equivalent of native level. Plus, I don't know how to treat the default.
Does any book address this issue?
I like the idea of a linguist character but I feel 4e is a bit superficial in this aspect.

[Kuroshima]

"Languages, Culture, And The Common Tongue" by Demi Benson in Pyramid #3/16 deals with language defaults, when they're applicable and how they work. Neat article.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Mercutio Montecchi

The problem is that I couldn't find in any current 4e GURPS book any indication on how to treat defaults in languages.

I don't think there's a canonical treatment of that sort of thing. What I did in Hot Spots: Renaissance Florence was to assign reduced levels of fluency between dialects, somewhat in the style of defaults. For example: language A and language B are sufficiently closely related that each provides the other at one step of fluency less. If you learn language A to Accented, you know language B at Broken.

Originally Posted by Mercutio Montecchi

I like the idea of a linguist character but I feel 4e is a bit superficial in this aspect.

4e is rather more coarse-grained than earlier editions. If you really want to feature linguistics as part of your game, you may consider tossing the 4e language rules and reverting to 3rd edition's.

[Polydamas]

Language defaults of the "Native X gives you Broken Y" type were first published in GURPS Banestorm about a year after g4e came out. The GURPS 3e rules were very easy for characters with IQ 13+ to abuse (1/2 point would let someone go from no knowledge of German to being able to fake accents and read scholarly books).

[Mercutio Montecchi]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

4e is rather more coarse-grained than earlier editions. If you really want to feature linguistics as part of your game, you may consider tossing the 4e language rules and reverting to 3rd edition's.

That's not up to me though :P that's up to the GM :\

[OldSam]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

Language defaults of the "Native X gives you Broken Y" type were first published in GURPS Banestorm about a year after g4e came out.

That's what I would do, too, for closely related languages: Native->Accented->Broken...
Moreover you could allow buying up the affected languages from that default.
And if the related language is similar in verbal and written form, as another option I'd also allow buying the language for 1 CP spoken and written (per level).

[John Smith]

I agree. For example, Italian (Native) should give you Spanish, French and Portuguese (all Broken); Danish would perhaps give you Norwegian (Accented) as a default, since they are very close; am I mistaken?

[Anders]

I am from Sweden, so I have Swedish (N/N). I can understand Norwegian fairly well, call it (A/S), but have a very hard time understanding Danish (B/S). On the other hand, the Danes find it quite easy to understand Swedish, so maybe a Dane would have Swedish (A/S)?

[johndallman]

It gets even more entertaining for defaults up and down a timeline. The characters in my Infinite Worlds Cabal campaign are mostly from the early eighteenth century. That's fairly useful; their are -1 from both Elizabethan and Modern English, and their French is about the same. Their scholarly Latin is -2 from quite a lot of things, but magic seemed necessary in 1962 Italy; possibly their Frenchman should have been able to manage broken Italian, but he's Oblivious, and thus doesn't tend to volunteer.

Hungarian works well as a private language almost everywhere, though.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Hungarian works well as a private language almost everywhere, though.

Basque should be even better.