06-06-2012, 07:59 PM | #11 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: Rescaling language ability
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Native doesn't mean "no accent," and Accented doesn't just mean "speaks with an accent." Accented means clear communication but with poor command of idioms and other advanced expressions. You've still got to work at it. Native means complete and effortless command of the language. It doesn't specify whether you have an accent. I know lots of people who have complete mastery of English, and can understand anything I say immediately, no matter how colloquial the expression, and yet they still have a foreign accent because English is their second language. These people have English at Native level with a quirk, Such-and-such accent. I know other people who usually understand me and can converse at speed with me, but they don't always understand everything I say, and sometimes have to pause to come up with the right word. These have Accented level English. It would have been better to name the language levels None, Broken, Conversational, and Fluent. |
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06-06-2012, 08:06 PM | #12 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: Rescaling language ability
My grandmother speaks English with a Mexican Spanish accent, but speaks Spanish with an American English accent. Those are the only two languages she knows.
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Beware, poor communication skills. No offense intended. If offended, it just means that I failed my writing skill check. |
06-07-2012, 08:22 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Rescaling language ability
Ordinarily, scenes of characters being unable to communicate, and being reduced to gestures or reliance on a translator, are not much fun to roleplay, and I don't make a lot of use of them; so knowledge of languages is not of high utility in my campaigns. Given that, I'm not inclined to adopt a set of rules that make it necessary to spend more points to be fully fluent in a language.
Bill Stoddard |
06-07-2012, 08:50 AM | #14 | |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Rescaling language ability
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06-07-2012, 09:07 AM | #15 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Rescaling language ability
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Bill Stoddard |
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06-07-2012, 09:23 AM | #16 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: Rescaling language ability
The other issue is that everyone has an accent, and most people can't fake other people's well. Its just that in the age of print and broadcast media, the number of accents tends to decline, so foreigners are especially notable. I would not be surprised if faking accents is a skill orthagonal to the number of language you know, so I think that GURPS' approach (p. B24) of making it a technique of Acting or Mimicry (Voice) is a good one.
Someone who learned English in rural Yorkshire is always going to have an accent when they travel to Canada or India!
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"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
06-07-2012, 10:18 AM | #17 |
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Rescaling language ability
Those are potentially three different levels of ability. Fluent has the same roots as flowing, and is often a synonym of graceful or eloquent. I'd ordinarily consider it a higher level of competence than good enough to communicate without major obstacles. Actually in most contexts I'd consider it a higher level of competence than that of many native speakers, though I might not expect that when used as game technical jargon.
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06-07-2012, 10:21 AM | #18 | |
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Lawrence, KS
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Re: Rescaling language ability
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Bill Stoddard Edit: For comparison, you make an Erotic Art roll for advanced sexual technique, but basic sexual technique is just a DX or HT roll, which anyone can attempt who doesn't have Neutered or Sexless or some comparable disability. Last edited by whswhs; 06-07-2012 at 11:00 AM. |
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06-07-2012, 11:40 PM | #19 | |
Banned
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Europe
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Re: Rescaling language ability
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06-08-2012, 06:03 AM | #20 | ||
Join Date: Jun 2006
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Re: Rescaling language ability
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