Hi Yuki,
I've seen the Japanese language Pathfinder wiki, and it seems very impressive.
As far as improving your vocabulary, I doubt I can suggest anything you haven't already thought of, like using on-line dictionaries or maybe using Yahoo! or Google translations of www.d20pfsrd.com or paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/.
Good luck and happy gaming!
Perhaps you could provide us with some examples of the vocabulary you are having difficulties with, and we could then assist you with them?
Or we could at least try!
I present The Simple English Wikipedia.
This site explains complex things in simple english words.
I hope this makes a good general reference
Simple English Wikipedia.
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Not to bag on Paizo, but translating is a daunting task because so many times the original text is madeningly vague and have multiple interpretations amongst the player base.
Yeup. There are a lot of arguments we had to understand some rules in french - and still, when I compare to the original texts, the french translators made a formidable and really professional work. But there is always something which could be interpreted another way, and reading in the original english version, which is a simpler (but way clearer nor "simple") language, helps us to grasp the real meaning of some rules. Well, for me though. I have to translate everything to my dumb friends. :P
Like the others said, Yuki, feel free to ask about the points or terms you don't totally understand. :)
Given the discussions here in fluent English, it's certainly tricky at times to understand every possible interpretation of the rules.
Being bilingual myself, I can attest to the difficulty of precise translation.
Hello, Yuki.
There are many words you will see in Pathfinder books. Some words are much more useful than others. If you look at the Index of a book, or the Glossary, you will see lists of words that have a specific meaning. These words help you use the rules of the game.
I will give you an example of useful words. This is text from the Glossary.
Fascinated: A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or spell effect.
Here are a few words that are useful. "Creature" is always used to talk about one character. "Creatures" means two or more. You will see this word very often and can always trust its meaning. This is a very easy example of a useful word.
"Supernatural" is used to describe some abilities. There are rules for supernatural abilities, so whenever you see this word you can look up those rules until you are familiar with them.
I hope these examples are not too simple. The point is that they appear many times in the rules and you can trust their meaning.
Let's look at a word which is not "useful" in the same way. The word "entranced" in the above quote is not a word that helps with the rules. It is just an English word to add meaning for the reader. You will not see "entranced" in many descriptions of spells, so it does not help you follow the rules. It might take a lot of time to look up a word like "entranced" in a dictionary but it will not give you much help.
There will be words you may not know well, but some of them are not very important. The most important words are ones you can find in lists, like the Glossary or Index. When you see these useful words in sentences, you can sometimes understand the rules.
Here is another sentence about Fascinate:
The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts.
This is a long sentence. Perhaps in a sentence like this you may not know every word. So let's pick out the important words:
The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts.
By finding the useful words you may understand a sentence without knowing every word. The creature takes no actions if it is being fascinated. The other words may help a little, but "sits quietly" is not in the Glossary, so it will not help you very much.
Let's look at one more sentence about Fascinate.
It takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks.
This type is easy. Whenever you get a number, like "-4" just figure out where the -4 goes. In this case the -4 is on Perception skill checks. "It" is still "the creature", of course.
Sometimes there may be many words in a sentence. These words may be interesting, but not as useful for learning the rules. If you are often in a hurry, learn to find the useful words and you will understand rules more quickly.
Remember well the important, useful words:
Actions (standard, move, swift, free, full-round)
Abilities (extraordinary, supernatural, spell-like)
Schools of magic (abjury, enchantment, evocation, necromancy, etc.)
Creatures (animal, dragon, humanoid, magical beast, undead, etc.)
There are many more. It is not an easy task to understand all of them, so take your time.
I hope I have been of some help to you.