Speaking real world languages?


Gamer Life General Discussion


So I was in a game yesterday just as a player. Fun game, but in my team was these two spanish brothers. They seemed to talk to each other and plan out everything in spanish, with only one of the brothers speaking to the party in english. From my understanding it's because the other brother has a loose grasp of speaking english. Which is fair enough, but after the game the brother told me that his younger brother basically had a lot of "Chaotic" things to say, and apparently insulted Grandmaster Torch. In Spanish. Where as I played a tengu and did something similar in Tengu (But I myself was speaking english myself), only to have Grandmaster Torch figure out what I was saying through Comprehend Languages.

I doubt there's an actual rule on it, but I am curios what you'd do as a GM if your players start to actually speak a foreign language during the game, for the purpose of communication. Obviously.


This has never ever come up in any game I know of, but I would do my best to insist that everyone speak in a language that everyone at the table could understand. If someone's grasp of the language isn't very strong, then someone whose is could help with getting the point across.


Hasn't been a problem for us. Sometimes some people have insisted on using English for any given non-Common (in the wider sense, not as a distinct language tongue being spoken at any given time, but generally everyone only speaks the same two languages here and those who know more are the only ones who know it so it won't matter.

If we did need to play through a translator I would rely on the translator doing a proper job of conveying information. If not then the game obviously falls apart. If the translator is doing a poor job, tell them to pull it together. If the translator cannot, then the game falls apart. There isn't really anything anyone else can do if proper communication relies entirely on one person.

Silver Crusade

Quite simple. Please speak a languge everybody understands. That includes gentle nudging towards German terms if newer players are at the table - while every veteran knows that "AC" is "armor class", a new player might only be familiar with "RK" - "Rüstungsklasse", the German translation. It gets only more confusing if a wild mixture of German and English gets thrown around.
Other simple rule: If the GM cannot understand it, it does not happen, simple as that. "But I said 'Ph'nglui mglw'nafh', which means 'I ready an attack' in Gibberlandish..." - doesn't matter, speak a language the GM understands and all is well.


All mechanical terms are in English (shoved into Norwegian grammar and pronounciation) at our table, though I know people who insist on translating them to Norwegian (which usually ends up sounding strange a bit silly).

Silver Crusade

It should be noted that there is an official Pathfinder translation in Germany and while most people understand English, some don't, some have trouble keeping up with the German words (as I said, newer players) and some just feel like it kills the atmosphere even more if the discussed rules are a wild mixture of German and English if a few seconds ago everybody tried speaking Movie-Middle-Agish.

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