Worldbuilding and Languages

[Arkynata]

Hello!

Recently I've been thinking about languages in roleplay games. Often enough they are just used as a boolean flag; either a character knows a language or they don't, and most settings include a "common" language to ensure that all party members and NPCs are able to communicate.

In the setting I am building I am trying to go for realism, and so every culture has its own language. However I also give all new characters an additional language and so far this has made sure that the players have been able to speak the local language with eachother and the NPCs. Some foreigners have needed translators to make themselves understood, but they have never been important NPCs.

However there likely will come a time when the players find themselves in a foreign land and they will be unable to speak to anyone directly.

What do you think? Is the language barrier worth the inconvenience for the sake of immersion? Is there a more interesting way to handle language? Is there a missed opportunity here, perhaps?

[PhoenixPhyre]

Hello!

Recently I've been thinking about languages in roleplay games. Often enough they are just used as a boolean flag; either a character knows a language or they don't, and most settings include a "common" language to ensure that all party members and NPCs are able to communicate.

In the setting I am building I am trying to go for realism, and so every culture has its own language. However I also give all new characters an additional language and so far this has made sure that the players have been able to speak the local language with eachother and the NPCs. Some foreigners have needed translators to make themselves understood, but they have never been important NPCs.

However there likely will probably come a time when the players find themselves in a foreign land and they will be unable to speak to anyone directly.

What do you think? Is the language barrier worth the inconvenience for the sake of immersion? Is there a more interesting way to handle language? Is there a missed opportunity here, perhaps?

Total inability to communicate is frustrating after about 10 minutes. And in a D&D setting, trivial to overcome (tongues, comprehend language, etc).

Even better, in my opinion, is partial communication difficulties, combined with resource constraints to make those spells a meaningful choice. For example, you might have a tribe that doesn't speak the common language, but has a single member who's partially fluent. Enough so that they can understand and communicate ideas but not nuance. Or have the translator have his own agendas, leading to intentional mis-translation. Or lock things behind cultural barriers, so even if their grammar is perfect, the meaning is obscured. Always in ways that can be deciphered given effort and good choices, but that raise the possibility of the unexpected.