DMing in English (my second language)

[hydraphantom]

Hello, I'm living in Australia but English isn't my first language.
I have been DMing for 4 years now, and I'm always doing it online with other people that share my first language.
Also, I have quite a few English rulebooks and bestiaries that I really don't want to translate back into my language every time I'm using it.
I want to find and DM a face to face group locally, in English, to avoid a lot of dramas and timezone online.
Personally, I believe I could speak English fluently without much of a problem, but I am scared of messing up my speech and get ridiculed over it or make players unhappy.
I'm currently in a face to face group as a player, to try to get myself used to face to face group, but I'm still not sure if I should find a local group and start DMing.

Any advice?

[MoiMagnus]

1) Indirect speech. Improvising something to say is far more difficult in your second language than in your native one. As a player, saying "I try to convince the king that he should fund us, arguing that the problem of goblins steal money from the tax collectors" is easier than actually finding the proper way to address a king. This also apply as a DM.

2) Maybe take a look at Improvisation Theater clubs to train yourself?

3) Play with your strength. If you're good at acting, your facial expressions already tell so much that words are secondaries. If you're good at plot writing, focus on the action and plot, you don't need long speech for that. Etc.

4) If you fail in your speech. Keep going, don't stop the flow. Chances are that they will not remark it, or forget it. If the mistake is really too big, take it lightly and make fun of yourself.

5) Even more than in your native language, you should try to understand what are the "goals" of each players. What do they seek in the game with you. Language barrier makes communication more difficult, so that's easy to miss the hints saying "I don't care about politics, I just want my character to be powerful." or similar stuff. If you successfully understand your players and make gaming sessions targeted toward what they seek, you are already a DM better than most DM, whatever the remaining.

[Knaight]

Your written English is basically fine - fluent, if obviously not native. That doesn't necessarily mean much for spoken English, but you've probably got the language skills.

So, that makes this pretty straightforward - find a group of people who aren't jerks about tiny grammatical errors, accents, etc. Play with them, call it a day.

[Florian]

Hm. I´ve worked in some international project teams and we had to settle on english as a common language. What I've learned over the years is that this is harder or easier depending on what your native language actually is. Drop at hint and maybe we can help you.

[hydraphantom]

Hm. I´ve worked in some international project teams and we had to settle on english as a common language. What I've learned over the years is that this is harder or easier depending on what your native language actually is. Drop at hint and maybe we can help you.

My native language is Chinese, and I started to live in Australia since 2004.

[Darth Ultron]

I think you should do it.

Your typed English is good, not pure native of course, but more then good enough. And you have to speak and read English everyday, right?

You should not really be all that scared of messing up. It will happen, but it's not overly a big deal. Good people won't hold it overly against you or anything. After all everyone messes up sometimes...no matter what else.

And you do have the huge advantage of you will be mostly speaking Game words too. If you can read and say the words in the rulebooks, that is a good half the speaking right there. I can see you might stumble over things like a description....but, it is 2018....so just get a Babble App or such. Then you can type things in your native language and get the English of it.

So...a non native living in Australia speaking English.....so, you'd be speaking Australian English right?

"G'Day mate, so, crikey you live in the a land down under? Where women glow and men plunder? True Blue!"

[Knaight]

You should not really be all that scared of messing up. It will happen, but it's not overly a big deal. Good people won't hold it overly against you or anything. After all everyone messes up sometimes...no matter what else.

Pretty much this - and if someone is holding it against you, well, you got to identify a problem player early and avoid them. That's still a win long term.

And you do have the huge advantage of you will be mostly speaking Game words too. If you can read and say the words in the rulebooks, that is a good half the speaking right there. I can see you might stumble over things like a description....but, it is 2018....so just get a Babble App or such. Then you can type things in your native language and get the English of it.

Online translators are still pretty bad - this can work okay for single words, but even then I wouldn't necessarily trust it. Similarly familiarity with rulebook jargon is helpful, but not hugely so - there's a lot more use of description than jargon in most games. It's the clear written fluency combined with 14 years of full immersion that's a really solid sign of having the skills.

[Florian]

My native language is Chinese, and I started to live in Australia since 2004.

Ok, Chinese is pretty much e prescriptive language and you're dealing with english, so a disruptive language. That might be an issue. But you're living there quite some time now, so I guess you've already coped with that.

Beyond that, you've got to check some thought and speech patterns. This is the bit when you've got to be honest with yourself: How much did your original culture inform your sense of decency and how would that affect your ability to tell a story? That's mostly no big deal, but we have been raised with some cultural archetypes and expectations and things can be easy when hitting the right keys or hard when you reach out into nothingness. It´s basically, either you get Journey to the West or not.

For you, that means that you understand Australian culture by now, or feel still Chinese, which is not a bad thing, considering what RPG you would offer.

[Ninja_Prawn]

14 years of full immersion

I don't know where you're all getting the notion that anyone could learn English in Australia...

But definitely I'd say go for it. If someone would ridicule you for stumbling over the language, they don't deserve to sit at your table. And based on your written English, it seems to me like you'll be fine anyway.

[Reversefigure4]

Have you had a lot of problems playing in English? If so, you can probably expect the same problems GMing.

If not, I don't think you'll find a lot of problems. Explain to the players at the beginning of the game that English is your second language - if they don't understand something you're saying, they should ask for clarification.

Remember a lot of miscommunications happen between player and GM regardless of language. There's a difference between "There are goblins behind you" and "There are goblins 50 feet behind you", but a player might hear the first one, spin to melee attack them, and then get clarified that the goblins are too far away. Happens all the time in primary English speaking games.

[RazorChain]

I'm someone who runs games not in my native language, I actually use my 3rd language

It's harder than people think, a lot of things hinges on speech, like the finer points of humor or sarcasm

BUT the only way to get better is to do it as practice makes perfect. I was unsure of how it would go at first but it went fine and when I lacked vocabulary I'd just describe what I meant. Now 3 years later things go a lot smoother.

[ritabos]

English is most effective and second language. Practise English well.

[LibraryOgre]

I don't know where you're all getting the notion that anyone could learn English in Australia...

Our Captain has a handicap to cope with, sad to tell
He's from Georgia, so he doesn't speak the language very well!

But definitely I'd say go for it. If someone would ridicule you for stumbling over the language, they don't deserve to sit at your table. And based on your written English, it seems to me like you'll be fine anyway.

I'm with this... it's all going to come down to your group not being jerks.

[dps]

Don't worry about making mistakes. It's not as if we native English speakers never make them.