languages

[galafrone]

Hi all, just dropping this topic to see how you gamemasters cope with the different language in the "ED" universe.
there is barsaive, where there are "racial tongues"
but how are the languages of the other areas ?
and, moreso, is "dwarven" the same for all the theran empire (barsaive included) ? or the throalic dwarvish tongue is like... russian, and the talean dwarves speak an "italian" version of the dwarven tongue ?
shouldnt be effectively better to define the languages as for areas (and eventually racial/social groups that stay outside the current cultural mainstream ?)

for example, if i am born in barsaive, i learn throalic first then a "racial tongue" (say t'skrang, if i am a t'skrang)
my t'skrang goes in vivane and meet some vivane t'skrang. is the language the same in linguistical terms ? (that means, the root of the tongue are the same, but maybe is a different dialect, still understandable) then my t'skrang goes in talea, meets a carinci t'skrang. What this noble theran talea born T'skrang use as "racial tongue" ?

so, are the racial tongues all deriving from the same "linguistical root" but still different languages (like italian, french, spanish and rumanian all deriving from latin but still they are different languages and not dialects of the same tongue)
or
they are the same language but with different accents/words based on different cultural patterns ? (like the italian tongue has many regional dialects, sometimes very different from the original, sometimes nearly the same as the regular italian ?)

any input is appreciated

[Darksyde]

There is a small section reguarding dialects attached to the description for speak and read/wright language talent.

It dosen't really go into any rules that I could see reguarding comunicating to someone who speaks a different dialect beyond the standard rules for the talents/skills but they are something in the game. Throlic is listed as a Dwarvish dialect in the examples for learning the dialect. They get added in Parentheses next to the language on your sheet. There are definately dialects in the game world.

[galafrone]

yeah i got that, but what i was looking for was something more related to the "overall background" than the specific rules of speak language.
usually you stay in barsaive, so that isnt a great problem, but if you go elsewhere ? say marac ? o indrisa ?
wich languages ? and if a marac dwarf goes in indrisa or in cathay ? the dwarf is speaking a dialect for the indrisan dwarves (so the dwarven -racial- tongue is considered the same) or is speaking a totally different (even if racial) tongue ?

[The_Gun_Nut]

For simplicity, I'd say it is a dialect, since you have to use up a "slot" from the Speak Languages talent to learn it, anyway.

The skill (and the optional rule derived thereof) would be a different animal altogether.

[galafrone]

well, all in all i dont like at all the "racial tongues" idea.
if you are in a multicultural setting, like ED is, all the folks should speak the same tongue.
and maybe use a racial dialect version of it.
in effect, ED uses the racial tongues as the main tongues, and the tongues that are more widespread are the racial tongues that are the cultural dominant ones (throalic dwarven in barsaive)

[arma]

The thought is that the multicultural thing is "new". Before the Scourge, they didn't mingle that much, and only the book of tomorrow taught people the same language, laying the ground for people to get together.
In other regions, where it's not a new thing, there's non-racial languages. For example, Cathay.
With Thera, Thera's origins are in Barsaive, and their noble houses are still somewhat racially segregated. They'll use a common tongue "Theran" developed from a Sperethiel dialect, but they may retain racial languages for their houses for sub-cultural identity.

[Telarus_KSC]

[arma]

[Telarus_KSC]

That's a very interesting point. Another one to consider would be if the Elven ethnic sub-groups from Cathay speak Sperethiel......

[arma]

Ki Mao is a dialect of Cathayan, Gar is its own language.
There are no racial languages at all in Cathay (but the gar are not part of Cathay).