Fria Ligans forum

For example, I might rule that every German character can roll to communicate in English or French (their choice) with other characters, both languages are highly common in secondary school here (but people usually only know one of them on a fluent level).

Would you say this was true already in the 90’s?

I seem to recall a time when it was the Devil’s own job trying to travel through Germany or France on English alone…


While on the other hand, I know enough people personally with full idiomatic fluency in at least three languages (plus conversational level in a couple more, and a smattering of one or two besides) to know that this kind of background isn’t entirely unique.

Speaking from personal experience I was born and raised in Bremerhaven (Bremen) and lived for two years in Giessen (Hessen), West Germany before emigrating to the U.S. at age 16. When I was in school, starting in 5th grade, English was a mandatory language. When I went to Realschule, I also started taking Latin (hey, I wanted to be an archeologist) as an elective, and I was still required to take English. In addition, Russian, French, Spanish, and Classical Greek were also available as electives in the states where I went to school.
I can't speak for other countries, as far as language requirements, except East Germany where Russian was mandatory prior to Reunification.

But also, per the Player's Manual, pg.15: "LANGUAGES: All characters in the game know their native language. All PCs are assumed to know at least a little English no matter their nationality, and all characters from former Warsaw Pact countries know a little Russian. Additional languages can be learned as specialties."

Therefore, language should really not be an issue for most conversations, unless you're getting into really technical conversations or you're talking to an NPC who may not know any English...