Understand a language you do not speak

Reviewed

Why a line arrived as nonsense, where to read what was really said, and how a character learns to follow it.

The 3 ways a line comes through clear

StoryForce runs the same test for each person receiving a line. Any one of these is enough:

  • a translator is switched on at either end
  • your character knows the language
  • your character has Diplomacy 3 and the language is a trade tongue

A shipped server counts Huttese, Rodese, Jawaese, Mando'a, Shyriiwook, Bocce, Sy Bisti and Durese as trade tongues, and your server admin sets that list. Fail all 3 and the line garbles.

Wear gear, a comlink and a hologram covers the translator switch. Learn a skill covers Diplomacy 3.

What a garbled line is made of

StoryForce mirrors the shape of your sentence rather than its meaning, drawing words from that language's bank.

Word count matches, punctuation lands where it did, and the whole thing is rolled again every time you speak.

Everyone who fails the test reads the same garble.

Actions come through in full. StoryForce preserves inline action. Speak in character covers both forms.

Read the real words in your console

A garble is the chat box only. The server sends that listener the line a second time with the real words in it:

That copy is an out-of-character record of the scene, at any distance. Write your lines on the basis that everyone can read them.

How a character learns a language

A character can hold 15, by 4 routes:

  • basic comes free with every character, and nothing can take it away
  • the creation wizard adds one more, through its Second language: field
  • Tech 1 grants Binary the moment you buy the rank
  • a community admin grants any of the rest, and can take one back

Nothing else adds a language. Diplomacy 3 is comprehension only: it lets your character follow the trade tongues, and neither teaches them one nor lets them speak one.

An admin granting one while you are playing tells you:

/character add language and /character remove language are retired and answer with a signpost to staff.

Things to note

  • You never see your own words garbled. Your character always passes their own test, so the first sign nobody understood you is somebody else's reply.
  • A translator is a session setting. It is off again after you log out or reconnect, and nothing warns the speaker that a listener has switched theirs on.