Read/Write Language (None) Trained Only
The Read/Write Language skill doesn’t work like a standard skill.
- A character automatically knows how to read and write his or her native language; the character does not need ranks to do so.
- Each additional language costs 1 rank. When a character adds a rank to Read/Write Language, he or she chooses a new language that the character can read and write.
- A character never makes Read/Write Language checks. A character either knows how to read and write a specific language or doesn’t.
- To be able to speak a language that the character can read and write, he or she must take the Speak Language skill for the appropriate language.
- A character can choose any language, modern or ancient. (See below for suggestions.) The GM might determine that a character can’t learn a specific language due to the circumstances of the campaign.
Language Groups
There are thousands of languages to choose from when a character buys ranks in Speak Language or Read/Write Language. A few are listed here, sorted into their general language groups.
A language’s group doesn’t matter when a character is buying ranks in Speak Language or Read/Write Language. Language groups are provided because they pertain to the Smart hero’s Linguist talent.
This list is by no means exhaustive—there are many more language groups, and most groups contain more languages than those listed here.
Algic: Algonkin, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Shawnee.
Armenian: Armenian.
Athabascan: Apache, Chipewyan, Navaho.
Attic: Ancient Greek*, Greek.
Baltic: Latvian, Lithuanian.
Celtic: Gaelic (Irish), Gaelic (Scots), Welsh.
Chinese: Cantonese, Mandarin.
Finno-Lappic: Estonian, Finnish, Lapp.
Germanic: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Flemish, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Yiddish.
Hamo-Semitic: Coptic*, Middle Egyptian*.
Indic: Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit*, Urdu.
Iranian: Farsi, Pashto.
Japanese: Japanese.
Korean: Korean.
Romance: French, Italian, Latin*, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish.
Semitic: Akkadian (aka Babylonian)*, Ancient Hebrew*, Arabic, Aramaic*, Hebrew.
Slavic: Belorussian, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Ukrainian.
Tibeto-Burman: Burmese, Sherpa, Tibetan.
Turkic: Azerbaijani, Turkish, Uzbek.
Ugric: Hungarian (aka Magyar).
*This is an ancient language. In the modern world it is spoken only by scholars, or in some cases by small populations in isolated corners of the world.