Language Ranks

A character using these advanced rules can have one of five language ranks for any given language: non-proficient, beginning, intermediate, advanced, and fluent. See Learning Languages below for details on how to determine your language rank. Whenever a character attempts to use a language, players and Narrators can refer to the following descriptions of language ranks to guide roleplay.

Non-Proficient

Creatures without a given language proficiency do not speak the language, although they may still use a language to a limited extent. Trained animals, for instance, can comprehend a few words, and characters may learn basic phrases like “Thank you”, “Where is the privy?”, or “Excuse me, do you speak [language]?” through cultural osmosis or a brief crash course.

Beginner

Beginner speakers use short and simple present tense phrases about very common subjects. They have a limited vocabulary, make frequent mistakes, and often have heavy accents, which makes it almost impossible for them to blend in with native speakers. Although they struggle to comprehend those who don’t speak slowly or simplify their language, they can still manage to meet their basic needs in a foreign environment.

Intermediate

Intermediate speakers can use longer phrases and are comfortable with different tenses. They can speak about a wider range of subjects than beginners but still usually know only generic, common words. Although their mistakes and accents are still noticeable, they may receive compliments on their language skills from native speakers. They usually understand others well enough to get their general meaning, although they may miss significant details and be overwhelmed by particularly fast speakers or highly informal or technical speech.

Advanced

Advanced speakers can usually pass as fluent speakers, except when they encounter jargon, slang, or unfamiliar idioms. They may still have an accent, but they can hide it with effort, and their errors are usually subtle and infrequent. Advanced speakers are comfortable enough to start playing with how they express themselves, but they sometimes misjudge how well they can do so and occasionally fail to pick up on puns and nuances that would be obvious to native speakers.

Fluent

Those who are fluent in a language are either native speakers or not meaningfully distinct from native speakers.