Question:
How do you handle natives of countries where multiple languages are
learned as 'mother tongues'? For example Switzerland where (as far as I
know) French and German are equally common?
Our group tends to turn a blind eye to situations like this and allows
such people to have two zero-point 'native' languages.
Thoughts?
Answer:
I have a real problem with that. While an Unusual Background would make
sense in some situations (an Iowan who is native language fluent in
Japanese and English), others do not. If the person's background story can
account for the multiple languages AND for being in the campaign city, then
I'd say no unusual background cost.
For example, I have a modern-day PC who is a travel writer/adventure tour
guide. He was born in the Bolivian Andes and has Quechua and Spanish as his
native languages (both are official languages for Bolivia and while Spanish
maybe more used in schools and commerce, his family was Incan in origin and
thus Quechua speakers). As bought language skills he has English,
Portuguese and German, but the backstory explains the native bilingualism
in a realistic way that shouldn't require an unusual background.
I'd say do some research on the background area and then decide if an
unusual background charge is required: Switzerland, to use Sean's example,
has four official languages, and French/German bilingualism (as well as
English as a bought skill) is not uncommon, particularly in the major urban
areas. However I'd say that Rumantsch/Italian bilingualism would require an
unusual background.
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