[Azriel Ragia]

Okay.  Maybe I'm having a brain failure but I cannot find the limit or proficiency rating of languages.  You can buy them and have ranks in them.  But what does each rank roughly mean.  Assuming languages have a rating system similar to normal skills, 1-12,  does that mean at rank one you talk as well as a 3 year old and at rank twelve you speak like it was your native tongue?   How does each rating rate up? 

[Michael Chandra]

Just like with other skills, your attribute has a great impact on this. On page 151 is the table of how many hits you need to understand something in a non-native language.

[Azriel Ragia]

When using a linguasoft say rank 3 Spanish.  Would I only get to use the 3 dice from the rank alone.  Or would I also be allowed to add my intuition?

[Michael Chandra]

You'd still add your Intuition.

[Top Dog]

Just like with other skills, your attribute has a great impact on this. On page 151 is the table of how many hits you need to understand something in a non-native language.

I don't like that table. With, say, an intuition of 4, you'd need at least 6 points in a language to do any basic technical work (assuming you buy hits when working normally), and that's assuming you specialized in your field.

In reality, technical fields don't require a high level of language skill at all, since understanding the concepts matter more then understanding the language. And technically inclined people very, very often work in other languages (well, unless English is their native language, I guess).

But yeah, those are the rules.

[Slippery_Chicken]

In reality, technical fields don't require a high level of language skill at all, since understanding the concepts matter more then understanding the language. And technically inclined people very, very often work in other languages (well, unless English is their native language, I guess).

But yeah, those are the rules.

You can always repeat yourself (retrying the language check) until you get the point across. Also, you can just have a translator (or more likely translation software. Which should be extremely sophisticated by 2075) do it for you. Not to mention that you get a bonus from using AR to supplement your speech, which any professional would do given the chance.

[Azriel Ragia]

The reason for this post is I managed to snag a Skilljack rating 2 and I can hold 4 levels of software.  I'm wondering if I should go for 4 rank 1 languages, or 2 rank 2 languages.  And if so what languages to pick.  Character in question has 6 intuition.

Lol and now this is turning into a character creation question more then a rules question.

[Kanly]

I've been wondering: what skill rating would equal the "Native" level? 5? 6? 7?

[Insaniac99]

I've been wondering: what skill rating would equal the "Native" level? 5? 6? 7?

depends on your mental stats, you need 16 dice to buy the 4 hits max needed.

[Michael Chandra]

You'll never equal Native, you'll always face some tricky stuff and have a bad day.

[Vidnaut]

I've been wondering: what skill rating would equal the "Native" level? 5? 6? 7?

"N"

You'll want to take the Bilingual quality at chargen to get one at that level.

[Michael Chandra]

Or manage to convince your GM to roleplay it and earn the right to buy the quality at double cost later.

[SavarWallk]

probably the most important part of Language.  Your skill in a Language is a Cap on the SKILL level you can use for a Social pool.  so you have a Cap on skill level and a social limit also.

[Top Dog]

The reason for this post is I managed to snag a Skilljack rating 2 and I can hold 4 levels of software.  I'm wondering if I should go for 4 rank 1 languages, or 2 rank 2 languages.  And if so what languages to pick.  Character in question has 6 intuition.

Lol and now this is turning into a character creation question more then a rules question.

I don't think I'd go for 2x2. The difference between 1 and 2 isn't that big for someone with 6 intuition.

Actually, what I'd do is get 4 at rating 1, run those, and then buy the same again as rating 4. You'd almost never need two of them at once, and switching is two free actions - more then quick enough in almost any situation where the extra rating would matter. This'll give you all 4 for understanding what language is being spoken and getting most of what is said, but you can switch to be quite good at it when you need be.

Mind you, this is expensive - you might want to spread out the purchases.

[Top Dog]

Or manage to convince your GM to roleplay it and earn the right to buy the quality at double cost later.

I do like that you can never fully achieve native quality. It's realistic - human beings simply can't learn languages later in life quite the same as they do when growing up, no matter how much they use the language. They might think and dream in foreign languages, but down to the fundamental brain level it'll always be wired differently (you can learn multiple languages while growing up, but that's the positive quality).

I just think you need too many points to get to native-equivalence...

Disclaimer: IANAN, the above might not reflect current knowledge of neurology perfectly.