Handouts in foreign languages? How do you like them?

[Black-Seal-Editor]

How do you prefer to see foreign languages handled in handouts?

Take for instance, a page of a medieval illustrated manuscript written in Latin.

It could be presented as:

• * the Latin text by itself with no explanation - pretty useless unless you read Latin
  * the Latin text with accompanying English translation
  * the English translation instead of the Latin text so that the page is now presented in English - the players will have to imagine that its written in Latin

If you have a preference please vote above.

The reason I'm asking is because we are compiling a selection of ghoul-related source material as handouts for the forthcoming ghoul book.

[jasonw1239]

I prefer using the foreign language handout with an English translation separate.

If the investigators have skill in that language and successfully make their roll then I hand them the translation. Otherwise they have to roll play the search for somebody to translate the text and the reward is receiving the translation.

Until they receive the translated text they have a tantalizing clue in their possession that may be relevant to solving their immediate problem. Like handing somebody a key without letting them know which lock that it opens.

[GBSteve]

I wasn't sure what you meant by 'the Latin text by itself'. Certainly this is what I would hand to the players. I've got a nice Arabic handout that I've been using to represent part of Al Azif.

But I'd need to have at least an explanation of what the text is so I can pass this on to the players. It wouldn't necessarily have to be an exact translation unless that was important to the game.

For example, I'm just telling the players that the handout has three rituals in it, and if somebody uses Arabic (we're playing Trail of Cthulhu), they can tell that part of the Summon Ancestor ritual has been mistranslated.

[Black-Seal-Editor]

I wasn't sure what you meant by 'the Latin text by itself'. Certainly this is what I would hand to the players. I've got a nice Arabic handout that I've been using to represent part of Al Azif.

But I'd need to have at least an explanation of what the text is so I can pass this on to the players. It wouldn't necessarily have to be an exact translation unless that was important to the game.

For example, I'm just telling the players that the handout has three rituals in it, and if somebody uses Arabic (we're playing Trail of Cthulhu), they can tell that part of the Summon Ancestor ritual has been mistranslated.

Ohhh, that's a sort of a combo choice-1-with-parts-of-choice-2 thing.

And I'd expect nothing less from you Steve

[sufirjp]

Original text w/ English translation - but the translation as a separate handout.

[cjbowser]

When I really want to go all out, I have three handouts.

1. The foreign language original given to the PCs.

Then, if they attempt a translation (sometimes they haven't, stating they prefer ignorance) they end up with one of the following

2. A proper translation, if they roll successfully

or

3. A misleading but still plausible translation, if they failed.

The real fun comes in when one player fails and a second player succeeds. They then have dueling translations. Who's right? Who's wrong? Does it really matter?

[fojo]

Of course I prefer the original language + a translation at hand. The problem arises when a player speaks a language his/her PC does not.

Imagine the fragment found by the PCs is in German, the PCs do not speak German and you give them the text, but one of the Players do speak German...

They have to be honest with this one.

[Gerall]

When my players are in the mood for immersion (read: when we play CoC), I'll have the handout in the alternate language.

I'll keep the native language translation until someone invests enough time and appropriate skill rolls, then I'll provide their native language version.

This has led, as cjbowser pointed out, to mysterious circumstances itself when players got varying degrees of success during the transliteration process. There was once a session where one character succeeded his roll and got the translation, while another impaled and suspected that a Mysterious Graven Name was actually referring to my immortal NPC sorcerer.

Both were right, of course. However, the degree of doubt injected provided for great roleplaying opportunities.

[Dr_Locrian]

I wasn't sure what you meant by 'the Latin text by itself'. Certainly this is what I would hand to the players. I've got a nice Arabic handout that I've been using to represent part of Al Azif.

But I'd need to have at least an explanation of what the text is so I can pass this on to the players. It wouldn't necessarily have to be an exact translation unless that was important to the game.

For example, I'm just telling the players that the handout has three rituals in it, and if somebody uses Arabic (we're playing Trail of Cthulhu), they can tell that part of the Summon Ancestor ritual has been mistranslated.

This is a very great idea, and it's one that I've wondered about in Trail of Cthulhu. As some here have pointed out, sometimes you can get good roleplaying out of mistranslated texts. I'd be interested to know what else you'd suggest to allow this kind of suspense in dealing with unreliable Mythos tomes, given that GUMSHOE is designed to give automatic success with no chance of error.