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Hi,
Have you ever played a game with people not talking your native language ?
How did it go ?

I'm pretty sure two good players wouldn't have any problem, because the rules are almost the same ("almost" because there are translation errors in the codex sometimes. Like when the French SM terminators had a 2+/2++ for a very short period of time, when the latest SM codex was released, for example).

But casual players would have harder times, I believe. They don't know the rules very well, and they would have to explain what unit has what rules and these rules effects.
The rules aren't always called the same (it will not die = il est invincible ! (" he is invincible ! ")). Fortunately, since 6th ed, it's better.

Any insight from DakkaDakka ?

I have
There was no issues aside from the fact I was running a themed csm army
He decide to run white scars cheese
I never played him again

You made me laugh hard
Can I ask you where did he come from ?

 godardc wrote:
You made me laugh hard
Can I ask you where did he come from ?

Somewhere in Asia I think but I can't be sure (I have a memory like a gold fish)

One francophone I played with thought the 3e Space Marines armory was saying that Veteran Sergeants couldn't have power fists.

That's the worst of it. I grew up in a very bilingual area of Quebec so pretty much everyone I played with spoke both French and English.

Also the difference there was literally where the word "only" was placed in the sentence, so I'm guessing the difference between English and French grammar caused that particular issue.

No issues with my French opponent. Do American English and Australian English count as not native British English? If so, more misunderstandings with American.

stroller wrote:
No issues with my French opponent. Do American English and Australian English count as not native British English? If so, more misunderstandings with American.

Did the american call the Mororized Rollingham "Rhino?"
Did the american call the Zappity-charged-shooter "Lascannon"?
Did the american call the Fraggy Fizzlebomb "Grenade?"
Did the american called the Psy-cheesystack "Blessing?"

OP: I am the foreign player

Because of my job, I always move around every 2-3 years so I often change country.

I've played Italian, Russian, and Japanese players. The only time I had a problem was in 4th edition, where Grimaldus tied up my Nightbringer all game because the Japanese player said as long as he passed a leadership check, he didn't lose his last wound.

I could read Japanese well enough to see 'something something ld, something something extra wound, something something.' So I let it go.

Which turned out not to be the case at all, when I got a chance to check the English. I don't know if my opponent misread it, it was a bad translation, or what.

Then there was the time I had to explain to the group how hellhounds worked. I think they assumed that it's weapon worked like a regular flamer, so when I started placing the template 12" away from the tank, they were like, 'whoah, hey, what's that?' Impromptu language lesson as I translated out the 3rd edition codex entry word by word.

Off the top of my head I've played Brits (in America), Chinese and French (in China) and Brits again (in India).

Generally I found the Americans were ones most into optimal list building and 'bringing the A game' while Brits were more into the narrative. I only played against one French guy and he was more about having the best looking army.

Chinese were at a handicap since they either had to read English or rely on fan translations (not sure if GW has started translating officially now, when I was there they didn't) so games really were more fun. Recasting there was pretty much taken for granted, but only for units they couldn't get at the handful of hobby shops in Beijing.

Haven't found any Indian players yet


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I should also note never found any players in Guyana but one guy did recognize my Calgar wallpaper. Found a Warmachine group in Trinidad but never had time to try.

I emigrated as a child I've never actually played anyone from my country. I rarely speak my native language either so it would probably be a complete mess.

 godardc wrote:
Hi,
Have you ever played a game with people not talking your native language ?
How did it go ?

I'm pretty sure two good players wouldn't have any problem, because the rules are almost the same ("almost" because there are translation errors in the codex sometimes. Like when the French SM terminators had a 2+/2++ for a very short period of time, when the latest SM codex was released, for example).

But casual players would have harder times, I believe. They don't know the rules very well, and they would have to explain what unit has what rules and these rules effects.
The rules aren't always called the same (it will not die = il est invincible ! (" he is invincible ! ")). Fortunately, since 6th ed, it's better.

Any insight from DakkaDakka ?

I played a German, but of course almost all Germans speak English. So it wasn't really the same i suppose. I have no idea honestly. rules issues come up so often that it would come down to personal dispositions I guess...like it usually does.

I've played French & Dutch before, only issue was that they use metric space marines while we use imperial (hur).

stroller wrote:
No issues with my French opponent. Do American English and Australian English count as not native British English? If so, more misunderstandings with American.

There are so many differences between english and american english ? I would not have guessed it.

I played this French cat once, I was using my White Scars army, and he was playing Tau .... had many Kroot. I went first, he was second, then the game was over, someone took a picture.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 godardc wrote:

stroller wrote:
No issues with my French opponent. Do American English and Australian English count as not native British English? If so, more misunderstandings with American.

There are so many differences between english and american english ? I would not have guessed it.

Best way to explain the difference is Aluminum. Our 2 countries had a word war over the stuff. We called it aluminum, they called it aluminium ..... Thank God we won that war.

Just switch to a common language like English and you are fine. There can be some misunderstandings when the other player uses a translated codex / rule book since the names for special rules might be named differently and thus translated back to English sorta strange, but thats about it.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Things become challenging when you have to resort to languages both of you aren't that familiar with. The shared ruleset helps in bridging this gab. I have played multiple times on vassal with east European players who only spoke the local language Russian and some German.

Only issue i had once, was because some of the terminology is way off from english to french.

When i looked at the guy List/codex who's in english the "WS" and "BS" stats had me confused.

Weapon skill was translated in french Capacité de Combat, wich litteraly means Combat Capacity

Balistic Skill is Capacité de tir, Shooting Capacity.

it was not difficult since the stats are on the same place on the profil, but when the guy said WS 5 and BS 4 or something, it took me a sec to get what he was talking about.

that was when i started playing in 3rd so yeah din't really help that i was trying to process the rules and that my understanding of enlish at the time was only half as good as today.

The worst was that one of my friend who lives near the German border had all his books in german...

fething hell, since in belgium the language situation is particuliar( just like canada we have more then one official language), and french was not is forté when it came to litteral rules translation( he speaks Dutch, but still can speak french, with a Brussels accents).

It was quite challenging to learn him play the game since i had to make him translate in approximative french, its German books, so that i could explain him in mly approximate Dutch...

In the end we used english...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 malamis wrote:
I've played French & Dutch before, only issue was that they use metric space marines while we use imperial (hur).

Funny enough nearly all the players i know don't use metric, we kept ,the inches for measuring, since even in the rulebook and codexes in french the measurements and ranges are in inches, its easier this way, then again you know that 6" is 15cm so yeah...

But instead of inches we use the word "Pouce"= thumb.