Learning Ears from Unintelligent Characters

[Louist]

Say someone would like to learn, say, Giant ear, one which is spoken mainly by less intelligent and less charismatic characters (being half giants and all!). Aside from the difficulties arising from, say, Crunk, teaching Giant through Common, a language he has considerable difficulty with, does a low intelligence of a half-breed such as himself affect his Giant ear as well?

Ok, as thats a bit jumbled, I'll try to be plain enough that even I can understand it :P

Does a low intelligence beastial race have the same difficulty with their racial ear as with common? If so, agian using Crunk as an example, It would be terribly difficult if not impossible for him to pass on his knowledge of the language, as:

A)He really has no command of it himself
B)He cannot convey his limited knowledge through Common
and C)Once his pupil begins to practice Giant, he would be a poor "sparring" partner

Sorry if this seems like more of a stream of thought, comming to its own conclusions. Because it ended up that way....

I do have another question though! When I use an ear in-game, can everyone catch the text "So-an-so says 'Please, lets not talk so openenly with all those... dwarves... around' in Elven Ear"? I realize the text that appears overhead is in the appropiate language, but I was wondering how the textbox explanation is carried out.

Sorry, I ramble!

[osxmallard]

You only see the translation in the lower right box if you have the ear for that language... (or sometimes not).
Perfectly clear, eh?

For example, I can understand people speaking elven but do not have an actual ear to be able to speak back
simply because I have a half elf character.

I have no idea about the rest of your question. =)

[Louist]

Lol, thanks. As for the first question.. I've been thinking it over and the only conclusion I've come to is that for RP purposes DnD needs some way to gauge proficiency as far as languages go. Other than that I'm lost reading my own post, so I'm not suprised that you are

[Schmack]

Hmm... just thought I'd throw in my two cents, not sure if you meant he can't speak giant very well when you said 'A)He really has no command of it himself' but if he couldn't speak giant very well, he shouldn't really be teaching it. On the other hand, if I'm completely wrong in what you're getting at, and he can speak giant easily, but not common, I'd be thinking that the person he was teaching it to, probably wouldn't be able to speak giant too well as he or she would be finding it difficult to understand his common. On the other hand, if they had high INT (the person being taught), e.g. 14+ they might be able to understand what the giant is trying to explain quite easily, even though they cannot speak common very well.
I may be completely wrong here, I'm guessing a GM would have to clarify that.

[Talan Va'lash]

Hah! I understand you. Must mean you're crazy too (since that I'm crazy is a given.) Takes one to know one..? or, takes one to read one or something?

I propone the theory that "Crunk" is fluent in Giant. He has the highest level of mastery possible over the Giant tongue (er, assuming he is a giant, and does have the giantish ear... is ther even a giantish ear?)

However, Giant is a very very simple and crude language. It doesn't have very many words and they're mostly short. In giant, the literal translation of club is probably "Bash Stick" or "Hit Stick." Thats because its very simple. It has words for bash, and stick, together, they are Bash Stick meaning club. A mace would also be a bash stick, as would a maul, a greatsword, a longsword and so on. This type of speech is not due to "Crunk's" lack of proficiency with "Giantish," in fact his "Giantish" is flawless. It... is just a simple, crude language.

TV's Rough Giantish translated Dictionary:

Common on the left, literal translation from Hill Giantish on the right

Rapier - small stick (some tribes use "Poke stick")
Dwarf - Short Eats
Shaman - God man
Run - Run
Walk - Slow run
Snow - Cold wet
Rain - Cold wet
Cloudy - Cold wet soon
Look! - Look!
Look beyond! - Look!
Look at that X! - Look X! (Look Rock!, Look Fly Thing!)
I love you - *grunts*
I am going to kill you - *grunts*

You can see how this language is ripe for producing misunderstandings and bad for coordinating combat. Hill giants have fought wars over the resulting misunderstandings, and both sides lost for the same reason.

[Schmack]

I can understand how wars could be fought over simple misunderstandings. Giant 1: *grunt* Giant 2: *grunt*? Giant 1: Unfh *grunt* Giant 2: *grunt*!!!! And so, a war starts between two different groups of giants, of course, for those that can't understand giant, in common, this translates to:
Giant 1: I love you Giant 2: You want to kill me? Giant 1: Yes, I love you Giant 2: I will kill you!!!
Of course, in this scenario, Giant 1 would most likely by thinking Giant 2 would be madly in love with him/her (do giants have genders? I mean, if they do, they both look the same *shrugs*). Giant 2 on the other hand would probably be wondering why Giant 1 wants to kill him/her, or alternatively, charging mindlessly at Giant 1 with his 'bash stick' in hand, and grunting loudly.
So, on the contrary, I think that whilst simple misunderstandings might be common among giants, it is not because it is a simple and crude language, but rather because it is a complex and many-layered language, and one would have to be extremely learned to be able to understand the different range of vocal expressions.
Also, I am slightly insane. *runs off shrieking and flailing his arms wildly in the air*

[Talan Va'lash]

*grunts*

[slipperhero]

*grunts at Talan*

[Louist]

Lol.
Thanks Talan that is more helpful than you know.

[Thak]

*laughs* Thanks Lads, after a 12 hour workshift this was just the thing to lift me spirits again. ;D

[feniox]

I can see a love blossoming before my very eyes! awww

[Delta7]

*grunts* Me gotz no giant ear. Is me sposed to have one? oh me Cronk