@JeremyECrawford Does proficiency in languages that use the Dwarven script (Gnomish, Orc) give proficiency in reading Dwarven? Or is it just two languages using the same alphabet kind of deal?
— Pyrrhic (@PyrrhicPlays) March 22, 2018
Knowing an alphabet doesn't teach you a language. For example, knowing the Roman alphabet, which is shared by many of the world's languages, has yet to teach me French, alas. #DnD https://t.co/yUoU0VrGFg
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) March 22, 2018
Unfortunately D&D didn’t really care about this because it didn’t have language nerds on staff – ironic because Tolkien’s day job was being a professional language nerd No language nerds on staff? A funny assumption. In my years as an academic, I translated Koine Greek texts into English, wrote essays in Japanese, and studied, among many other things, linguistics. 🤓
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) March 22, 2018
Sorry for the assumption! No worries! We don't include our CVs in our books.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) March 22, 2018
In my home game, I let players learn languages from native speakers. It's a downtime activity. A shared alphabet makes learning faster.
— Bryan Holmes (@FallenWyvern) March 23, 2018
Learning a language is a great example of a downtime activity. Check out the rule on training in the "Downtime Activities" section of the Player's Handbook (p. 187) for how to learn a new tongue. #DnD https://t.co/1kJKO5SqLx
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) March 23, 2018