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→Language
Languages represent acquired skill and vocabulary in a language. As there are a wide variety of creatures and cultures in the world, so too are there many languages to study and learn. Knowledge of the spoken words does not grant any ability to read or write the language however, and neither does literacy grant any ability to speak the language conversationally and understandably.
A creature that possesses the minimum grade in the spoken or written form of a language they is minimally proficient in it. They fail to understand almost all idioms and have a limited, if very functional, vocabulary. A creature that possesses a grade above the minimum is fluent in the language. While they may still miss the meaning of some idioms they otherwise converse or read and write in the language freely and have a large vocabulary. A creature that has attained the maximum grade in a spoken language is almost a native speaker of that language. Their accent is basically undetectable, they understand all but the most obscure or out of date idioms, and their vocabulary covers most of the topics in the language (though it may exclude technical jargon or obscure words that native speakers would need assistance with anyway). Common and undercommon, being well used pidgin languages rather than culturally created ones, are an exception to this rule. ''Everyone'' speaks them with an accent of some sort and misses idioms from other parts of the world. Note that some languages do not have a maximum spoken grade achievable by non-native speakers. These languages are spoken by beings with sufficiently different vocal apparatuses or conceptual frameworks as to make passing as a native speaker imposibleimpossible.
The base training time to learn a language depends on the level of immersion of the learner, as indicated on the table below. Unlike the acquisition of other background abilities, spoken and written language acquisition may occur at the same time as another background ability is being acquired, so long as the language is primarily used in the culture where you are acquiring the other background ability. You may learn spoken and written dwarven while learning weaponsmithing without penalty or additional time investment, for example, so long as you were working in a place where dwarven was the primary language.
| Language is primary spoken language, attempted in public and private || 3 months
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| Language is primary written language, not used in public or private when possible || 2 years<sup>*</sup>
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| Language is primary written language, attempted in public but not in private || 1 year<sup>*</sup>
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| Language is primary written language, attempted in public and private || 6 months<sup>*</sup>
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| colspan="4" class="foot" |<small><nowiki>*</nowiki> Reduce this time by half if you possess a higher grade in a written language that uses the same writing system.</small>
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! Min Grade !! Max Grade !! Type !! Min Grade !! Max Grade
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| Abyssal || III || — || Infernal Logograph || III || —IV
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| Aquan || III || — || Elemental Syllabary || II || IV
| Celestial || III || — || Celestial Alphabet || I || III
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| Common || I || II * || Common Alphabet || I || II
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| Draconic, High (Secret) || III || — || Draconic Logograph || III || —IV
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| Draconic, Low || I || III || Draconic Syllabary || I || III
| Elven || II || IV || Elven Syllabary || II || IV
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| Giant || I || II III || Dwarven Alphabet || I || III
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| Gnome || I || II III || Dwarven Alphabet || I || III
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| Goblin || I || II III || Dwarven Alphabet || I || III
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| Gnoll || I || II III || Common Alphabet || I || III
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| Halfling || I || II III || Common Alphabet || I || III
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| Ignan || III || — || Elemental Syllabary || II || IV
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| Infernal || III || — || Infernal Logograph || III || —IV
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| Orc || I || II III || Dwarven Alphabet || I || III
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| Sylvan || I || II III || Elven Syllabary || II || IV
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| Terran || I III || II — || Elemental Syllabary || II || IV
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| Undercommon || I || II * || Common Alphabet || I || II|-| colspan="6" class="foot" |<small><nowiki>*</nowiki> There are no 'native' speakers of these languages and the maximum grade only indicates fluency.</small>
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