Learning and speaking a new language is very difficult, but well within the development of your character. Every language has 2 training levels. The first training allows you to communicate simple things in the language. Usually sentences of 5 words or less, and usually in broken speech. If you take a second level of training, you may not be fluent, but you can fully converse in the language. For game purposes, you are fluent.

When having only the initial training in a language, you denote that with a (T) after it. For example: "Dwarven (T)" means trained but not fluent in Dwarven. If you received fluency, no indicators are necessary. In this example, fluency in Dwarven would be noted as "Dwarven".

You start with a fluency in the default language of your race (as defined by your campaign world or race). You also gain a number of Trainings equivalent to your intelligence bonus (or zero if less than 0). If you have an intelligence bonus of +3, you have 3 language Trainings you can allocate. In this example, you could spend 2 of them becoming fluent in a single language, and the other becoming trained in a second language.

You also gain 2 trainings (fluency) for any language granted additionally as part of your race or background. You may decide to give up fluency in one of those languages, and instead become trained in that language, and select a second language of your choice.

If you are literate, you are literate in all the languages you speak to the same degree of fluency as your training. If you are not literate, you can learn to be literate in the same way as you would learn a new language.

Literacy. There are only a few written scripts. Languages that use another written script are noted with the language. The glyphic script contains both a phonetic and a symbol system that contains more than 20,000 symbols. Most common people write in the phonetic glyphic script, which requires you to speak the language to understand the meaning. Having literacy with any language that has a written script in the phonetic glyphic allows you to read the language. Draconic is a spoken language, and the written language is glyphic.

Known Languages of Shantar