Idea: We should be able to select which languages we speak.

I'm 100% Northern Irish, but I can speak French, some Spanish and some Portuguese.

If I wanted to start a game in France I'd have to select my second nationality as 'French' in order to avoid the "Do you think you'll struggle due to the language barrier?" media question, and the general extra time it takes for players to work properly with me.

I think it's only right I do this (select 2nd nationality) because I want to be realistic and speak French from the start, but it's not realistic saying I have French nationality, nor is it realistic to be a non-French speaking manager (seeing as I can). A bit of a paradox, no?

I think it would be a good idea to be able to select which languages we can speak from game start. Plenty of people are bi and multi-lingual despite only having one nationality, but FM doesn't permit us to show this. Surely it's not much to ask?

Who on here speaks more than one language, and do you select a second nationality for your manager in order to get around the problem from game start?

Thoughts?

EDIT: Could a moderator change 'with' to 'which' in the title? (I messed it up)

Nice idea. (Y) Something like selecting Favured Personel at the begginng of the game, or more than one Favourite Club: For me it would be: Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian, English, German (Basic), Spanish(Basic). And I always select my real nationality, so I get questions like Wee Aja mentioned: ''Do you think you'll struggle due to the language barrier?''

Does the ability, or inability to speak the language of the country you're in actually make a difference?

I managed to win Serie B with Lazio in my career save despite not being able to speak Italian, so I'm thinking not, and that speaking a particular language will only help you when applying for jobs.

Sir Liam - it's more about realism. The idea that plenty of FM players speak many languages without needing second nationalities doesn't seem to have occurred to SI. Either that or they see it's addition as unimportant.

I speak quite a few languages and can manage in quite a bit more. I speak Icelandic (duh), English and Danish to a good standard, could manage in Norwegian and Swedish, have a basic grasp of German and Spanish and know a few words in French. I'm also very quick to pick up new languages so I'd adapt very quickly.

In game I usually either choose just my nationality or the same nationality as the nation I manage in.

100% Yes.

Likewise I am 50% Polish but do not speak the language, each game I start I can speak Polish so I would like languages to be selectable.

TBF, some English nationals can't speak English.

Add swiss as your second nationality, you automatically get german, french and italian along with your first nationality language.

Agreed, would be good to be able to add this, for those of us that speak more than one language (and i dont just mean english and bad english)

Mods, maybe we can merge these threads

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=151013

into one bigger thread about being able to customize the own identity better.

This area is certainly something which would be nice, both threads

wee aja- thread title amended as requested.

Mods, maybe we can merge these threads

http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=151013

into one bigger thread about being able to customize the own identity better.

This area is certainly something which would be nice, both threads

Not necessarily a bad idea, but SI have always asked that new ideas get their own threads so that they can be discussed in detail.

great idea imo, would definitely like to see this and be able to pick favourite personal as well or at least see it develop in the game as it does for players.

If they did add options like this and favoured personnel, they should put some restrictions on the number, I mean it isnt exactly realistic to have someone who can speak 29 different languages, nor 50 favoured personnel

I'd quite like this, even though my GCSE in French is the closet I'm getting to speaking another language.

Yes. I don't know any French (well only Basic French). Stop assuming that all Canadians know it fluently.

Add swiss as your second nationality, you automatically get german, french and italian along with your first nationality language.

Ace I'll try this,

Thanks for the tip

I'd quite like this, even though my GCSE in French is the closet I'm getting to speaking another language.

I think this would be a good addition as well. As it currently stands my French is about as good as Derek (Delboy) Trotters!

I think this would be a good addition as well. As it currently stands my French is about as good as Derek (Delboy) Trotters!

Hahaha, good one!

This is a pretty decent idea. FIFA Manager has it, it wouldn't be that hard to implement it here. And I do think speaking a second language does have some effect on transfers, at least as far as I remember.

If they did add options like this and favoured personnel, they should put some restrictions on the number, I mean it isnt exactly realistic to have someone who can speak 29 different languages, nor 50 favoured personnel

Of course it's not, but players will always play it how they wish. Some will be completely realistic and add only languages they speak, whereas others will go overboard and add as many as possible. It's not realistic for the likes of us to add previous experience as 'International Footballer' either, but some of us still do

TBF, some English nationals can't speak English.

You mean someone like Shteve McClaren

I agree i think we should. Although i just about get away with it because i am half English half French so i just select French and English in whatever order i feel like at the time.

But there are plenty of people including those not in this thread who speak more languages

I speak English and Danish and understand Norweigan and Swedish, plus a dash of French. It is a little annoying with the language thing at times, although it doesn't bother me too much.

I think a great way of doing it might be basing it on your history. It could be cool if you could select "international footballer" and make a club history, where a degree of language could be added by time spent in the league. Because most players actually speak several languages.

For instance, it's typical for Danes to go to Holland in their youth because they have great fooball colleges, as well as 95% of Danes are pretty much fluent in English (so much so they seriously considered making English an official language here). Then further languages split up in where they end up playing: Many speak Italian or German, since they are typical leagues for Danes to go to (eg. Simon Kjær in Palermo, Martin Jørgensen in Udinese, Christian Poulsen in Juventus).

Just an idea, though

Zinn - when you choose your nationality as 'Danish' in FM, are you automatically given any more languages aside from Danish?

I've met plenty of Danes in my time working in hotels, and every single one of them spoke fluent English, even the youngsters.

I speak French and German, though not well! I set my nationality to Swiss, which also gets me Italian.

I think for this to be an effective addition to the game, it would have to impact the ability to acquire new players. Some players should be drawn to the fact that you can speak with them w/o the need of a translator and others should be turned off as a result. This should also demonstrate an "understanding" when it comes to knowledge of a particular country. For example, I am an American. As such, I speak English (but not the Queen's), some Spanish (because I live and teach in a hispanic section of Denver), very little German (because of my dad's side of the family) and Russian (because I took it in high school and college and was fortunate enough to visit the country).

I would like to be able to identify three languages at the beginning of the game in the order of my ability to speak them. Naturally, this would be proficiency in English, approaching proficiency in Russian and emerging skills in Spanish. I think this should impact my ability to sign players with these backgrounds as it obviously does for real coaches in real life. I say this as a high school soccer coach. I typically have to have one of my players translate my instructions to the Spanish-speaking-only students as I cannot communicate with them. On the flipside, I had a German foreign exchange student at goalie and was able to communicate with him by talking about common pieces of culture. Anyway, just a thought.

Zinn - when you choose your nationality as 'Danish' in FM, are you automatically given any more languages aside from Danish?

I've met plenty of Danes in my time working in hotels, and every single one of them spoke fluent English, even the youngsters.

When choosing Danish nationality, you get Danish, English, German + Swedish (basic), and Norwegian (basic).

I personally wouldn't use the languages idea but I still love the concept and would love that and similar ideas, I hate having a generic manager who magically appeared in football one day.

I am eager to see the addition of career stats / international history. If you were to choose a previous history of professional footballer, maybe you could list the clubs you [pretend to have] played for and get a decent history. Favoured personnel as well would be a great addition from the start, and having the chance to add people you have enjoyed managing to this list at any time during your save. It would give far more enjoyment and far more realism than joining football as an ex-international nobody with no history and no contacts.

I am sure this has been in a previous game??

I've been wanting this idea for a while, thanks for bringing it up. When you select American nationality, you get fluent English and Spanish, which is a little bit wishful thinking. Most white Americans don't know anything past "hola", "yo quiero Taco Bell", and "hasta la vista baby". But I see that SI wanted to give Americans knowledge of Spanish because there are so many Hispanic-Americans who play this game.

Obviously, it would be easier to circumvent the problem by being able to select languages apart from nationality, with nationality having no influence on language.

For what it's worth, I was pretty peeved the other day when starting a save in Germany. THe press conference asked me how I'd manage without speaking German, when in real life, I do speak German at an intermediate level.

If this feature were adopted, I think SI would need to give people an option to select the fluency of the language. For instance, I hardly consider myself fluent in Spanish, but I can definitely communicate and hold a conversation. Whereas in Italian, I can get around but not really hold a meaningful conversation, and the difference should be represented.

If you're English and you manage in Italy, do you eventually have Italian added as a language?

Also, does anyone think that some English Footballers (Rooney, Beckham etc...) should have English (Basic) as their language?

Getting spanish as a language when you select American is random. I think it's set to 20% because that's the value that Spanish has as a language in the USA setup in the database. I think the language stuff is driven by the demographics of the nation.

Sounds like an awesmoe simply idea. Why not right? I always really enjoyed becoming a wonderkids favoured personel etc... If you have Sir Alex as your favoured personel you maybe able to build good relationship faster?

sounds like a good idea and would hopefully add a new dimension to player interaction.

I am fluent in German and French, at least thats what it says on my CV.

Been wanting to see this for ages. Many of us speak multiple languages or at least have a 'basic' command of some of them. It's unrealistic for me to be given language ability based on blanket assumptions and not my actual linguistic ability.

Agree 100%!!!

I usually choose Spanish as a second nationality, though I might go Swiss from now on as I have a grasp of German and Italian.

But yes, they do need the ability to add/learn other languages other then just by being in that country... IE if your prepping to move your career to greener pastures, and you decide you want to move to italy, you should be able to start learning that language or something like that.

But again needs some realism... Dont want to be running around knowing every language in the world...

And also your ability to speak a players language should effect player interactions, and how they like you etc...

If you could go even more advanced and have it like the editor, where you select your language proficiency out of 10, that would be fantastic! for those of us like myself who are learning new languages and are at the intermediate stage.

I am sure this has been in a previous game??

Actually, I think it has, too. I'm sure I can remember setting which languages I can speak in one version... :confused:

Ace I'll try this,

Thanks for the tip

no worries, being swiss is the way to go!

When choosing Danish nationality, you get Danish, English, German + Swedish (basic), and Norwegian (basic).

Correct, which is why it doesn't bother me too much. However, I do not speak German. It used to be that German was obligatory but that was 40 years ago or something.

Today, it's German or French, with possibly 2 more languages added on depending on education. Typically, you can choose to go on with German or French at the next level or choose a 3rd language (usually Spanish or italian). If it's a language driven high school/college, you are likely to continue your German or French and then have Latin and a choice that varies between schools, usually Spanish/Italian/Japanese/Russian.

English is obligatory all the way, of course

Most importantly, I can now order beer in an incredible amount of languages, thanks to school and generally travelling about!

This would be a good idea.

I'm American but I lived in Germany and took French in school, so I obviously know English, German, and French. When I start games I always select American and German as my second nationality, but then I look and see that the game assumes I can speak Spanish as well.

I like the idea of creating a Danish/Swiss manager now!

sounds like danish/swiss is the best you can get..

If you could go even more advanced and have it like the editor, where you select your language proficiency out of 10, that would be fantastic! for those of us like myself who are learning new languages and are at the intermediate stage.

This is what I should really have added in the OP; Proficiency level from 1-10.

I'd be:

Norn Iron 10 (native language)

English 7 (colonial language )

French 8

Portuguese 4

Spanish 2

Would be a good idea in my opinion. It would certainly aid the 'unemployed' mode. And maybe even help influence overseas players to join you.

I have to say I'm glad this thread didn't just drift off into obscurity. Hard to believe as it may be, I actually do have some sensible stuff to say on these forums.

Seriously, I really do.

Add swiss as your second nationality, you automatically get german, french and italian along with your first nationality language.

Awesome, never knew that.

Excellent idea Wee Aja,

Let's hope SI takes note for 2011

I always pick USA as my first nationality and UK as my second (I was born in the UK but live in USA). However, I do speak pretty good French and I'm always torn between adding French as my second nationality to gain the advantage of the language, but, well French ISN'T my second nationality, and I like to play as realistically as possible. The option to add a language would be great!

I'm sure some players would abuse the system when adding their manager, but as always, people can play however they want to.

I'm off to learn more languages for next year... brb!

I approve of this thread

AGREED! As a Canadian, the game assumes I'm bilingual! Let me assure you that 90%+ of Canadians are not bilingual!

And we could use the media to stir up things.

"Rafa spotted learning English with piece of paper - do the Liverpool players really understand Rafa?"

"Schteve McClaren spotted with Dutch textbook - move to FC Twente on the cards?"

Cracking idea. I'm English but I speak French and Russian, so I take my grandad's Dominican nationality as my 2nd nation (for the French); but then if I want to take FK Moskva to glory I don't speak the lingo.

However, I think my grandad is actually from the Dutch Antilles, but selecting that makes me speak Dutch.

It definitely needs more customisation.