Forum:SH Archive/Known Languages in Character Infoboxes

Forums > Senate Hall archive > SH Archive/Known Languages in Character Infoboxes

This page is an archive of a community-wide discussion. This page is no longer live. Further comments or questions on this topic should be made in a new Senate Hall page rather than here so that this page is preserved as a historic record. 1358 ^(Talk) 16:43, February 15, 2012 (UTC)

There've been a whole bunch of Infobox topics, lately, so maybe one more wouldn't hurt. Anyway, several WEG and WOTC statboxes list known languages for several (hundreds?) of characters. Not to mention that little references pop up occasionally in novels. It isn't exactly hard to work these into the P&t sections, but I've noticed that even a few character FAs skip them. Having this in the Infobox makes it easy to add the languages without having to re-write part of an article, and it'd make it easy for LFL luminaries to pick them out without reading a 75-page FA. I figure this would go under this would go under Biographical information, but I've heard arguments in the past to place it under Political.

Agree, disagree? SinisterSamurai 22:45, July 5, 2011 (UTC)

Seems kind of trivial to me. Not sure how this is any more significant or noteworthy than what weapons someone uses or what starships someone owns or flies, which we don't and most likely won't include. The beauty of the infobox is that it's kept succinct and to the point, displaying only the most vital information. Minor details like this are what the article is for. Toprawa and Ralltiir 22:52, July 5, 2011 (UTC)
- If species infoboxes use one, I don't see why characters couldn't. -- Riffsyphon1024 07:19, July 6, 2011 (UTC)
  - I like the idea, but I can also see Tope's point. Those infoboxes are gonna get pretty cluttered after a while, particularly if a character knows several languages (ie; more than three). Droid characters in particular. Trak Nar ^{Ramble on} 09:08, July 6, 2011 (UTC)
    - Indeed, the idea has potential, but, should it be limited to the characters main (native?) language? Or something that prevents us from listing all over 6 million means of communication for C-3PO. Might be more trouble than its worth. –Tm_T ^(Talk) 12:59, July 6, 2011 (UTC)
      - It would be important to clearly state what you mean by "known language." I can fathom an argument over whether or not characters "know" a language if they're unable to speak it. Taral, Dark Lord of the Sith ^{-Just shy, not antisocial: You can talk to me!-} 14:37, July 6, 2011 (UTC)
        Tope:Droid infoboxes do list weapons. While I imagine it's intended for attached weapons, A few FA'd droids list carried/unattached weapons. Trak/Tm: True, droids with protocol functions could get cluttered very quickly, if they ever bothered to name all 6 million spoken languages. Whether or not we allow droids to be included is a valid point of discussion. Taral: If it needs to be specified, infoboxes could be easily bulleted for Read/Write, spoken, and understand only. These are how languages were handled by WotC before Saga "simplified" it. SinisterSamurai 22:26, July 6, 2011 (UTC)
        You're missing the point, I think. The droid infobox includes the field to cater to the many instances in which droids have weapons built into their technical repertoire, so to speak (though we frequently get away from the purpose of the field by also listing whatever external weapons they typically utilize). These weapons are literally part of the droid. We do not have such a field in character infoboxes, nor should we, for obvious reasons. Toprawa and Ralltiir 03:11, July 7, 2011 (UTC)
Seeing C-3PO's article, it is clear that protocol droids might be going a tad far, especially as he has a list of at least seventeen languages, and that's not counting all the dialects. I know in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, he mentions more related to finding the owner of the vagabond. Though most other droids may only speak in binary or droidspeak. We may need to experiment off-article to test with the main characters how many languages they know, and go from there (i.e. Han Solo knows/understands this many, Luke knows/understands this many, and so on). -- Riffsyphon1024 06:19, July 7, 2011 (UTC)
I think it could be useful. I mean, infoboxes get "cluttered" when we list 7/8 apprentices or Masters. And I won't even mention how "cluttered" battle infoboxes get (even though I believe the very format of an infobox precludes the possibility of clutter. And I don't entirely agree with the "it's the same as weapons or ships argument", given that weapons/ships are material items than can be used and discarded indiscriminately. Languages, on the other hand, are learned and internalized. I would say that the listed languages should be exclusive to those that can be spoken, and that it may be best to stick to the primary/native language alone, and just note how many others if it's more than three. Along the lines of:

Languages

Basic (Primary)
Cheunh
Sy Bisti

or Languages

Basic (Primary)
Five others

And then just list the others in the P&T. Darth Trayus^{(Trayus Academy)} 06:51, July 7, 2011 (UTC)

That could work, the second one, as it wouldn't be as cluttered. However, what about those who speak Basic as their primary language, yet they have a totally different native language? And how would one actually classify "Binary"? For example, I have a few of Zuckuss's listed languages and Binary is one of them (may need to double-check with someone to get the rest from S&V). In his P&t, I had said he "can understand Binary." Trak Nar ^{Ramble on} 07:03, July 7, 2011 (UTC)
I don't like it. Next someone will want "known family members" or "all known aliases" or some such, both of which are just fine in the article proper. Let's just keep it the way it is, shall we?—Tommy 9281 Thursday, July 7, 2011, 08:04 UTC
- I dont see that slippery slope opening up. Aliases are the same as weapons - picked up and discarded indiscriminately. And, although I don't agree with their inclusion, I don't see how family members are any different than listing Masters or apprentices. If we were ever going to include family, it would result from fields like that, not a language field. By your logic, we don't need info boxes at all, everything could go in the article proper. Although disinclusion wouldn't break my heart, I think the limited second option above is the best way to proceed, if this proposal is more widely accepted. Darth Trayus^{(Trayus Academy)} 08:39, July 7, 2011 (UTC)
  - You are correct, we really don't need infoboxes at all.—Tommy 9281 Thursday, July 7, 2011, 08:46 UTC
I think I'm with Tope and Tommy that this isn't really infobox material. Language ability is like any other skill, so if we include languages, why not also include known skills, which are also gleanable from RPG material and appearances? It just clutters up the infobox if we do so. So, we either treat languages as a special case, or we include all skills. I'm not sure I see why languages should be a special case, though, so I'd rather they remain in P&T. ~Savage 17:46, July 13, 2011 (UTC)