TM your language skills
From The Discworld MUD Wiki
Note that to TM language, you have to read/hear different things. Listening to the same sentence or reading the same sentence all over and over again won't help. You have to hear different things to contrast them and learn something.
- It seems level 90 is the highest you can go in a language other than your native one. With level 90 spoken and written you will understand the language perfectly.
- You may be able to get up above 90 from group tm'ing. I've know a couple people to do this in the past.
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Spoken language
A simple way to TM a language that you're trying to learn (and get some nice XP at the same time) is to stand in a room with a chatty NPC, and listen to them blabber. You have to be "speaking" the language you want to learn to get TM's (you can notice this by your GP going down).
Finding NPCs that talk frequently and that you can kill with spending few/no GP can be used to help advance other skills while learning the language. You can practice your fight.melee.* skills while attacking them and earn additional xp/money/GP with each kill. Be careful that if your goal is to TM the language that you will need other.points (use the GP command) spare to have even a chance of TMing, so going on an executing spree and using commands at every opportunity is going to result in no TMs.
On the other hand, be aware about who you fight while "speak"ing a foreign language. Hearing a single sentence of the foreign language can easily consume over 100 GP, thus interfering with your abilities to use the GP for battle-related commands.
Places to learn in
Any language
Many shopkeepers/vendors are chatty when you are browsing/buying their goods (especially custom clothing shops and street vendors). You can TM from other players. Many human/humanoid NPCs will make comments while fighting. The Kompt de Yoyo in the AM Assassins guild will tell stories in any language if you ask him politely, you don't have to be an Assassin to tm there.
Agatean
In Bes Pelargic, youths with sandwich boards are chatty. The Iron Philosopher comes in a small group that says some interesting things.
If you look for Ryattenoki and get him to follow you, if you have enough language skills and can say 'fish' he will follow you even if he's following someone else. After obtaining fish, if you go hunt down Miss Information in the Bad Poo-Ning/Red Triangle districts and 'follow' her she will lead you on a tour. With both of these two blabbing in your ear you TM like no tomorrow. Best time to do this is instead of logging off you can idle out following Miss Info. around Bes Pelargic.
Djelian
- Mihk-gran-bohp.
- The bazaar can also be good since you hear all mobs passing through the area.
- Farmers in the fields outside city limits are common and reasonably chatty. They complain when fighting, have only modest fighting skills and always have a small amount of Djelian pocket change. Once you have good fighting skills, they're great targets for the low-GP fighting strategy.
- Outside the eastern playershop one usually finds an incredibly verbose prophet of some form who is an excellent spoken Djelian TM source.
- Staff Sergeant Small at the Klatchian Foreign Legion (get the caravan from Djelibeyi). You can read the warriors board while you listen to him.
- Priests / Priestesses If you can find two or more together exclaim Hail Sessifet (or other Djelian Diety) in their presence and many times this sparks a debate between them on which one is better.
Morporkian
- The market place in Ohulan Cutash generally has some noisy drunken sailors wandering around. If nobody's killed them off, that is. You can hear things that are said all over the market place from any part of it - the same applies to the many city square areas in AM.
- The raven on Granny Weatherwax's cottage roof never seems to shut up.
- The crows in the terrains are very talkative, very weak fighters, talk even more during fights and even make an additional comment after being killed.
- Noobie, an NPC wadering the streets of Genua has been known to ask many questions.
- One place almost everyone overlooks here is Sator Square in front of Unseen University. I mean, the Room just outside the gates. There you get the shouting salesmen from the Plaza of Broken Moons, the talking people on the square, the Town Cryers, and even a Carriage Stop.
- The Dysk on Ankh-Morpork's Isle of Gods is the perfect place to refine your Morporkian accent and absorb some local culture at the same time. A standing season pass will allow you to see ten fine plays and costs only AM$4.50.
Written language
The easiest but also time-consuming way to learn a language in its written form is to read everything in sight (be sure to be speaking the language you're trying to learn). Signs, menus, notes, etc.
You can also buy a book in the given language and read a page every so often. Be sure to read a new page every time -- for this purpose, the book should preferably have 10 pages or more which you can then turn back and forth. This is time-consuming but has the advantage that you can carry the book anywhere you want and read a page or two whenever you have the time.
Aliases
A method of learning is to get three different objects with that language written on them. You then set up an alias to read each in turn. It resets itself after the third object so you can read the first. Just do the alias whenever you have the time and you TM like crazy. This also works with objects that are in a pack.
Reading material
Any language
The custom clothing shop in the basement of the Ankh-Morpork Thieves' guild sells clothing catalogs in various languages.
The Playwrights' Guild sells handbooks in Agatean, Djelian and Morporkian.
Any player who can write the language can create reading material with paper and a quill. You can even TM from reading something you wrote yourself.
Agatean
A book shop on South Hill Street in Bes Pelargic sells Agatean books. The city is chocked full of signs that may be read as you travel around. There are also many handbills regarding the Families pasted about the place.
Djelian
The plaque outside the DJB bank in the bazaar can be of help, and the city itself has shops and signs in many different places - look around and learn.
Morporkian
There is an excellent bookshop on God Street in Ankh-Morpork where books in Morporkian are almost always for sale, and often in other languages as well. The AM Daily newspaper are written in Morporkian - however, the Green Slab newspaper is in a language everyone can read and therefore not helpful when trying to tm other.language.morporkian.written.
