|
Language levels of the top 250 (or can I buy this cheap foreign edition?!)
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Are you a sucker for cheap (german) board games? Don't you know if the game you're wanting is language independent? Help is on the way!
Last year Grimwold launched the "Language Independence Project" with the purpose of tagging games with a tag indicating their degree of language dependency (see:http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/15467).
Thanks to the hard work of Grimwold and many other BGG users (amongst them Kris Verbeeck), many games have been tagged.
Though some people have made geeklists about language independency, fx Jon's list of language dependant games http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/5396 or Drzodiacus' list http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/9382, there isn't an easily accessible list of the top rated games. I hope this list will fill that gap!
Grimwold's language levels that will be used in this list are:
* Language Level 0: These games have NO text on the game components, so anyone familiar with the rules can play the game regardless of which language edition it is. This category can also include games where only numerals are used on game components.
* Language Level 1: These games have some text on in-game components, such as a few action cards. Anyone familiar with the rules can play the game, though may require a small cheat-sheet to decode such action cards etc. This will also include games with little or no in-game text, but that require each player to use a summary sheet.
* Language Level 2: These would be games that have a moderate amount of in-game text, such as a complete deck of cards with actions or abilities on. Any crib sheet would have to be quite extensive to allow play in a foreign language, although it could still be played with such a crib sheet, and would become easier as players become more familiar with the cards etc.
* Language Level 3: There is just too much in-game text for the game to be playable in a foreign language. Arkham Horror is a prime example of this, as are many of the BIG Fantasy Flight games. At this level, any thought of cribsheets goes out of the window, as chances are the cribsheets would be bigger than the games rulebook.
* Language Level 4: These games are fundamentally unplayable using a foreign version. This could be because the games components are language specific, so a foreign copy would be missing key components. Also category for games that are unplayable if you're not very fluent in language game is printed on.
I have added links to English rules for games with a language level between 0-2. Remember to give thumbs-up/tips to the people who uploaded the files 
Please comment on the classifications of the games, if you disagree. Feel free to add links to any useful files.
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 3
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 2
English rules: No rules available
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 1
English cards for the base game can be bought seperately. If you are willing to buy them, only the box will be different from the English edition.
English rules: http://www.gamecabinet.com/rules/ElGrande.html
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 3
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 2
Different reference sheets are available in the file section.
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 3
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 3
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 3
-
-
Hans Christian Kirketerp
Denmark
Aarhus C
-
Language level 3
-
-
|
|
|
Unspecified
Surrey
One thing - after discussion with Andy about those games which people considered to be at different language levels, and therefore get tagged at multiple different levels (which happens in many cases) - at which I queried the validity of the tagging mechanism for it, Andy pointed out that the spread of language level tags actually helps locate the game within the scale.
For example, a game with 20 level 1 tags and 20 level 2 tags is probably a level 1.5. This made a great amount of sense of of the system, and means that it really helps me judge what games I can get the German editions for (my group has a language tolerance level of about 0.75).
As a result, however, I think that putting a precise integer language level on many games (as you have done in this list) could potentially be slightly misleading.
That is a minor gripe, though, and easily remedied by the individual by closer inspection of the individual game tags. Fantastic work compiling all this! Thanks! I shall be coming back to this one often, I'm sure!
Palo Alto
California
But we bought a copy of Drakon in the same foreign language, having heard just that it was a great game -- which it IS, but it turned out to be pretty useless for the purpose of language learning.
Gent
Incidentally, where would you place Agricola? Didn't see it on the list yet.
Aarhus C
Incidentally, where would you place Agricola? Didn't see it on the list yet.
Thanks a lot