[Vampyr]

 Quantumcat, on 2012-September-19, 20:53, said:

Perhaps someone should write some bridge phrasebooks? It could contain a large selection of conventions, and you can dog-ear or stick a bookmark in all the ones you are likely to be asked, so you can either explain, or just show the page of the book to your opponent, when they ask.

I think that just my own agreements, written out in five or six languages, would result in a pretty unwieldy book, and if you added the vast majority of existing conventions and treatments, which I obviously don't play, you would need several volumes to hold it all. And if you played a variation on something in the phrasebook, how would you make the appropriate changes in all the languages? This idea would not be workable.

If people were going to use some sort of book, it would better to create their own in a notebook. The agreements could then be presented in graphic form (2♥ = 4-10 HCP, 6♠ or 4-4-4-1, 17+) rather than translated explanations.

[VixTD]

 gnasher, on 2012-September-20, 05:03, said:

I found some useful English-German bridge dictionaries here:
http://www.bridgever...tsch&glossary=A
http://www.bridgeguy...ermanTerms.html
http://www.bridgeaka...dgew%F6rterbuch

I note that the first one offers "stop bid" as a translation of Abschlussgebot, which would be misleading to English speakers.

[Zelandakh]

 VixTD, on 2012-September-20, 07:19, said:

I note that the first one offers "stop bid" as a translation of Abschlussgebot, which would be misleading to English speakers.

A few others were also problematic, such as make = mischen (meaning deal) and throw-in = verwerfen (meaning passout). Also, I find it interesting that Leo has a possible cardgame meaning for verwerfen as revoke - that might make for an interesting discussion too! I was actually pleasantly surprised how many of these I have absorbed (even when I have not come across verwerfen before).

[barmar]

 Vampyr, on 2012-September-20, 06:59, said:

This is pretty unfair. Lots of English and American people can speak a foreign language or two, but this will not help in most situations. We might be able to speak French, Japanese and Russian, and this will be useful against a few pairs in a place like Pula; still we will have a problem communicating with all of the other pairs.

And even if you speak the other language, there's a good chance the vocabulary you learned would not include bridge jargon, unless you make a special effort to learn it.

A few months ago the ACBL Bulletin had an article on bridge terminology in other countries.

[c_corgi]

A tournament with a particularly cosmopolitan atmosphere such as this seems like a good thing. The way forward is surely to have more tolerance and patience with people struggling with a foreign language rather than penalise it.

[Vampyr]

It's not always language, though... Against one Polish Club (a)11-14 balanced, b)15+ with clubs or c)17+)pair I was on lead against a 4♦contract. It was pretty clear from the auction that opener had a weak NT, but it had been a fairly long competitive auction, and I wanted to know what other information or negative inferences were available. However, the opening bidder (his partner did not speak any English) refused even to tell me which of a) b) or c) had been shown or ruled out during the auction.

The frightening part was that a Polish director agreed that I was not entitled to this information, only to the fact that the player had one of those three hand-types! A little education by the CTD after the round corrected this, but this was just one director, and I really wonder if this attitude towards disclosure is common and believed to be legal in parts of the world where bridge ethics is considered a fairly elastic concept.

[aguahombre]

 Vampyr, on 2012-September-20, 06:59, said:

Lots of English and American people can speak a foreign language or two

To each, the other is a foreign language.

[Vampyr]

Written explanations would help the language problem a lot.

[bluejak]

 Cyberyeti, on 2012-September-19, 05:22, said:

Another one I came across (never having played 3rd/5th leads in my life) was a player leading 4th from Q108x which her partner implied was normal because "you can't spare the 8". Is this normal and should a caveat be put on the explanation of 3rd/5th if it's not ?

I think it is completely normal. Most 3rd and 5th or 3rd and lowest pairs will not lead a 3rd card that they feel will give a trick. It is similar to playing high-low to show an even number - would you peter with Qx? Jx? Tx? But I do not think you put on your card "Even = hi-low unless we cannot afford it".

 Cyberyeti, on 2012-September-19, 05:22, said:

I had this conversation several times:

Me: What system do you play ?
Opp: standard
Me: Where are you from ?
Opp: Poland/France/Holland/Romania/Hungary/Italy

Standard meaning several different things depending on where they were from.

More than separate countries, I get a very strong impression that standard in the greater London area is nowhere near the same as in most of the rest of England.

 gnasher, on 2012-September-20, 05:03, said:

And I think having one opponent translate for the other is absolutely fine.

At Lille I served on a WBF AC where one pair spoke no English. One of their opponents translated for them so it worked out alright!

 Vampyr, on 2012-September-20, 06:59, said:

This is pretty unfair. Lots of English and American people can speak a foreign language or two, but this will not help in most situations. We might be able to speak French, Japanese and Russian, and this will be useful against a few pairs in a place like Pula; still we will have a problem communicating with all of the other pairs.

No, it is perfectly fair: you were not brought up in England. When people of my age were taught foreign languages in school, the teaching was dreadful and based on such wonders as learning lists of vocabulary but never speaking the language. It is normal for English people to have learnt one to three languages at school and to be totally unable to speak them.