[firebug]

I don't mean language is insignificant in the world of Shadowrun.  Not in the least.  I mean a lot of games are played without language barriers ever being an issue, and more often than not, it's planned around which languages a team has access to.  If the encounters a language they can't speak, it's often a plot point and not just a random occurrence.

I'm talking 100% gameplay, not at all related to anything in the setting at all.

Your example of the Atzlanter Spanish vs. Mexican Spanish relates to my point; if that's gonna come up, it's something the GM has planned for and will use as a plot point.

Mechanically, all languages mainly act as a cap to your social skills and for rolling to see if you understand something in a non-native language (which is a very tedious thing I almost never call for unless someone's talking about stuff you might not understand even if it was in your native language).  Changing that will not impact the game much.  That's all I meant, sheesh.  >.>  Read into my comment's implications about socioeconomic principles or it's deeper religions meanings next time.

[ProfGast]

There are smartphone apps today that can pretty much translate most languages into most other languages pretty quickly.

Can commlinks do that, too?

First off, Aetherpedia exists in Shadowrun.  Translation programs are not at all out of the question, and you can probably run any sort of text or audio file you can get your hands on through a free translator with the right Computer action.

However:

And if they do, what are the use of linguisofts?

Especially if we're talking about an implanted commlink and DNI, what makes linguisofts useful?

and if commlinks can't do that, is there a good, in game reason i can use to explain why not to my players?

I feel like your'e oversimplifying languages and translations way too much if you're asking questions like this.  There are LOADS of difference between translating the general meaning from something, and trying to translate on the fly, with the correct formality, tense and idioms.  Because what a linguasoft does is it reads what you want to say, how you want to say it, and then MAKES you say it with the right nuance, emphasis and intonation.

An online translator on the other hand, takes the most common meaning and just tries to put it together.  For example, I'll take the opening line of Don Miguel de Cervantes' greatest work El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha and feed it through google translator:
 

En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no hace mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor.

In a village of La Mancha, whose name I do not remember, not long ago lived a nobleman of the lance and ancient shield, a lean hack and a greyhound ago.

…. Not exactly inspiring.  It gets most of the subject matter but seems to miss the point.  Let's take a look at what a PROFESSIONAL translator reads it as:

In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to call to mind, there lived not long since one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old buckler, a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing.

And just for fun let's feed that through a translator again.

En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no tengo ganas de llamar a la mente, vivía no hace mucho tiempo uno de esos señores que mantienen una lanza en astillero-rack, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor.

Surprisingly, much better than I thought it would be going that direction, but given the overall fame of the quote I suppose I can't fault them for having the right script.

So that shows us that given today's current technology in online translators, we can get… fairly close on a famous line, but neither translation is without errors.  Then there's how to say it.  Spanish is relatively easy, as a romance language it's got a lot of similarities to English.  But if you can't roll your 'r's, or don't realized the "ll" is supposed to be a "y" sound and not an "L" sound, you may be in trouble.  At the very least you'll flub the word.

And that's not even taking into account languages like Mandarin which have an entire set of intonation that is different.  Linguasofts are robust programs designed to, as best as they can, get around this and let you speak and translate on the fly.  So if your players want to use a Matrix Translation, I'd let them… but it won't be fast enough to kick back and forth during a normal conversation, for one.  And is more likely than not going to make them sound like an idiot and definitely not a native speaker.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Not to mention the fact that chipped linguistics tend to be more picky, more 'formal' - 'usted', as compared to 'tu', if you care to reference the Spanish.  Which is what Picador (I think it was?) is referring to by strongly advising you to learn the local language from a local - so that it shows you care enough to come to grips with the language at least a certain amount.

[Sendaz]

Which is what Picador (I think it was?) is referring to by strongly advising you to learn the local language from a local - so that it shows you care enough to come to grips with the language at least a certain amount.

This was mentioned on the first page, 5th reply, with Matador from Field of Fire talking about the importance of learning local languages.

[Elektrycerze3]

This was mentioned on the first page, 5th reply, with Matador from Field of Fire talking about the importance of learning local languages.

Repetition is the mother of learning =P

[JimmyCrisis]

Matrix translation would be exactly as awkward as speaking through an interpreter.  Less so if you use DNI and send constructed audio files via neural link, but still slower than natural speech.  Consider that, with advanced algorithms, tone and proper pronunciation can be accounted for, and the rest is up to your etiquette skill.

So, there are situations where you'd want to use a linguisoft, those being where you -should- be able to speak a language but don't.  It's a good reason for a disguise expert or intrusion specialist to take linguisofts.  Again, skilljacks see great for giving yourself the flexibility needed to accomplish the mission.

[Poindexter]

My group ignores Linguisofts entirely for standard languages, we just use the device rating of the commlink as the effective language skill that the device can translate to.

While this devalues language skills and be extension skilljacks, we feel that it is more in spirit with the technology and language skills are usually hand waved by the GM anyway.  That and I think people would rather spend their skill points and nuyen on stuff that matters.

I think im gonna use this, but limit it to only if you've got a DNI.

[Booze]

Hey Guys! I am not sure if it was mentioned or not, Comlincs are capable of douing it RAW. In table 'using languages' there is a  modyfier for using "AR enchancent"

[Michael Chandra]

Yeah, it's not exactly the same as a Linguasoft but it's some form of help when trying to understand what people are saying. It wouldn't help you with your Social Skill limit though.

[Tenlaar]

Would it be safe to equate it to a Google Translate function that can pick up the dialogue and translate it mostly, but some grammatical uses and especially colloquialisms will make it come out kind of wonky?

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Probably.  Or that smartphone app that does that.