"TRAINING You can spend time between adventures learning a new language or training with a set of tools. Your DM might allow additional training options. First, you must find an instructor willing to teach you. The DM determines how long it takes, and whether one or more ability checks are required. The training lasts for 250 days and costs 1 gp per day. After you spend the requisite amount of time and money, you learn the new language or gain proficiency with the new tool."
Xanathar's has some modified downtime activity rules if you want to use those.
"TRAINING Given enough free time and the services of an instructor, a character can learn a language or pick up proficiency with a tool. Resources. Receiving training in a language or tool typically takes at least ten workweeks, but this time is reduced by a number of workweeks equal to the character’s Intelligence modifier (an Intelligence penalty doesn’t increase the time needed). Training costs 25 gp per work week. Complications. Complications that arise while training typically involve the teacher. Every ten workweeks spent in training brings a 10 percent chance of a complication, examples of which are on the Training Complications table."
All of those are pretty good ways to do that. I recently noticed that some languages are exclusive to certain monsters, and by that, I mean that even with ways to learn new languages or start with additional languages, like go the Knowledge Domain as a Cleric, it is still impossible to learn that language currently.
Case and point, the Sahuagin have their own language but PCs can't learn the language for whatever reason. Setting aside it's likely considered an exotic language, much like Celestial and Abyssal for now, why is it that there certain languages that you just can't learn? Think of play and story potential of a Sahuagin going on a rant in its language only for the Barbarian of the party to laugh and comment on what the sahuagin said.
I get it, with each new supplement there's more and more opportunities for languages to be added into what the PCs can learn, but you would think the Sahuagin language would have at least been added in as potential additional language with Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
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How does one acquire new languages?
PHB p187 - Training downtime activity.
"TRAINING
You can spend time between adventures learning a new language or training with a set of tools. Your DM might allow additional training options. First, you must find an instructor willing to teach you. The DM determines how long it takes, and whether one or more ability checks are required. The training lasts for 250 days and costs 1 gp per day. After you spend the requisite amount of time and money, you learn the new language or gain proficiency with the new tool."
Xanathar's has some modified downtime activity rules if you want to use those.
"TRAINING
Given enough free time and the services of an instructor, a character can learn a language or pick up proficiency with a tool.
Resources. Receiving training in a language or tool typically takes at least ten workweeks, but this time is reduced by a number of workweeks equal to the character’s Intelligence modifier (an Intelligence penalty doesn’t increase the time needed). Training costs 25 gp per work week.
Complications. Complications that arise while training typically involve the teacher. Every ten workweeks spent in training brings a 10 percent chance of a complication, examples of which are on the Training Complications table."
Downtime (PHB chapter 8). 250 days with an instructor, at a cost of 1 GP per day, gets you a new proficiency (tool or language).
If your game uses feats then you can take Linguist or Prodigy.
You could wish to know the language.
Some subclasses provide language as well, like the level 3 feature of the Samurai or Battlemaster.
dndbeyond.com forum tags
I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
All of those are pretty good ways to do that. I recently noticed that some languages are exclusive to certain monsters, and by that, I mean that even with ways to learn new languages or start with additional languages, like go the Knowledge Domain as a Cleric, it is still impossible to learn that language currently.
Case and point, the Sahuagin have their own language but PCs can't learn the language for whatever reason. Setting aside it's likely considered an exotic language, much like Celestial and Abyssal for now, why is it that there certain languages that you just can't learn? Think of play and story potential of a Sahuagin going on a rant in its language only for the Barbarian of the party to laugh and comment on what the sahuagin said.
I get it, with each new supplement there's more and more opportunities for languages to be added into what the PCs can learn, but you would think the Sahuagin language would have at least been added in as potential additional language with Ghosts of Saltmarsh.