UT Followup

[Edsel]

What if my character wants to use this to compose a written message from scratch?

For instance I want to send a letter in Japanese to a person but nobody is speaking Japanese to me at the time and I do not have access to any written Japanese? Can I just sit down and decide to write a message in any common language as long as I make the INT-roll, or is two-way communication necessary?

[Steve Long]

It's a form of communication, not "know all languages for free." If you're not involved in some sort of exchange of writing, generally you shouldn't be allowed to use UT. As always, common sense and dramatic sense should prevail, but the general rule to follow is that the character should be involved in a communications process.