Generally the most expensive language is Korean (until Urza's Saga, the last set with Korean cards), then Japanese (and Russian from 9th Edition), Chinese, German and then the rest of languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese) are worth the same.
I've created this thread because I wonder if any of you have data about how many cards of each language are printed in comparison to English. I know that kind of information is hard to find, but at least a rough aproximation from a reliable source would be really useful.
German aint more expensive than any other european language, at least here.
It's a bit more expensive, you can check it by looking at Ebay completed listings. There are some cards in German that are specially expensive. For example:
It's an instant speed 5/5 trampler for 4. Wtf do you people want seriously? It has applications in populate/ above the curve beats decks, or in Bant control/ flash. I seriously think anyone mad at this card for any reason other than losing an attacker to instant speed wurm, should go home and make their own awesome card game and leave the rest of us alone.
It's supply and demand too as I've seen plenty of T2 French and Spanish go for more than their English versions.
Of course, Japanese isn't much more expensive than English just because it's more rare, but because players prefer it as it's more exotic or whatever. It wouldn't surprise me that the less printed language was Portuguese, and I doubt there are more German, French, Italian or Spanish cards than Japanese ones, while the first ones don't have much or any premium over English.
Chinese is the most available next to english. Euro languages have a smaller print run but not by much. Then Russian/Japanese. Then Korean when it was available.
This is not always the case though. As far as Legends goes, there's a significantly higher amount of italian legends compared to english legends. For P3K, English is the rarest of the 4 languages it's in because it was only distributed in Australia.
Chinese is the most available next to english. Euro languages have a smaller print run but not by much. Then Russian/Japanese. Then Korean when it was available.
This is not always the case though. As far as Legends goes, there's a significantly higher amount of italian legends compared to english legends. For P3K, English is the rarest of the 4 languages it's in because it was only distributed in Australia.
I suppose that you mean all of them combined. Do you think Japanese is rarer than every European language? I'm not sure about that, and I would really like to know. We all know that foil japanese (and Russian since 9th) cards are more expensive than foils of any other language, but I think it's much more because people prefer having cards in strange languages, than because they are really that rare. As I said, it wouldn't surprise me that languages like Portuguese were rarer than Japanese, just based on how many people play in countries where it's spoken.
You are right, when I created the thread I was thinking in newer sets, when foils existed.
I agree, based on the cards I've seen Japanese is actually not that rare as far as foreign languages go. It's probably 2nd on my list of most-seen foreign language after Chinese (Japan has one of the greatest player-bases of any country), and going through a collection you can usually find a couple. European cards are much rarer; I've only seen a couple in all (never Portuguese or Italian).
I was working on a global set of Onslaught for a long time, and was always looking for boxes on ebay. In my experience, the 9 languages at that time were
Common:
English
S-Chinese
Japanese
French
Uncommon:
T-Chinese
German
Spanish
Rare:
Italian (2 boxes seen in 5 years)
Portuguese (1 box seen in 5 years)
Now, I expect that the Asian languages were a bit more available because there was more demand, and the Euro languages from countries with worse postal systems were less likely to be up for sale to the US. But that should be a pretty reasonable approximation.
Korean is hard to say, since it's been so long since it's been in print. It seems pretty rare now, but I don't know if it was so hard to find 10 years ago.
Russian is also kind of odd. It was popular and fairly easy to find at first, but interest seems to have cooled, and it doesn't seem to come up for sale as much anymore.
I suppose that you mean all of them combined. Do you think Japanese is rarer than every European language? I'm not sure about that, and I would really like to know. We all know that foil japanese (and Russian since 9th) cards are more expensive than foils of any other language, but I think it's much more because people prefer having cards in strange languages, than because they are really that rare. As I said, it wouldn't surprise me that languages like Portuguese were rarer than Japanese, just based on how many people play in countries where it's spoken.
You are right, when I created the thread I was thinking in newer sets, when foils existed.
Valid point, and yeah i was referring to them all. There's not really a language premium on them so i added them together. I'm sure in volume japan probably gets printed more than any single euro language. French might have a solid print run due to magic being so popular in france since the game came out, but other than that i have no idea how much demand german, french, spanish and portugese have. There's potential for large markets. I mean portugese and spanish cards are probably produced all through central/south american countries. Not sure how big their magic scenes are, but they might be large enough to support a sizeable print run in comparison to japan.
FWIW the ravnica set has been reported on here having a smaller print run in russian than japanese, so it may be some evidence that there are much less russian cards available.
Japanese and Russian have been made available because of their pimp, players and stores are more willing to pick up japanese product due to its popularity in the states, while the demand for say spanish/portugese cards is very little in the states. Likewise i'm sure finding a foil in any language is as hard as it is in russian or japanese, so it's all perspective too. Yeah, you'll probably pay an arm and a leg for a foil russian doubling season, but what if you wanted a portugese version?
I've created this thread because I wonder if any of you have data about how many cards of each language are printed in comparison to English. I know that kind of information is hard to find, but at least a rough aproximation from a reliable source would be really useful.
It's a bit more expensive, you can check it by looking at Ebay completed listings. There are some cards in German that are specially expensive. For example:
http://cgi.ebay.es/MTG-4x-Force-of-Will-GERMAN-PIMP-Playset-/280699448665?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item415afdad59
http://cgi.ebay.es/MTG-Brainstorm-GERMAN-FOIL-no-japanese-Legacy-EDH-/230638325946?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35b31d90ba
Of course, Japanese isn't much more expensive than English just because it's more rare, but because players prefer it as it's more exotic or whatever. It wouldn't surprise me that the less printed language was Portuguese, and I doubt there are more German, French, Italian or Spanish cards than Japanese ones, while the first ones don't have much or any premium over English.
This is not always the case though. As far as Legends goes, there's a significantly higher amount of italian legends compared to english legends. For P3K, English is the rarest of the 4 languages it's in because it was only distributed in Australia.
I suppose that you mean all of them combined. Do you think Japanese is rarer than every European language? I'm not sure about that, and I would really like to know. We all know that foil japanese (and Russian since 9th) cards are more expensive than foils of any other language, but I think it's much more because people prefer having cards in strange languages, than because they are really that rare. As I said, it wouldn't surprise me that languages like Portuguese were rarer than Japanese, just based on how many people play in countries where it's spoken.
You are right, when I created the thread I was thinking in newer sets, when foils existed.
Common:
English
S-Chinese
Japanese
French
Uncommon:
T-Chinese
German
Spanish
Rare:
Italian (2 boxes seen in 5 years)
Portuguese (1 box seen in 5 years)
Now, I expect that the Asian languages were a bit more available because there was more demand, and the Euro languages from countries with worse postal systems were less likely to be up for sale to the US. But that should be a pretty reasonable approximation.
Korean is hard to say, since it's been so long since it's been in print. It seems pretty rare now, but I don't know if it was so hard to find 10 years ago.
Russian is also kind of odd. It was popular and fairly easy to find at first, but interest seems to have cooled, and it doesn't seem to come up for sale as much anymore.
Valid point, and yeah i was referring to them all. There's not really a language premium on them so i added them together. I'm sure in volume japan probably gets printed more than any single euro language. French might have a solid print run due to magic being so popular in france since the game came out, but other than that i have no idea how much demand german, french, spanish and portugese have. There's potential for large markets. I mean portugese and spanish cards are probably produced all through central/south american countries. Not sure how big their magic scenes are, but they might be large enough to support a sizeable print run in comparison to japan.
FWIW the ravnica set has been reported on here having a smaller print run in russian than japanese, so it may be some evidence that there are much less russian cards available.
Japanese and Russian have been made available because of their pimp, players and stores are more willing to pick up japanese product due to its popularity in the states, while the demand for say spanish/portugese cards is very little in the states. Likewise i'm sure finding a foil in any language is as hard as it is in russian or japanese, so it's all perspective too. Yeah, you'll probably pay an arm and a leg for a foil russian doubling season, but what if you wanted a portugese version?