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globlingoober · 1 month

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My favorite fics I read during painland week!! In no particular order:

- An Experiment by Scarlettfire (Teen, first kiss, 2k, 1/3 parts)

The thing was, he didn’t actually mean to say it. The words had simply slipped out when confronted with Charles’ concerned gaze. The ‘inside thought’, as it were, found voice. “I want to kiss you.”

- Written In the Stars by ingridmatthews (Gen, Domestic, 889)

Charles is working hard for credit at a magical shop. What could he possibly be buying to give to Edwin in their cozy bedroom?

- Dead Letters by ArtistActorAthens (Teen, divergence, casefic, 1k)

While the Dead Boy and Alive Girl Detectives are on a case in a house set to be demolished, Niko finds a letter that unearths a great deal of emotions for them.

- Help Me, I Don’t Know How To Begin by McKat (Teen, Confession, first kiss, 2k)

When a ghost comes in with a case, the boys disagree over whether or not to help. It might be the thing they need to get them on the same page.

- Slip of the tongue by ClaraCivry (Kat_Of_Dresden) (Not Rated, Confession, first kiss, 1k)

Edwin is repressing many many feelings for his college best friend, Charles. He has no intention of saying anything. And then he does, without realizing.

- Heart-Shaped Notes by rocketmmman (Teen, Confession, first kiss, 2k)

A new client arrives at the agency, but he only speaks polari. Fortunately, Edwin understands. Charles makes some discoveries.

- Pyar by Neous (Greyality) (Teen, Love language, 2k)

At first Charles didn't speak Urdu at all. He'd grown up in a world where being different, sounding different could be a death sentence. Fuck, it was his death sentence. The point was, he trusted Edwin, ‘course he did, but Edwin was… Well, Edwin was white.

- i just want you to make a move by halffulljampot (Teen, Divergence, genderbend, 2k)

She stops as she hears the sound of someone crying, the first sign of anyone that Charlie has encountered in the hours that she’s been down here. She holds up their lantern to illuminate a small figure curled up at the end of the hallway. “Edith?” She calls, walking closer.

The figure stops sobbing, looks up, and god that’s so much fucking blood. The right side of Edith’s face is drenched in blood, her hair (curled loose around her face for once) is matted with it, but fuck if Edith isn’t still the most stunning thing that Charlie has ever seen. Her light eyes frown. “Lottie?”

- the case of the cursed mirror by plutomoony (Teen, divergence, casefic, 4k)

When Edwin and Charles encounter a mirror that shows you your worst fears and possible nightmarish future events, how will this impact their relationship? Will they be able to close the case despite the emotions and fears the mirror brings to light?

- That's my wife! By QuintessentialShip (Gen, free day, 855)

charles and edwins disguises look so married and now I can't stop thinking about some random guy trying to connect with charles in his disguise over 'I hate my wife' jokes and charles goig on a wild tangent about how much he loves his wife and how she's his favorite person in the world

- Until Our Fingers Decompose, Keep My Hand in Yours by cordelianoir (Gen, Soulmates, 1k)

Charles Rowland was born with a scarred-over soulmark. That wasn’t so remarkable in and of itself, although modern advancements in hygiene and medicine meant that it was more and more unusual by the time Charles was born in 1973. It was rare. It meant that Charles’ soulmate, the one person in the world most suited to him, had died before Charles had even left his mother’s womb.

#my post #dead boy detectives #fic recs #dbd fic recs #painland week #painlandweek #payneland #painland #painland week is every week #ao3 authors #!!! <3 #edwin x charles #adored this event can’t wait for more of them #my first fic recs list btw 🙏#just a few of many more amazing fics

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genji-khushbu · 2 months

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A brief history of Bangladesh and why it is relevant to the current situation

The Indian subcontinent liberated itself from the British in 1947. Two new countries were born, India and Pakistan. The Bangladesh we know today was a part of Pakistan.

In 1952, the students of Dhaka University, along with my other, marched on the streets, protesting that "Urdu"-the national language of Pakistan- would not be the national language of East Pakistan, now known as Bangladesh.

The reason behind this was that 52% of the people in the entire Pakistan spoke Bangla. There was no logic behind declaring Urdu as the national language of Pakistan as a whole. Much like India, there was no need to have a national language.

Students marched on 21st February, ignoring the red alerts. 7 students were martyred, shot by the police. But we protected our mother tongue, we established our rights, and their bloodshed was worth it.

Now, why is it relevant now? Because the history is repeating itself. Only Bangladesh's own government is playing the role of the autocratic Pakistani government. Worse, our prime minister is the daughter of the man who was the prime force behind the liberation of our country.

Bangladesh is the only country in the world that has 256 kinds of quotas reserved for various kinds of people. Even 10% for women. All are applicable at various levels, starting from primary school admissions to government jobs. 56% are reserved for quota holders altogether. 44% are for normal people.

Now, if it had been the other way around, no one would've been that angry. Bangladesh is a country of 200 million people. let's just say 1/4th of them are students. 50 million. The population of quota holders is 200 thousand. Is it not laughable? The 200 thousand students have the right to study, and get jobs and the remaining 49+ million have to fight for 44%? What kind of joke is this?

See the similarities? Trying to give everything to the minority?

The quota most applicable is the "freedom fighter" quota. The people who fought during the liberation war in 1971. Utmost respect and love towards them. But why should their grandchildren benefit from their participation? What is the guarantee that these grandchildren won't harm the country, the same country that was liberated by their grandparents' blood?

The freedom fighters who are still alive, they are ashamed. The population during the war was 70 million. 3 million were martyred. But more than half of the population fought, and the women gave shelter, food, and help in any way they could. Not every one of them collected their certificates. Most of them were illiterate, they didn't even know what a certificate was. And those who knew but didn't collect, and are alive, are saying that they didn't fight so their grandchildren could take advantage, they fought to save the country, they didn't fight for glory.

Our Prime Minister fled the country during the war. There are no records of her brothers fighting in the war either. Her father gave speeches in his white clothes but never picked up a rock to throw.

That aside, now students from almost every university in Bangladesh are protesting against the quota system. So many students cannot be wrong. And the government cannot again be right. It's the minority vs majority all over again.

Another uncanny similarity, 7 were martyred today. 16th July 2024, 7 were given their lives again, for the right study and do jobs and serve their country. What a downfall it is when our friends, seniors, and juniors are giving their lives, just for such simple rights. Where is democracy? Where is liberation? Is this what our grandfathers fought the war for?

The situation is worsening every hour. On 25th March 1971, Pakistani military forces raided homes. Not universities, not halls, HOMES. Of the general public. This was called "Operation Searchlight". No electricity, no light, no warning. Only breaking into homes and massacring men, women, children, and old, children without discrimination or thoughts. Again, something similar is happening.

There is this group called "Student League", they are students of various universities as well, but they are basically bootlickers of the prime minister. They follow whatever she says without any sense of morals.

The minister for education paid them to attack students in halls- confessed by a member of the Student League.

They entered the halls, and hospitals, beat up injured students, locked the hall rooms, and harassed the female students. The video clips that were shared, the screams of the girls, the way they were saying "Brothers save us", it's giving me goosebumps while I am typing it.

They stabbed many students who were returning home. They beat up many many girls who were silently standing by the roads. They harassed the general public.

Both sides are students. Only their teachings are different.

What's about to happen? How many more are dying? The internet connection is off. We can only access through VPN and Wifi. There is a red alert around the areas where most universities are situated. They are cutting off electricity where the protests happened and raiding houses. Again, the similarities. They are checking the homes of the general public if they are housing student protestors. If yes, the students are being dragged out on the roads. Where is freedom?

There is much more happening, which I am not even writing about right now. Much more to come.

Is this what Liberation is? Then I do not want it. If this is what freedom is, I would rather be in a cage.

My account isn't very big, but I am still posting about it. If yours is or if your friends' is, if you come across this post, spread it. Let the world know what an autocrat that woman is. What a tyrant she is.

PS: About a month ago Bangladesh was deemed "The most Peaceful Country in Asia" which is a blatant joke.

I have never been so ashamed and proud of my country at the same time.

#save bangladeshi students #bangladesh #bangladesh news #bangla blockade #student protests #university #student life #school #college #spread the word #alleyesonbangladesh

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0intp0 · 2 months

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Do you guys know what was the biggest surrender of our history after world war two?

It was the surrender of Pakistani military against Bangladeshi

On 16 December 1971.

But today I didn't grab your attention only to give you some random history facts.

We Bangladeshi students need your help! So please read this article till the end

After the partition of the Indian region in 1947, two independent nations were born.One India and one Pakistan.

The country of Pakistan was divided into two parts, East Pakistan, currently Bangladesh and West Pakistan, currently Pakistan.

But the distance between the two regions was thousands of kilometers. So uniting them into one singular nation was definitely foolish.

To think that the partition actually happened because of religion is laughable on itself but this is a topic of debate for another blog.

Even though we got our freedom from the British empire the people of East Pakistan kept on getting exploited by the west pakistan government.

Note, from now on I will refer to East Pakistan only as Bangladesh because the way we were exploited by our own so called government which only resided on the west pakistan and left us on poverty clearly indicates they never saw us as their own people.

Pakistan didn't only exploit us politically and financially, but they also tried to take away our unique Bengali identity from us.

They banned our traditional Bengali festivals like Noboborso (which is Bengali new year) They tried to ban Rabindra sangeet in fact, they even tried to replace our Bengali alphabet with the Urdu alphabet.

People were already protesting against it and were participating in every traditional festival

But the elastic snapped when they tried to take away our mother tongue, Bangla

When a pakistani politician made the announcement that "Urdu and only Urdu will be the only national language of Pakistan" in Dhaka university's convocation, it was the students who roared in disapproval.

In 1952, breaking the curfew, students and common people went on a protest for our mother language Bangla.

The police started to shoot them and the soil of Bangladesh became stained with blood and Bangla became the only language for people had given up their lives.

That's why we celebrate "Sahid dibos" and "international mother language day" on 21st February.

Throughout the fight for our existence, freedom and culture, students of our nation had always played a crucial role.

They also made a student's political party "Chatro league"

After the election of 1970, when the Pakistani government didn't agree to give power to the Bangladeshi political party "Awami league" our students again started to organize protests and other activities

Finally "Awami league" ordered for a mass protest. 2nd march Dhaka and 3rd march the whole Bangladesh was shut down.

On 2nd march 11 am "Chatro league" students hoisted the flag of Bangladesh in Dhaka university.

All this information dump was for you all to understand how the students of Bangladesh had always played a crucial part in our liberation.

Our students have always been fierce and had stood up for injustice even if they had to sacrifice their life for it.

And right now history is repeating itself!!!

Again students are getting attacked because of their protests but this time, it was our so-called "chatro league" and the government who are doing this inhumane act.

They are beating the students with rods, throwing bricks at them and even police are shooting them.

Only because we wanted the quota policy to demolish. Only because we wanted equal opportunity for civil jobs.

On 25th march 1971, the Pakistani military committed genocide in Dhaka. They attacked sleeping students in Dhaka university and protesters on roads who were still protesting at night.

And now the same thing is happening, history is repeating itself.

Students of public universities are getting attacked in their own dorm rooms, they are getting beaten to death by the so-called "chatro league" members. There are screenshots of the chatro league leaders group chats flothing around the internet where they command the other members to stab the protester students.

There was a time when Chatro league claimed they always stood up when our mother and sisters needed protection

And now those same people are beating up those same sisters they vowed to protect

The police are shooting the protesters like they did in 1952 language movement

The only difference is in the past we were oppressed by another nation's government

But this time it's our own people who are causing our student's blood to stain our roads.

Please do not ignore us. Reblog this post or use the hastag #savebangladeshistudents to create awareness

#savebangladeshistudents #justiceforbangladeshistudents #alleyesonjahangirnagaruniversity #alleyesondhakauniversity

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soleilnewspaper · 4 months

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James Fleamont Potter 𐂂 °⋆.

A collection of headcannons about Bambi :)

𝗡𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴:

"Summer Night City - ABBA"

01:27 ━━●────── 03:34

◁ㅤ ❚❚ ㅤ▷ ㅤㅤ↻

Dividers: @the scandalorian

Remus version

Background 𖤓°⋆

His mother Euphemia, affectionately known as Effie came from a large wizarding family in Pakistan, born the youngest daughter of seven. During her later years at Hogwarts, she began working under the matron as an apprentice which aided her in securing a job as a healer of the Janus Thickey Ward at St. Mungo's after Hogwarts.

His father, Fleamont was born into a wealthy yet small wizarding family, growing up as an only child. Fleamont achieved excellent grades for his O.W.LS giving him the opportunity to many career options however he decided to explore his love for potions. Using his family heritage, Fleamont brought a shop in Diagon Alley and began his potions business straight out of Hogwarts.

The two both attended Hogwarts but didn’t meet until after they had both graduated due to their age gap. Fleamont had accidently injured himself while trying out one of his new potion recipes and Euphemia, a newly employed healer had taken the night shift. He fell in love with the way she carried herself and waited patiently until her shift was over to take her out for a coffee.

Fleamont and Effie despite both originating from pureblood wizarding families they actively stood up for both muggle born and muggle rights in the Wizarding World. Alongside this they further took on activism by advocating for the well treatment of magical creatures.

Both of Jame’s parents shared aspirations for having multiple children. Euphemia having come from a large family combined with Fleamont's own wishes for siblings as an only child, lead them to want multiple children. However, the couple struggled for years to finally fall pregnant in Effie’s 50s and Fleamont’s 60s. They had assumed they were unable to have children but then they were given a miracle. His birth was difficult and left Euphemia barren and had an extended recovering period.

Despite this James was still their miracle so they decided to pour all their love into him and spoiled him rotten.

James was raised to treat everyone with kindness and respect. His mother taught him how to be a gentleman which made her often scold him when she heard about his patronising of Lily in his early Hogwarts Years.

His love of Quidditch comes from his mother as she played on the Gryffindor team throughout her Hogwarts Years. From a young age, his mother had him on a broom soaring through the sky.

James would play in the meadow near his house during the spring and bring flowers for his mother which she liked to press and would often make bookmarks with her dried flowers. Euphemia kept every gift that James had made her. James didn’t learn this until after his parents had died and he was cleaning up their house with the marauders.

Fleamont used to take James to his potions store when he was younger because James loved watching his father work.

James is a mama’s boy through and through.

Even in his teen years if James has a nightmare while at home he will cry into mother’s shoulder. She will comfort him the same way she did when he was a little boy.

James grew up as a bilingual child speaking both Urdu and English in his household. Due to this, like many bilingual children, his speech was delayed. Both his parents cried when he said his first word because they had been worried about his delayed communication milestones. As a toddler he would mix up the two languages confusing his father and Euphemia had to translate for him.

However, after starting Hogwarts he was surrounded by English, majority British, so he spoke less of his mother’s tongue resulting in him forgetting some of it. Every few summers he tells himself he’ll learn urdu properly, and every few summers, he forgets about this resolution entirely. After Euphemia died he relearned the language in time for her funeral.

Bollywood movies and dvds were a staple in the Potter house.

Fleamont liked to watch old dvds for nostalgia’s sake, and as a result, James grew up watching them as well.

Physical Appearance 𖤓°⋆

His big growth spurt in maturity happened after winter break of 5th year.

Sirius and him are practically the same height, with only an inch or two difference.

His skin takes on a wheatish tone, his skin almost like the sun radiates. Manifesting the colour tone from yellow to light brown with warm undertones.

James’s eyes are the type of eyes which make you feel safe and warm inside.

Possesses comforting brown iries like the colour of aged roots alongside the green of the springtime bubs make his eyes resemble a hazel tree. The hues of green in his eyes remind him of his time spent in his childhood running on the forest floor among gentle flowers.

He has a prominent Adam’s apple.

Curls adorn his face in a shade of black with hues of brown adding a natural highlight to his hair.

According to cannon

“James was a tall, thin man who wore glasses, with hazel eyes and untidy black hair that stuck up at the back.”

Personality 𖤓°⋆

Constantly ruffing or running his hands through his hair.

This leads to the neglecting of making sure he was keeping his glasses on securely while flying, and they'd fall off.

James can and will sleep through almost anything.

Much to the annoyance of the maunders, James is a very loud snorer.

More often than most you will find Prongs happily eating leaves and grass on full moons.

James was so in love with Lily he never bothered to plan what to do if she ever accepted his offer. So, when she did, he became a stuttering mess.

He was incredibly smart but at the same time the token dumbass

Something changed in James when his beaten and bruised brother walked into his home on that rainy Christmas Eve.

When he returned to school the following term everyone thought he was trying to impress Lily after she called him ‘an arrogant wanker’. In truth he had changed for Sirius’s sake.

Nothing comes before his friends

This man is the most loving one you will ever meet

Not only that but he loved hard and deeply, more so than anyone

James is very much a mother-hen. The marauders cannot avoid his fussing, making sure they’re alright well-fed and watered. Almost like they’re his houseplants.

Fleamont drilled tidy habits into Jame’s mind leaving him somewhat of a neat freak. Every month he’s doing deep cleaning because of the dirtiness of sharing a room with three other teenage boys.

Personal space does not exist, he is extremely touchy. It's his love language.

On the surface he likes to pretend everything comes easy to him but secretly he still must work hard to get good grades even if it’s at the last minute. He thinks it makes him cooler if he keeps a certain level of nonchalance but 50% of the time, he’s faking it till he makes it.

He feels everything deeply. When he loves, it’s like a tidal wave of emotion, he feels like he would go to the moon for the person.

Notes and Trivia 𖤓°⋆

His boggart is each of his friends crying alone, his biggest fear was not being able to help the people he loves when they need him most

Before Sirius and Remus start dating, James would carry Remus to the hospital wing after particularly rough full moons

All snuggles are initiated by him

He holds Remus’s hand after a rough moon

He’s the matchmaker of Hogwarts

Jumped at the chance to spend time with Lily when she asked him to help her get Dorcas and Marlene together

Tried to call Sirius snuffles before they came up with padfoot

He knows Lily’s cycle better than she does

So, when that time of the month comes, he’s the most dotting boyfriend you ever did see

Surprise hugs are his speciality

He is the best transfiguration student that McGonagall ever taught

He ruffles his friend’s hair,

kisses them on the check, and holds their hands to make them smile or when they’re upset

His father gifted him a calligraphy set for his fourteenth birthday which was the start of his love for writing letters

James always has his camera with him and has collections dedicated to all his friends

He is also a mother-hen with the younger Gryffindor students especially when he’s head boy.

He felt lonely growing up as an only child, but his wish was fulfilled when his parents practically adopted Sirius.

@h3arts4strs This is for you babes >3

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sodaabaa · 4 months

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noor

benedict bridgerton x OC noorjan begum, a newly minted tawaif, flees the royal court of india to avoid becoming the mistress of a wealthy patron of the arts. she makes it to london where she is alerted to an occupation at the royal academy of art. there, she meets the man who will turn her world on its axis.

tropes: knight in shining armor (if you squint), golden retriever boy x black cat girl, tortured artists

tw: none

playlist here!

a/n: i grew up watching romanticized films about tawaifs (im looking at you devdas, pakeezah, and umrao jaan) and though i’m not indian myself, i've always been fascinated by their stories. i apologize in advance for historical inaccuracies! additionally, i'll be using persian and hindi/urdu poetry throughout the story as well as a few words here and there. i'll also provide links to the poems when possible and include a glossary here on the masterlist.

part 1: noor flees india and finds herself in london, homesick for the life she once lived. she comes across a posting for a job at the royal academy of art, could this be a remedy to her aching heart?

part 2: noor tries to keep her distance, wishing to remain professional with her new student — much to the dismay of benedict, who remains intrigued by the mysterious woman.

part 3: benedict and noor battle societal rules while navigating their relationship.

glossary

#bridgerton #benedict bridgerton #bridgerton fanfiction #netflix #bridgerton family

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whencyclopedia · 1 month

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Humsafar: The World of Urdu Poetry

For beginners, young or old, Hitesh Gupta Aadil's “Humsafar: The World of Urdu Poetry" is a great companion for exploring the vast and fascinating world of Urdu poetry and transcending the boundaries of literature and culture. The author directly addresses the audience throughout the book while maintaining a sense of intimacy that few other guides have. Essentially a guide for newcomers to Urdu poetry, this book lends itself to enthusiasts and those inquisitive of Urdu language and literature.

“Humsafar” is an Urdu word which means "companion." True to its name, this book acts as a friend to guide the audience through the complex world of Urdu poetry. Hitesh Gupta Aadil is an Urdu language and literature enthusiast and translator; Humsafar is his first anthology, and it was brought to fruition by love and passion over the last five years. Prior knowledge of Urdu poetry is not required for this book; in fact, it is better for the reader to be new to the topic because the book makes a profound first impression that few other anthologies have. It makes an honest attempt to make Urdu language and poetry accessible to a wide audience. It is for anyone and everyone interested in learning about this form of poetry, and it equips the reader with enough history and basics to get an idea about the art form before they dive into poets and poems.

The book explores different types of poetry, such as Ghazal, Nazm, Qatta, Rubaai, Masnavi etc. Out of the 44 chapters, 39 are dedicated to various poets like Meer Taqi Meer, Gulzar, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Javed Akhtar, Mirza Ghalib, and so on. The poets are ordered chronologically according to birth, and each chapter has a brief introduction about the poet followed by some of their poems.

The beginning chapters include an introduction to the book, the author’s process of putting it together, and a short history of Urdu language and poetry with a few flowcharts and diagrams. It also includes technical aspects, discussing the structure of the ghazal and other forms of poetry, the rules of writing, their classifications and themes, and their impact on various cultures across Eurasia. Although popularly known for romance and love, the poems also hold space for themes like humour, spirituality and religion, social issues, and the like.

The author has chosen both popular and lesser-known poets. The poems are easy to read and understand (at least the translations are). The limited amount of poems by each poet ensures the reader experiences a mixture of poets and their styles that not many other guidebooks have. The book gives just enough information succinctly that the reader is encouraged to do some further reading without being bored. As the author reiterates, the first few chapters are not imperative to enjoy the poems. However, they are a nice addition to anyone curious about the history and the technical aspects of the poems. It is a wonderful blend for history and poetry lovers alike.

The poems are first transliterated into English and then supported with English translation. In the end, the book also includes a pronunciation guide, miscellaneous terms related to Urdu literature, and notes for further reading. Footnotes are also added wherever required to explain complex Urdu words in the poems. A poem's meaning, however, is left to the reader and the author acts as a mere liaison between the poet and the reader. As a considerate addition, the author has also attached musical and performance renditions of the poems that one can watch on YouTube or listen to on Spotify. Humsafar is by no means extensive with only 40 poets and 160 poems. Yet, it is a fun and interactive guide that guarantees to pique the reader’s interest.

#History #IndianLiterature #Poetry #Translation

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urduintl · 5 months

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#international #urdu news #war #nuclear war #world war 3 #wwiii

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saintsenara · 5 months

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I really want to hear your thoughts on the wizarding world. So I have a question about British wizards' language skills. Canon tells us very little about British wizards and their relationship to languages. We know that Fleur, Victor and Madame Maxime can speak more than one language. (They are not British). However, we do know that there is at least one British wizard who speaks several languages. Percy and Ludo say that Barty senior speaks over a hundred languages. So, do you think British wizarding society has a general opinion about learning languages or is it more about what class a wizard is born into or what their future career plans are? After all, Hogwarts doesn't teach languages to students. I'd also like to hear your thoughts on these characters and their language skills. Do you think they can speak more than one language? Voldemort (parseltongue doesn't count), Dumbledore, Barty jr and Bill Weasley.

thank you very much for the ask, anon! and what an interesting question!

in harry potter, language-learning is one of those things which - since it's not a key aspect of the story - ends up not having any specific worldbuilding. and so it's one of those parts of the books in which the wizarding attitude towards foreign languages just seems to be exactly the same as the real-world british one.

which is - like everything in britain - enormously rooted in social class, and in things [like race and ethnicity] which intersect with this.

you will often hear, for example, that the working-classes don't bother learning foreign languages - but what is meant by this is that working-class people don't choose in large numbers to become proficient in the specific western european languages [french, german, italian, and spanish] which signify that someone is well-educated, culturally-sophisticated, and mentally non-parochial to the british cultural and intellectual elite. working-class people may very well speak one of these four languages - especially african and caribbean dialects of french - as native or heritage languages, and they may very well speak urdu, yoruba, albanian, polish, turkish, and so on for the same reasons... it's just that this isn't recognised as something impressive.

but it is certainly true that language-learning for reasons other than heritage generally isn't considered to be particularly important in class-brackets below a certain threshold in the middle-middle- to upper middle-classes.

partially this is for boorish, parochial reasons which align with certain strains of political and social conservatism. uncle vernon, for example, would regard language-learning as woke nonsense and be horrified if dudley came home from school and asked to be given loads of italian novels for his birthday... he would have a similar reaction if his son announced his intention to start playing the violin, take ballet, write poetry, become interested in impressionist painting, or eat the local food while on holiday.

[the grangers, in contrast, appear to come from the europhile wing of the upper-middle-classes - and would, therefore, regard it as horribly parochial to only speak english. we know they go on holiday to france in prisoner of azkaban - and i think we can imagine that this isn't the first time they do so, and that hermione and her parents can all speak conversational french. indeed, if hermione was privately educated prior to starting hogwarts - and all signs point to yes - she would have studied french at prep school.]

but british monolingualism is also partially because the global hegemony of english means that being able to speak anything else isn't crucial for travel, employment, or - indeed - emigration, since brits who aspire to move abroad often want to go to places like australia and new zealand.

and so language-learning has become - like music - an academic subject which seems to be thought of by many brits as "not a key skill" - unlike, for example, something like maths. nice to have if you've got a grip on everything else, but not a necessity... and so, for british children who are educated in state schools [public schools in the us], foreign languages are only compulsory for three school years [years 7-9, the equivalents of years 1-3 at hogwarts]. some schools insist on a language being taken at gcse [exams taken at the end of year 11 - hogwarts year 5, what owls are a pastiche of], but this is not mandatory.

[although it was at my school. slay.]

so it makes sense within this cultural context that there are no languages on the compulsory hogwarts curriculum - the intended audience isn't expecting there to be.

[although it's worth saying that ancient runes - while i know it has a whole fanon surrounding it which makes it a sort of spellcasting system - is a pastiche of latin/classical greek as school subjects, so there is at least one elective language students can study].

of course, it makes less sense that this is the case when we remember that jkr did french at university... and it also makes less sense that this is the case because hogwarts is based on real-world institutions - britain's elite boarding schools - which do prioritise language-learning, since the students come from class-backgrounds which value multilingualism as a signal of cultural status.

[seriously - while i accept that this is anecdotal - it was so striking to me when i was at university that all but three of the thirty-or-so people i ever met doing a degree in a foreign language, whether a european language or not, was privately educated. add in classical languages and that ratio gets worse.]

but i think we can get around this by noting that hogwarts is set up in a way which presumes that its entire student body has had a wizarding primary education - and not only that, but an elite one [since hogwarts does, even if this isn't the doylist text's intention, seem to apply some sort of selection process which means that students who aren't from well-heeled backgrounds stand out enormously]. and then by presuming that the primary curriculum which someone like draco malfoy would have studied [at home, probably with a governess] would have included some sort of language tuition.

i imagine that this tuition would be in a muggle language - non-human languages [like mermish or gobbledegook] seem to be regarded as sufficiently "niche" in the eyes of the population that they wouldn't be taught as a general skill, but either learned in one's own time or as part of the training for specific careers, such as goblin liaison; the fact that barty crouch sr. speaks so many just for fun is a way canon hints at him being a bit... weird - and i imagine that this muggle language would be french.

this is not, however, because i go in for the fanon that all purebloods are of recent french heritage and retain close family connections in france [names like malfoy and lestrange are anglo-norman - which means they arrived in britain a thousand years ago with william the conqueror, and are as meaningfully english as the word "beef" or "monarchy...], but because french is generally considered the most "useful" language to learn in britain because france is literally next door.

[irish is sobbing.]

when it comes to the characters you specifically asked about...

lord voldemort's pre-hogwarts education is a bit of a mystery - in that the fact that the text isn't concerned about fleshing it out means that he ends up being far better educated than would normally have been the case for a child of his background [simply by virtue of not being functionally illiterate...].

even if he went to a moderately well-resourced school by random chance, though, he's extremely unlikely to have formally learned any foreign languages. but the fact that the most common fanon locations for the orphanage are parts of east london which had historically large jewish communities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries means that he'd have had a fair chance of picking up snippets of yiddish while he was wheeling and dealing around each day. east london also had a large irish community, and if the orphanage is a catholic one [which doesn't really work canonically but which is a headcanon i'm nonetheless wedded to], then he'd probably also have a bit of latin.

once he's at hogwarts, i presume he must take runes [since he's heavily implied, like all male characters the series considers to be intellectually brilliant, to have taken twelve owls]. nonetheless, while he's clearly a nerd - and while he loves a language puzzle, since he spends his teenage years coming up with an anagram of his own name [...] - he has a slightly harry-ish preference in canon for only enjoying lots of flicking-through-books research if it's for a tangible goal [i.e. opening the chamber of secrets]. i can't see him scouring textbooks in an effort to teach himself the european languages his posh friends would have learned at home unless he thought doing so would be unequivocally beneficial to him.

indeed, we canonically know that voldemort can't speak german, since when he's on his hunt for gregorovitch in deathly hallows a woman speaks to him in that language and he just defaults to the british standard of speaking louder in english... and i think we can reasonably assume on these grounds that he can't speak french either.

but he must be able to speak albanian fluently - simply out of necessity, since he spends so much time in the country.

and it's also interesting to me that during his ten years in europe after murdering hepzibah smith [so c.1955-1965], he is implied to spend a lot of time in communist europe, even if not in countries which were fully behind the iron curtain [he must, for example, meet karkaroff - and potentially dolohov - in some part of the eastern bloc, and the bulgarian delegation at the quidditch world cup know who he is]. i think it's entirely reasonable to suppose, then, that he must also be able to speak some level of russian.

dumbledore - on the other hand - can probably speak french, german, and italian, which would have been expected of the sort of late victorian young man who was preparing to embark on a grand tour, and which he undoubtedly taught himself in order to keep up his correspondence with the "most noted magical names of the day" [including grindelwald, to whom he probably spoke german].

i also quite like the idea of him as the sort of late victorian orientalist who crops up again and again in british history, who speaks a language like hindi, arabic, or ottoman turkish with a cut-glass english accent.

the various non-human language he speaks in canon - such as mermish - are presumably also self-taught, and the question which preoccupies me the most in relation to these is whether dumbledore can speak parseltongue?

after all, we know it's a language which can be learned by non-parselmouths - since ron manages to speak it in deathly hallows - and so it must have an actual structure rather than just be vibes. and if dumbledore can't understand it, then what the hell did he think was going on in the memory of the gaunts he shows harry?

barty crouch jr. was definitely forced to have endless lessons with tutors hired by his father, who wanted him to match his two hundred languages, but then forgot everything he knew about mermish the second he started school.

i am sure that - even if he doesn't seem to be able to during the canon timeline - bill weasley learns how to speak french fluently the second the war's out of the way. since this is a basic courtesy if your partner and her family is from france.

i am also sure that the three delacour-weasley children are raised to be bilingual, and that they take great pleasure in bitching about the three potter-weasley children to their faces.

the more interesting question, though, is whether bill can speak any gobbledegook.

it's implied that he might through his job - and he's asked in order of the phoenix about whether there's any pro-voldemort talk among the goblins at gringotts, which suggests that he's known to be able to understand any gobbledegook chit-chat he overhears. but it still always strikes me in deathly hallows that the imperialism really jumps out when bill's speaking to harry about griphook:

“I know goblins,” said Bill. “I’ve worked for Gringotts ever since I left Hogwarts. As far as there can be friendship between wizards and goblins, I have goblin friends - or, at least, goblins I know well, and like.”

this really doesn't sound like a man who takes the time to speak to his "friends" in their own language...

the fact that even the good guys treat non-human magical communities with - at best - paternalistic contempt is a really noticeable theme in the series [and, crucially, something which the series doesn't seem to think is a particularly bad thing]. and so i quite like the idea that someone like bill would have a lack of ability to communicate in gobbledegook, and that this would never be something he interrogated.

#asks answered #asenora meta #hard-launching my beef with william “elgin” weasley

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