harry and parseltongue

[blpurdom]

No: HPFGUIDX 31827

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Erin Ridgeway" <puddin210 at h...> wrote:
> Mahoney said:
> I just wonder if Harry always understands snakes, or if he only
> understands them, say, when they speak directly to him.
> 
> <snip>
> 
> Perhaps hearing Voldemort/Tom Riddle talking to a snake is like
> hearing two fluent speakers of a foreign language converse; 
[snip]
> Of course, if this theory worked completely, Harry should've been 
> able to understand their conversations, since in each case he 
> certainly isn't thinking very hard about what they're saying, he's 
> more interested in staying alive. 

Harry DID understand Tom Riddle when he spoke Parseltongue to open 
the Chamber where the basilisk was.  Riddle's speech was described 
as "hissing," but to Harry's mind it also clearly sounds like 
Riddle's saying, "Open."

I don't recall any instances where it seems Voldemort is having what 
you'd call a conversation with Nagini (as in both of them talking).  
There are plenty of times when Voldemort is giving orders to or 
talking to the snake, but it all seems rather one-sided.  I believe 
that he is speaking Parseltongue at these times, and that is why 
Harry knows what he is saying.  If Nagini answered, I believe Harry 
would understand that too.  What is not clear is whether Wormtail 
understands what Voldemort is saying to the snake; if that were the 
case, one could argue that Voldemort was in fact speaking English at 
those times, which just seems wrong, given the way that Harry has 
spontaneously spoken Parseltongue in the presence of snakes, or even 
snake-like artwork.  (Therefore Voldemort should be incapable of 
speaking in any language to a snake other than Parseltongue.)  I 
believe that Voldemort's words to the snake sound like English to 
Harry because that is how Harry's brain interprets Parseltongue, 
whether the language is being spoken by a snake or another 
Parselmouth.

--Barb

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