[HPforGrownups] Latin, languages, and sops to Cerberus (was Classical knowledge/ cultural education)

[Jenett]

No: HPFGUIDX 33298

At 2:38 AM +0100 1/13/02, Ev vy wrote:
>Yes, Bagman did have troubles communicating with Bulgarian wizards during
>the World Cup. It was the Bulgarian Minister of Magic (or other official)
>who had a good command of English. But Latin, not being a dead language,
>does not have to be a lingua franca. Even if it's used in spells and
>potions (and wherever else) does not mean that wizards are able to communicate
>using Latin.

It doesn't meant they *don't*, though. My mother was in high school 
in the early and mid 50s in Wales, when Latin was still an expected 
part of the curriculumn if you could handle it.

My grandparents were very involved in the post WWII peace movement, 
which mostly (as my mother describes it) involved her going to youth 
camp type outings, getting together on mountaintops and singing. In a 
variety of countries.

While Latin wasn't a *great* communication tool, it did allow her to 
talk to people whose languages she didn't speak reasonably 
efficiently (it's worth noting that my mother was Austrian by birth, 
and fluent in German because my grandparents spoke it at home and she 
also had French in school) They couldn't do deep intellectual 
conversations, but they could chat pretty well.

However, from what we've seen that doesn't seem to be the case, but 
I'm just pointing out the possibilities. I think I'm currently 
favoring some sort of magical device that helps you learn languages 
more easily if you need to (the equivalent of language lessons on 
tape.) and where they aren't taught in school. Honestly, too, which 
ones would you pick? There seems to be a *lot* more variance in where 
people might end up after their school years - Charlie is in Romania, 
Bill is in Egypt. How do you pick which languages might be useful? 
French? Arabic? German?

While I do think that language study is a good thing (heck, I'm 
moderately fluent in French, conversationally so with a bit more 
practice in German, and I read Ancient Greek and some Latin), it may 
well be that it's not a general part of the Hogwarts currciculum 
because it's not a necessary area of study for enough students, and 
there are alternatives available afterwards. Having teachers of 
different languages *does* add a lot of staff overhead in most cases, 
particularly if you've got to support more than a very few languages.

Come to that,, I'd be sort of surprised if Hermione isn't at least 
somewhat comfortable in French - she's spent at least one holiday 
there, and she's struck me as the kind of person who would want to 
pick up at least a little of the language. (I speak basic tourist 
Italian for about the same reasoning: I dislike being in countries 
where I can't ask directions, order food, and read basic signs 
without help, so I learn enough to do that, at bare minimum.)

As far as the rest of it - I had a weird enough upbringing when it 
comes to classical mythology (my father was an expert in Greek 
theatre, so I grew up having myths told to me at bedtime/walking to 
school/on dogwalks/etc) that I don't really feel I can comment on 
general knowledge very well.

However, while music is one of the standard things to try with wild 
animals, it's more specific, in my recollection to *Orpheus* (a 
specific mythological human being) than linked to any specific 
animal. Certainly if I were going to go deal with a large three 
headed dog, I might well try it - but there's the trick of it being 
the first thing you try.

One of the more conventional methods I always heard in the mythology 
of dealing with Cerberus was honey and bread or meat or meat bones 
being thrown - one grouping of food for each head. However, that'd 
obviously be impractical in the situation Rowling sets up (where you 
need more than a few seconds to get past the dog) though it works 
great if all you need to do is duck along a path.

-Jenett

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