[HPforGrownups] Re: Chamber of Horcruxes

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 161340

>> Shelley:
>>  I don't even think  Dumbledore could speak Parceltongue,
>> or at least I don't see any  reference
>> in the Books that he could, so I don't think he could have
>> searched the chamber without Harry's help.
>
> Eddie:
> Good point.
>
> I'd like to point out, however, when Dumbledore and Harry visited the
> Gaunts in the pensieve they (the Gaunts) were speaking Parseltongue
> and Dumbledore appeared to understand them.  He doesn't say so
> directly, but circumstantially.
>
> Dumbledore asked Harry something like, "YOU can understand them, can't
> you?", which comes right after Bob Ogden shows that he can't
> understand them.  Later, Dumbledore spoke to Harry about what they had
> seen without  any indication that he hadn't understood everything that
> was said.
>
> Like I said, this is circumstantial.  Also, it's possible that
> Dumbledore can understand snake language without being able to
> reproduce it himself (not Parseltongue, but Parsel-eared?).
>
> Anyway, this is off on a 3rd degree tangent.


About this, I think Dumbledore is smart enough to understand that this 
language is Parceltongue, and to figure out approximately what was said. I 
was surprised that he didn't ask Harry to translate, meaning either the 
exact words weren't important, he had enough of an idea that he was "ok" 
with it, or that maybe there IS another Parceltongue somewhere out in the 
wizarding world that is a close friend of Dumbledore's that he asked already 
about it. Or, like you suggested, he's Parcel-eared.  Yes, it's anyone's 
guess why Dumbledore didn't ask Harry to translate, and we don't even know 
if this will be one of those small threads that will get resolved in the 
last book. Did he have a translation book, a Parceltongue to English book on 
his shelves, perhaps? (He did say people were always giving him books!) It 
would be interesting if we could just rummage through Dumbledore's office 
and explore all those wonderful magical gadgets that were merely mentioned 
as a collection. Maybe one of those gadgets allowed him to communicate in 
languages unknown to him naturally.

I think of another incident where Dumbledore speaks another language- it was 
with the Merpeople in the TriWizard Tournament, to find out what happened at 
the bottom of the lake. I often wondered just WHEN he acquired 
Mermaid-language- was it in school, afterward, or was it a natural gift of 
his to pick up languages? So much of Dumbledore is important to the story, 
and I have to wonder if this bit is essential to the ending of the story, or 
just a side element thrown in just to show how smart and wise Dumbledore 
really is. It might be relative to Harry if some of those gadgets were given 
to Harry to help him later, either directly, or "just in the nick of time, 
as needed", just like the Sorting Hat, Gryffindor Sword and Fawkes were sent 
to Harry in the Chamber of Secrets in his time of need.

Shelley