Sorry guys – a lot on this week

He sat back in his chair and just stared at his screen in shock. Then it dawned on him that it had to be something to do with Urasmian! The sorcerer had thrown a spell on him, which the sorcerer had said would enable Jason to understand the language Urasmian had spoken. It had allowed Jason to understand both languages, at least to an extent. The Greekish one and the other one that was used for spells. Urasmian had done it because the old man had claimed it made it easier for him to communicate since Jason’s language had far too many terms that Urasmian had no frame of reference for and was struggling to understand. Jason had taken that to mean that Urasmian could make out the words Jason was saying, but too many of them were so tech-heavy that Urasmian, or his translation spell, had not been able to determine their meaning from context. So Urasmian had put a spell on Jason that he claimed would enable Jason to understand Urasmian’s language and thus make communication easier for the old man. And indeed, it had enabled him to understand the transdimensional sorcerer after a period of adjustment.

The main language used by Urasmian was the Greekish-sounding language of the Hellandios, which Jason had decided were the ancient Greeks of Urasmian’s world. Cultural shifts had changed the language over the millennia, although not as much as he had assumed due to the sorcerers keeping written texts and basic literacy alive. Combined with the apparently global dominance of the Hellandios people on the back of their magical ability, it meant that while the language had spread pretty much everywhere, it had remained relatively pure due to the sorcerers. The Hellandios language was fundamentally the same as the Mycenean Greek of Jason’s Earth. That similarity had helped him learn it from Urasmian plus, of course, the magic spell. Not that Jason intended to dismiss magic anymore, not after Urasmian’s visit anyway! And now Jason was able to read Mycenean! Whoot! Franny L’Henney wandered in at that point and plopped her backpack onto the desk next to Jason’s. “Bonjour, monsieur.” She offered.

Jason had needed to read a good number of French academic articles over the years, although he had never developed any ability to speak French. Until now. “Bonjour, Demoiselle.”

Franny smiled before giving him a little clap and spoke some more in French. “So, my friend, you have decided to study a little French?”

Jason shook his head, more at himself than anything, but he understood her fine! He summoned up some courage and answered in French.

“A little, perhaps. I must have retained more from those horrible French articles I had to read for my Honours dissertation that I realized!”

With that, he smiled at her, and although she had frowned at the horrible allusion, in the end, she smiled back.

“It would appear so. Good.”

She turned to Sharyn and changed to English which she spoke with only a mild French accent. It was just enough to be attractive and exotic without making it hard to understand what she was saying. Jason always found it delightful listening to her talk in colloquial American but with the tinge of a French accent. Most non-English speaking foreign students and academics tended to speak a more formal style of English, at least until they’d been in the States for a few years.