As the Seminars started, Messer heard the guy introduced himself as Gavin Higareda. Okay. He need to remembered that. And he said he's the International Magical Cooperation department head? No wonder the guy know Mermish language. Wait. Do the International Magical Cooperation cooperate with Mermish too? All this time he thought that particular Department only worked with other countries. Hmm..

While the fourth year's mind was filled with International Magical Cooperation and Mermish, Mr. Higareda asked them a question. How many languages they already speak? Messer raised his hand before answering the question "I can speak basic Danish." Well, that's the only language other than English that he know.

Higareda. Higareda. Higareda.

Ella could remember that name, right? Right. Also, dude spoke a crazy amount of languages. She found that to be pretty awesome, actually, as she could only speak one. BUT hadn't she sort of discussed learning French with Bee given their whole obsession with Paris? ...Paris :dreamy sigh:

The blonde just sort of sat their awkwardly, eyeing her classmates who answered. Messy could speak Danish? Huh. Who knew? You learn something knew every day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Okay. Anya Phillips was not a fan of class. She barely had the motivation to make it to a normal class. So, it was a little odd that the Gryffindor found herself excited for an optional one.

But here she was. Excited. This was pretty much a once in a lifetime opportunity. On her wrist she sported her bracelet souvenir from Atlantis.

She then nodded a greeting to the guy running the lesson. Then plopped down in a seat. Teach me, random guy! She was ready to learn.

Calista was trying to figure out what the man who was running the lesson was going to be like. Was he going to be strict and drill the language into their heads or laid back and sympathetic to their learning such a difficult language? She vaguely recognized him from the Board of Governors' debate as well. They seemed to be everywhere nowadays.

Just as she was looking away from the front of the room she noticed Miss Phillips, the girl who always somehow forgot that her lessons were not nap time, had a very shiny and very MERMISH bracelet on her wrist. Elwood made a note to ask her about it sometime fangirl over their exquisite choice in jewelry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Jory was sure he was late. He hurried into the room. But by the looks of it, the seminar hadn't start as yet; he breathed in relief. "Good day, Sir,'' he said to the man, who was definitely the instructor.

The Puffer headed off to take a seat. A beanbag would work nicely. And that's when he spotted Professor Elwood.He waved to her. "Even the Professor wants to learn Mermish,'' he thought, grinning.

Oh look, there was Mr. Stonewall. Callie waved at the eager Hufflepuff also.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazykitty

Sky didn't really care about learning Mermish, really. She had all the languages she needed with English, Spanish, and French. Not to mention the bits and pieces of the other languages she knew. But her father was always going on and on about how some Magical Creature languages would help her if she wanted to work in the wizarding world in Britian. While she was pretty sure she was going to return to the U.S. after Hogwarts, it couldn't hurt to be prepared, right?

So she entered the classroom and stopped a moment to take it all in. It didn't look much different from a regular classroom, except the guy up front whom she assumed was leading this seminar. Hey, wait a minute. Wasn't that one of the other BOG candidates? His last name escaped her at the moment, so she decided to call him by his first name. Besides, it should be okay, since if she remembered correctly, he was one of her aunt's fellow department heads. "Hello, Mr. Gavin." Hey, at least she'd said mister.

As she was walking to a bean bag, she noticed the other teacher type in the room, this one a whole lot more familiar. And that didn't like professor's to be called by their first names. Oops. "Hello, Professor Elwood." Then she flopped into a purple bag and stacked two poofs on top of each other and propped her feet on top, ready for the lesson to begin.

She had torn her eyes from the young Gryffindor's wrist after being greeted by a Slytherin girl. "Oh, hello dear." She waved brightly before continuing to look around the room. She wasn't here to teach but to learn like the students and she wished not to take away attention from their instructor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erik Vinteren

A while ago Erik had heard there was going to be a lesson on a language, a language which he already knew and spoke very well. It should have been no surprise, then, that with the Headmistress' offer still standing, the man who spoke thirteen languages chose to sit in on this particular lesson. The fact that the instructor was one of his rival candidates had nothing at all to do with it.

Erik walked into the room off the Great Hall and paused as soon as he saw the room's layout. He really did not wish to sit on or near the floor. This was strike one for the instructor. He did notice another adult (other than Gavin) in the room, and made his way toward her spot in the back.

Giving Gavin a short nod, Erik reluctantly sat down on the floor on a simple and plain cushion. He nodded toward the blonde woman he'd sat beside and realised she was one of the professors...divination, if his memory served him correctly. "Hello," he greeted her, noting that she was...taking notes.

Interesting...

And....it was that guy.

Calista watched as one of the forerunners of the Board of Governors Election entered the room. He was foreign, yes she knew that but he was also apparently one of the students' favorite candidates too--Selina had gushed about him a few times that they had talked after the Hogsmeade Debate. Perhaps it was worth reading up on him, just in case he became one of the members of the body that wrote her paycheck?

Oh and it seemed her opportunity was coming now.

"Hello...Mr. Vinterin, is it?" The blonde held out a bangled arm to shake his hand since he had chosen to sit beside her. "Calista Elwood, Divination Professor and novice Mermish aficionado." Grin, grin.

See she was a well-rounded Staff member.

SPOILER!!: Mr. Instructor

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Ninja

MERLIN! He was nervous already and here one of the professors was to join his class even. Giving her a smile and nod regardless though, he easily hid his nerves that were in his stomach.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Ninja

Turning to the class he gave them all a smile "Hello and welcome to 'How to Speak Mermish'. My name is Gavin Higareda, I am the International Magical Cooperation department head at the British Ministry. Mermish is just one of the 12 languages I speak."

"I believe everyone should learn at least one language besides their primary, it opens up the world for each of you. And for you to be students in this school I think it would be very beneficial for each of you to be able to speak and converse with some of the creatures on the grounds or in this case, in the lake." Looking over the students and even glancing towards Erik and the professor, he asked "How many of you already speak another language or two or even more already, and which language or languages do you speak?"

Professor Elwood smiled back to the instructor as he nodded her way. See, she was allowed to be here she would have liked to see him try and make her leave though.

And the lesson was beginning. He had begun by introducing himself. Higareda, that would be a hard one to remember but if he did a good job this lesson he may find his way on her ballot when the time to vote came. And he was a Ministry Department Head, fancy that. She listened intently as he mentioned the importance of languages and then asked them whether or not any of them spoke other languages besides English.

Calista raised her hand and spoke, "Mr. Higareda, I have studied Latin and because it is no longer a spoken language, I am not sure that it counts. I do know a few things in German though." From her father's side of the family.

Peyton beamed at Mr. Higareda. He smiled, so he was rewarded. Heh.

She had taken one of the notebooks and a pen (she rarely got to use those opposed to quills) and drew little doodles on the corner of the paper. Pens were cool. And she was keeping that one. She could, right? Maybe.

Settling the pen down on her lap, Peyton looked up, giving Mr. Higareda her attention. Peyton was impressed that he spoke twelve languages. She may have been too eager to answer his question, because her hand flew up into the air a second after he was done asking the question. "I do. I speak three and a half; English, French, Spanish and a liiiiiiiittle bit of Irish." Still, she had no idea why her dad wanted her to learn the latter language.

Jory listened to some responses. Danish, French...and there was Alyssa. He stared at her when he heard how many languages she could speak. He was impressed.

He raised his hand. "Sir, I can speak French, but I'm not too fluent at it. I can also speak a little bit of Spanish.'' Just a bit, he hadn't made a lot of progression with Spanish as he had with French.

Wade was looking forward to how this lesson would turn out. Maybe even a chance to try speaking with some whenever they progress as far. Before he knew it, the first question came up.

Ah, the languages he knew.. Wade rose his hand, smiling softly "I am fluent in Norwegian and Swedish, as well" Since Wade was born in Norway, and had went to Durmstrang where such languages were more common than English.

O_O

He speaks 12 languages?!

Oh, Merlin! Lottie was wasting all her time at school. Clearly, reading runes didn't count, did it? So, what was she supposed to say? There was no raising of hands on her behalf, since she could only speak English. Though, she was interested in this Mermish business, otherwise she wouldn't be here, correct? Correct!

So...let's pay attention to what others say, and see which one she'd decided to learn later on...from someone in here. Focus.

Did the Hufflepuff say Swedish? Well, that's interesting...

Nodding as the first student said she knew French. Definitely a start, if she could speak it!

"Wonderful!" he said nodding as Alyssa spoke. A nice handful of languages!

"Definitely, many spells are derived from Latin." he responded with another nod.

Giving the next student a nod and encouraging smile.

A quiet one. Giving her a kind smile he moved on to the professor who spoke up next.

"I believe it is a good language to study, even though it is no longer spoken, I think it is important to learn it as well." he said nodding with a smile, "It is how many words are derived from, regardless of the language, whether it be English, French or even German. Very good!"

"Wonderful!" he said with a smile to another student who spoke a handful of languages as well. It was great to see the extent of some of these students language studies!

Smiling he nodded "Even just a little of a language is fantastic."

Wonderful! They had a few languages known to Scandinavia! Giving him a kind smile to the young man he moved on.

Another quiet one, not a problem. Giving her a kind smile as well, he turned to the class again. "Eleven different languages that we speak just between those in this room. Quite a difference and a variety of languages!"

Sitting down on the beanbag chair so he was more at their level now. "A language can have many different aspects to it, depending on where it's being spoken. Accents can change, words can be said differently. Location, atmosphere, the people, are all different ways that a language can change within itself."

"Let's move to Mermish, what do you think are some reasons or ways that the Mermish language might differ in different parts of the world?"

Alyssa spent some time thinking about the reasons and the ways that the Mermish language might differ in different parts of the world. Not knowing the language and having not heard anyone speak it, Alyssa decided to just hazard a guess.

Raising her hand, she gave the only possible answer she knew. "Sir, I was wondering that maybe it isn't the Mermish language that is different. That maybe it is the same around the world."

Alyssa paused to think of a way to make what she said more understandable. "It may sound different in various parts of the world because the non-merpeople who speak it have an accent of their own and so they would pronounce certain words differently."

"Or it could be like the muggle languages. It's the same everywhere but depending on the region it was spoken, there would be changes because they might use certain slang words only specific to that region."

Okay that was definitely a BIG GUESS.

Anya didn't know really... any languages. She barely knew English. So she kept her hand down for the first question, but when it came time for the second, her hand went up.

"Because they don't live in just one place. Anytime you have people... er... ..." she blinked. Was that the right term? Maybe? "... living in different areas... their speech changes a little and they adopt like... their own dialects and words."

That made sense. "Oh. And... I dunno... is there a way that like... cold water and hot water alter the sounds a little? I'm not sure how well they hear." And she didn't ask when she met one. It seemed like a personal question.

Text Cut: Seminar dude!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Silver Ninja

Another quiet one, not a problem. Giving her a kind smile as well, he turned to the class again. "Eleven different languages that we speak just between those in this room. Quite a difference and a variety of languages!"

Sitting down on the beanbag chair so he was more at their level now. "A language can have many different aspects to it, depending on where it's being spoken. Accents can change, words can be said differently. Location, atmosphere, the people, are all different ways that a language can change within itself."

"Let's move to Mermish, what do you think are some reasons or ways that the Mermish language might differ in different parts of the world?"

Yes, eleven, and Lottie just wanted the man to stick to English, otherwise she'd be utterly lost if he began explaining something in regards to Mermish. Do you reckon the Giant Squid speaks Mermish or understands it?

Regardless of her thoughts, Lottie managed to listen to everything the man said. Higareda, right? He had a very unusual name...Oh, yes! Let's move to Mermish! And quite possibly Swedish, once this seminar is over.

An eyebrow was raised at his question. Ze answer's in ze question. Or...not in the question, but what he said before it. "For the same reasons you just mentioned, Sir," she stated, raising her hand, "Especially underwater, the conditions are too different, from the surface to the depths. There are many barriers, land ones, that create different colonies...," of merpeople, and people in general, "...and they may be influenced by the outside world, which is even more different everywhere."

Oh, but wait, she was adding something else, "Clearly, the condition of the water has a lot to do with it, too." As in ocean-like versus lake-like.

Nod. Nod. Nod.

Her classmates were pretty much covering what she was thinking too but Ella hated to just sit quietly during class. It was no fun and really, she was afraid she'd start drawing certain people in skirts again and that could be...bad so. Grin!

Raising her hand, the blonde waited to be called on. "I was thinking along the same lines as everyone else. Also, sometimes slang is made up for a language in certain parts of the world and not in other parts... or erm I guess the waters of the world and so people might speak differently that way as well. Like...the terms could differ depending on location."

Blink...did that make any sense at all?

Ella was HORRIBLE at explaining things.

Meh.

She glanced around the room from her spot on the squishy chair and watched as the others slowly filed in. The ones she liked got waves and smiles and everyone else she just stared at as they entered. Staring was fun. It helped pass the ti--

JKD,JJBVDUGFD.BFLFG!!!

Wasn't that--It WAS!!! Mr. Vinteren!!! He was gonna be in the seminar tooooooo!!!

djlgfbfg,bgj!!!

Now she couldn't stop grinning. The man was good people, very good people. She and Scary-Bat Girl were putting up posters for him to win in the elections!!! She beamed over at the man and gave him a waaaave. Erik Vinteren in the seminar!!!! Eeeep!

Oh and the seminar was starting. It didn't surprize her very much that they were starting with a question. Grown ups liked doing that; asking questions. She could never figure out why though and usually the questions were just so far-fetched and left her thinking 'how in merlin's beard am I supposed to know that?' but then...there might have been reasons for her not knowing. Reasons connected to her dislike for reading. Meh. Nothing she couldn't get over with time and chocolate frogs.

Speaking of chocolate frogs, that just happened to be the only other language she spoke...well there was another but for this purpose it wasn't all that important...was it?

Not as important as the chocolate frog one proved to be. See, she understood them on a level that no one else did. Yup. True story. They had a thing, yeah, a kind of understanding...but maybe the world wasn't ready to know that. She'd keep it to herself and wait for the next question--there was always a next question.

And just as she thought, there was another question. Mhm. She saw it coming.

She sorta knew the answer to this; only some of it though. "They differ because they sound different. Like most of them just sound like they're screeching if you ask me but that's probably just because I never took the time out to really listen. I'm guessing the screeching sounds different but then...do they really screech? I think there might be a few words here and there in what they say. Mostly it just sounds like mumbles and jumbles of noise to me. I didn't know they were different..."...She was beginning to think that she was getting her creatures mixed up. This is why she left this stuff to Melanie. She was her sign from under the water.

Yup. It was true. So far the girl hadn't gotten her any messages from the Giant Squid but that was pretty whatever because she'd meet him before she graduated, even if she had to dive to the bottom of the lake.

Hmm. That seemed sort of obvious to Mo, but then he'd met people at Beauxbatons who spoke French that sounded different from how he spoke it or how other students spoke it. It stood to reason that languages would sound different when they were oceans apart.

He raised his hand. "People who live in different areas develop regional dialects and use words in different ways. It would make sense that Mermish would develop like that, too."

Jory raised his hand. "It's like humans,'' he began. "We live all across the world. Because of tis, depending on where we come from, our accent, slang, and so on vary. I think the same reasons would apply to Merpeople.'' That sounded logical, right?

Penelope kept her hand down when he asked if they knew any other languages. Because, well, technically, she didn't. She just knew English. A few phrases and words in French probably didn't really count, unfortunately. So her hand stayed down and she only half-listened to the other students listing off their languages. Meh. Just meh.

But now there was another question, and though she didn't really KNOW the answer, she could guess at it. So up went her hand.

"Well if they're in different parts of the world," she said, "they probably go through different things and experiences. Like the sorts of things they see everyday and stuff. So that could affect the language, I guess, 'cause they could have words for things they see, but others in other areas wouldn't see those things so they don't really have that. They probably mainly have and use words for what they see in where they live also." Hopefully that made sense. It did in her head, at least.

Everyone spoke a lot of stuff huh? West stayed quiet though, even though he was interested. He was thinking about how his dad was teaching his sister Gobbledegook, and wondered what Aspen would make of Mermish.

He stuck his hand up.

"Well for starters different merpeople look different, and their mouths and vocal chords and all are a bit physically different too, so the way they actually make sounds differs, that means it makes sense that they'd choose different sounds to form words, because the equipment they use to make the sounds is different. Like different lengths of hard and soft palate makes the palatal and velar sounds come out different, and different lips and teeth make the bilabial and labio-dental sounds come out different." Y'know, cos the ones in their lake had those sharp teeth and didn't look nearly as human as sirens for instance.

"But aside from physical reasons," Cos they existed, "Like I think maybe things like the kind of water they live in might make a difference too. It sounds different under water right? Mermish? So, salt or fresh, and howww much salt, and how dense the water is, and what kind of currents there are and how that amplifies or attenuates how the sound actually carries, could make a difference too."

Sky had stayed silent because, well, big deal they all knew different languages. But this next question, well, she figured that they different the same way that human languages differed. "Maybe they all have different dialects like we do. Like, whichever part of the world they're from affects the way they phrase things and the way they say words." For example, the way British English and American English were different.

There were handouts, were there. Erik's eyebrows went up as he was handed one and he immediately started analysing it for accuracy. He only looked up when he felt the eyes of the blonde beside him.

"Please, call me Erik," Erik turned his charming smile on her, since she was grinning so...determinedly. Suspiciously, almost. "Nice to meet you, Professor," he offered her a handshake. "It's good to see so many people interested in ovher cultures." As he was. See why Hogwarts needed to be more worldly? Even the students were turning out in large amounts to learn about the world under the sea.

The seminar was starting then, so Erik turned his attention back to the front. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of little Alexa Cambridge, the Lionness he had met at the Leaky Cauldron, as she was waving frantically at him. He returned the wave with a much more scaled back one of his own.

Aw, Gavin only spoke twelve languages? Erik spoke thirteen. He felt bad for the less well-rounded man, though he was polite enough not to speak up and overshadow his lesser competitor. He only smirked at the first question and didn't volunteer an answer at all for the second.

Why bother answering when they had a linguist in the room? Erik turned his head to stare at the little boy who seemed more well-versed in the science of language than Gavin himself.

Here here. This one should have been the one in charge today.

Tilting his head a little he thought on Alyssa's answer. "That is an interesting thought, I've never really thought of that before. It could be very true though. It could easily be the way we hear it ourselves sounds differently. Just as the way they hear us or we hear other people."

"It's just as if we say to each other you have an accent but we don't realize that we have one ourselves!" Definitely, something to think on! The way that part of the world speaks or that language.

Nodding as the next girl spoke, "Exactly, just as in humans, we adapt our own dialect of the exact same language, just as German has high and low German, merpeople are the same, very good!"

Nodding "Correct, the conditions of the water, the depths, barriers, are all ways that the mermish language can change."

Nodding "Good! Each language can change even within itself, like soda and pop. Mean the same thing just said differently."

"Hmm, let me come back to this in a few minutes. I do understand what you mean by this though, it might sound different from how we're accustomed to speaking, but hold that thought." he said nodding with a smile.

Nodding again "Very true."

Nodding as he listened to the boy speak. "Exactly, even within it's own language the accents and slang can vary quite a bit."

"Good point! They do see different parts of the world from you or I. The depths of the seas and lakes things, that you or I may not even exist. I've found much of their language leaves out many words you or I would be accustomed to saying, as you'll see in a little bit or if you've already looked at the handouts." Giving her an encouraging smile he moved to the next person.

"Excellent young man. I'm going to come back to that in a few minutes but you have the right idea there as well." Beaming at this young lad as well, he was encouraged by the answers the students were giving.

"Great answers there, I was looking for the fresh and salt water answer, as well as currents, and the depths. Very good!"

"Good answer as well!" he said giving the final girl a smile.

He'd caught the man's smirk but had also noticed he'd not spoken up regarding anything that Gavin had said, so kept silent in regards to Erik.

"Let's go back to what a few of you have mentioned regarding the ways that merpeople speak and the sounds they make." he said as he sent smiles to the two students that had brought it up.

"Above water the screeching is said, but that is due to their voices not being accustomed to being above water. Underwater, they have a very melodious voice, pleasant to listen to." Folding his hands in his lap, he sat back "Many of you might be thinking you must screech as well, it might easily offend them, if you do so, making them think that you are making fun of the way they speak."

"Just as in if you were under the water trying to speak to them, your own voices would be distorted and sound funny to your own ears, the merpeople's voices sound different above the water. Our voices need air to pass through our vocal cords to make the sound. A merperson needs the water in order to make their sounds heard properly."

"Water depth, salt water versus fresh water, warm water versus cold water, currents, location, each one gives something different and you will find different species of merpeople in each area." Pausing for a moment, he thought maybe he should offer the chance for any questions. "Before we move on to learning how to speak and some of the basic phrases are there any questions or comments of what we've gone over so far? Anything that concerns you about how you would speak to a merperson if given the chance."

OH! Question time, and Elise had one. Raising her hand, the Ravenclaw waited her turn. "How would we know which dialect they speak and alter what we're saying accordingly? Like... it might be offensive to say a certain word in one culture but in another it would mean nothing." Elise really was bad at explaining herself.

Now as long as his answer was in English and not in Mermish, they would be perfectly fine.

West had one. So hand up.

"How important is gesture in their communication? Since they're underwater and might not always be able to communicate by sound if the water is choppy or something?"

HE WAVED BACK!!!

This sent her beaming and this only stopped when a response was given to her answer. He'd come back to that. Usually that meant one of two things; she either made a really valid point and now she would look like a smart cookie or....he didn't know.

Her eyes rested on him with a curious look. She could wait.

Then something like the answer came. They did screech! She knew it! Okay so maybe there were other technicalities involved but whatever. They screeched and that was good enough for her. This of course made sure she had a question when he asked. Her hand shot up. "It's good we don't have to screech and all," Though Nessie wouldn't have minded, "but, why learn mermish if we have to be under water to hear them speak proper? I mean, I like merpeople as much as the next Hufflepuff but if I went under water it'd be for the Giant Squid, not them." It made it kinda pointless. "Isn't there a way they can come up here and speak normal, like a spell--You think they know where the Giant Squid is???" Because then she could see the point of learning mermish. It'd be totally worth it then.

Alyssa had been wondering about how one would communicate with a merperson, mainly whether they had to be underwater in order to understand what the merpeople were saying but someone else asked that question.

So she decided to ask another question maybe not so much related to the actual speaking, but something she thought was just as equally important, having been on a trip to Atlantis with Professor Scabior two terms ago. So she raised her hand.

"Sir when talking with a merperson, are there certain formalities one must be observe? Do we have wait for them to address us before we speak with them? Can we just speak with anybody or do we have to speak with their Chieftain or Chieftainess first?"

Oakey figured there wasn't any point in answering the first question. Most everyone else, had given their two knuts and Oakey was cashing in on them by scribbling down in his notepad. 'Depth, Current, Salt vs Fresh, Above/Below Water, Slang.'
Once he finished writing down these quick notes he listened to Higerdy's speak up once more. "I don't think this was brought up, but what about Genders? Just like us wouldn't Female Merpeople have higher pitched voices, while Males would be deeper in tone?" Oakey paused for a moment. "Would that have an effect on how they speak?"
Plus Females would probably only ever talk about their clothes and body image.
Oakey imagined a conversation between two of them
'Harold! Does this Seaweed make me look fat?'.
'...Awkward Pause...'