[all over taxon]
At around noon, the silence was broken. The Extras resumed their idle nonsense chatter, and any citizen checking their tablet would note that voice and video transmission are available again. After a little experimentation they will also realize they have their voices back
( Read more... )
[He judges that more people speak Mandarin Chinese than any other language he has yet encountered; so he starts with that.]
[Mandarin] It appears we may speak, although I personally am finding English so difficult as to be near impossible. Please allow me to offer my services as a translator if anybody desperately needs to speak to someone else and if, of course, I speak mutual languages. I am reasonably fluent in most languages of Earth circa the 20th century and previous; I am afraid I cannot yet reliably converse in such tongues as Klingon, Galactic Base, and others. This is Mayland Long, please do not hesitate to contact me if I may assist.
[A slight throat clearing, and then he repeats himself in Spanish, as he's sure he's seen that several times on the tablets so far.]
Parece que podemos hablar ( ... )
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Ah, well. More than many people. My area for work was talking. And yourself, Mister van der Merwe?
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[He chuckles a little bit, that kind of forced, uncertain laughter born from unfamiliarity. He'll get better. Eventually.]
Please, call me Wikus. There is no need to be so proper in these kinds of situations, you know? I know four, but that is really not so impressive. I only speak two of them well, and one of them I cannot speak at all, I only understand it okay.
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More close to the hundred.
Wikus, if you want. I am told I am too much formal. And four is more than many people also. What languages, please?
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One hundred? How can you keep track of them all in your head?
We have twelve official languages where I am from; it is really not such a big thing to know four. But, ah, I know Afrikaans, and English, of course. And then some Setswana, and Prawn. But I cannot really speak the last one, I cannot make the sounds, you know?
[Another self-conscious chuckle; nobody can speak Prawn after all, right? Nobody human anyway, so it's a bit of a joke. It doesn't even occur to him that Long might not know what a Prawn is aside from the usual usage.]
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As the old joke is: 'very carefully'.
Twelve! I regret to never visit South Africa-- that is where you are from, yes?
[Such interest in Long's tone with what he says next-- you can almost hear him leaning forward.] Prawn? What, a language of shrimp? This one I have not heard of.
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[Wikus seems pleased that Long recognized this. Then again a lot of things seem to make him inexplicably happy, he's not really difficult to please.]
Well it is... They are not really prawns, it is just what we call them; they're aliens, is what they are, but they look very much like prawns. They haven't really told us what they want to be called. They came from, ah...Well we are not really sure of that either, but one day they came down in a big ship and weren't able to leave. So we gave them a place to stay until they could, and they still have not left. Their language, though, it is mostly just a bunch of clicks and buzzing and that sort of thing, so it is very difficult to speak if you are not a Prawn.
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But this is fascinating! So aliens, you have in your world. I realize the speaking may be bad if human mouths are not meant for the talki-- the language-- but it is possible you could teach me? It is possible to help with my tries to translate the messages here...
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[A prospect he sounds rather relieved about, actually; he had been more than a little concerned that he would continue to change after his Arrival, but whatever the Prawn-spit or whatever it was did seems to have stabilized in direct contradiction to the scientist's theory, a fact which he is eternally grateful for.
...Of course, who knows, he might be able to manage better now, he hasn't exactly tried lately.]
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[ Have the possible novel sensation of realizing this is someone who does not sound remotely disgusted or afraid or hostile towards those freakish Prawns, Wikus.]
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Nothing ventured then, yeah? In person? Or should we just attempt this over this thing here?
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Very true! Is there a place you would like to meet at? I, ah, still do not know my way around here very well, I am afraid.
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I also am a bad cook. So-- come to the library, and we shall see from there, ja? I look forward to it.
(OOC: shall we wrap this one up as an old thread?)
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