Rufus still speaks Latin to Hanno in the nineteenth century. Languages not used would be forgotten. Hanno, a canny immortal, keeps up to date with his French because it can be useful. On p. 433:
Macandal: Parlez-vois Francais? (Do you speak French? "...vous..." mispronounced.)
Hanno: Oui (Yes).
Hanno: Desire-vous parlez comme ci? Pourquoi, s'il vous plait? (Do you want to speak like that? Why, please?)
Hanno: - Bien. Bonne Chance. Au revoir, esperons-nous. (Very well. Good luck. Till we meet again, we hope.)
And that is the limit of my French.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Well, Rufus never pretended to be a scholarly type, so he was content to keep using Latin, at least in private with Hanno. Of couse, I'm sure he learned the local language prevalent in whichever place he and Hanno settled down in for 40 or 50 years. But more slowly than Hanno would have done!
Sean
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