A New Buddy PV Closed

@William Dubois


Elzabeths mouth dropped a bit when he said his first language was french. "That's so cool!" She didn't know anyone who could speak French, her mother took a class when she was in school but after she graduated she stopped trying, the most Elz mother could do now was count to thirty.

For a moment she forgot entirely about his first question about Pig Latin, but once she remembered she jumped a little in excitement.

"Oh! Pig Latin is a made-up language, I forgot the rules but I remember it being super easy. I doubt many people at Hogwarts will know it." She shrugged off his worry, smiling a little. "I just learned it to try and understand some of the kids at my school, stupid really." She blushed a little, shrugging.

"Do you think you could teach me BSL?"

Elzabeths smile only widened with the question. "Only if you teach me some french." Elzabeth could only really count to three in French, and she knew how to say yes thanks to immature boys in her grade but other than that she was completely clueless.

Besides, teaching someone BSL shouldn't be that hard, the hardest part for her was remembering some of the more advanced sentences but William shouldn't have to worry about that.

He let out a small nervous laugh. Nothing like he hoped his reaction would be a second prior to her exclamation. French held fond memories of his early years, but it was also filled with unwanted harsh comments on his education. He could always see his parents flinch when that got out. Pros invalided the cons and, for William, his language was something to be treasured.

He woke up from his musings when she mentioned his worries at a language he didn't know of. A made-up language. A sigh escaped his lips. The words in it must have been stupid, but learning it was anything but. He rolled his eyes, a small,"Oh, right" making its way past his lips.

When she asked to be taught French in exchange for BSL lessons, he let a shark smile ghost over his lips. The same one that frosted his mother features when she new she'd get more out of a deal than the dealer knew. He thrusted his hand forward and said, " Deal! For the rest of the train ride and any time we want to spend doing that after, each one of us will teach the other something. The one learning will then become the teacher for that same thing in their language. If a problem arise from that way of teaching we can deal with it as they come. Is that alright? " He let his hand hang in between them, ready to close this deal and ready to teach.

@William Dubois

Elzabeth smiled at the boy's eagerness, happy she could share something she knew he wanted to learn.

"That sounds like a deal." Elzabeth took his hand, giving it a firm shake, or as firm as she could. "Should we start with the basics, like numbers?" Elzabeth thought. That was one of the first things she has started off with, then they moved to the alphabet so she could spell out words if she didn't know the sign for them.

At first, her parents had tried to teach her on their own, but very quickly they realized it would be easier for them just to give her lessons from the nearby neighbor who was a linguistics teacher.

It was extremely lucky for her that the resources were so easy to come by, which is why she tries her best not to let any of her teachings go to waste but sometimes she even forgets she can speak a different language.

"The numbers are quite simple until you get to six." Elzabeth put each finger up like any normal person would do while counting until she got to the sixth number and closed her hand completely, curling her thumb. "I doubt no one will get what you're saying if you do it the traditional way but it's just easier to do the numbers with one hand."

The rest of the numbers up to ten were simple, seven was a finger gun and then you just added on from there until you hit ten where you sorta rotated your wrist.

"Yeah?" Elzabeth hoped she hadn't confused him if she couldn't properly explain numbers there was no way she was going to explain the more complicated stuff.

She shook his hand firmly, sealing the deal. William straightened in his seat ready to start his first lesson. Not really knowing who would start teaching, he let the silence linger. A small part of him hoped she would take the lead.

When she announced they would start with numbers, the young boy let out a relieved sigh. Numbers were good. As she gestured all the number up to six, William took a moment to analyze her movement before attempting himself. They were quite easy, not unlike one would count on their fingers except for six. His own hands copied each number a couple of times before Elzabeth continued on with the lesson. The rest from seven to ten were also pretty easy. Finger guns up until a twist of the wrist. Those too, William waited until she was finished before copying her. It took him a couple of time to get the ten right. When he eventually got it, a proud smile illuminated his face.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, yes, absolutely", he answered eagerly, "I guess it's my turn then." William had never been taught french like she'd been taught BSL so he didn't really know how to properly teach it. He hoped he would do good enough. He took a book from his bag and a pencil and wrote down each number. "So, here are how the numbers up to ten are written. I suppose how they're written will make more sense after you have learned the alphabet, but anyway. I'll pronounce them and try to copy me." He took a deep breath, then slowly started enunciating each number as clearly as possible. " Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix."

He let her practice a bit before he asked, "Is it alright?"

@William Dubois

The words sounded funny and each time she counted a smile graced her lips. "This is great!" She confirmed, listing the numbers off again.

"We should meet up in the library one day and go over the alphabet. If you can spell out the words that should be a bit easier, plus french seems it would have an extremely complicated alphabet." It was a little overwhelming thinking about learning the alphabet to a totally different language but she very quickly had to remind herself she had already done it before.

"For now I can show you basic greetings." She thought for a moment.

"Hello is simple, it's just a wave. Then there's good morning." Elzabeth signed it slowly, It was basically a thumbs up then you touched each of your shoulders. "It depends on you which shoulder you touch first, If you left-handed then do the thumbs up with your left hand and touch your right shoulder." Elzabeth assumed he had it down, it was fairly simple.

"And then there's good afternoon," Elzabeth gave the thumbs up again before touching her chin and then rotating her hand so she was pointing the same fingers out. "And Good evening." She signed it, making sure it was slow and easy to understand.

They were all fairly simple and easy to understand which Elzabeth loved. Hopefully, the library had some books on it since there was a lot Elzabeth didn't remember.

She smiled as she got it and he couldn't help but return it. He proposing for the library was greatly appreciated. Yes, it would be ten times easier. Though,unlike what she thought the alphabet wasn't as different as English. It was more to the pronunciation of each of the letters and the many accent on some of the letters.

"For now I can show you basic greetings", she continued on. He readied his hand for the next lesson. Hello was easy, a wave just like people use to greet each other. Good morning was also good. Since it was not as natural as Hello, he practiced it a few times over. Right thumb, to the left shoulder and to the right.

He carefully copied Elzabeth for each new expression. He repeated good afternoon and good evening over and over until he got both of them right. While he practice, he thought about which salutations he would teach her. There were quite a few who could translate to just hello. When he esteemed his signs good enough he started his own teaching.

" Good, so there are a lot of variant for hello. The most commonly used are Salut and Bonjour", he pronounced the last word slowly so she could copy him. " Then good morning translates to Bon matin, Good afternoon translates to Bon après-midi and finally Good evening translates to Bonne soirée. In the last one, it's really important to pronounce the last syllable of the first word." He let her get familiar with each expression before dumping more onto her.

" There is also a way to wish a good before noon. It roughly translates to Bon avant-midi. " He finished on that letting her process the totally new expression.

@William Dubois

Elzabeth said each word carefully but to be honest some of the sounds coming out of her mouth were not pretty. "For a romatic language, it has some odd sounds." Elzabeth joked. Each word was so foreign to her yet so cool.

She practiced the words for a bit, going over the ones she had trouble with until she was satisfied and ready to move on.

"How would you introduce yourself in french? In sign language, it's pretty easy." Elizabeth did the sign for My Name Is, then spelled her name. It was basically taking two fingers and flicking them out before bringing them to your chest, a little odd but it was simple enough to remember. Elzabeth made sure to vocalize the things she was signing or spelling out so he could understand.

"I don't know too many introductions, the only person I spoke it to was my grandma so I didn't have to tell people my name very often." Elzabeth laughed a little and found herself wishing he had gone deeper into the BSL lessons she was given.

"I'm sure if you would like to know more I can message my mother and tell her to mail my old school books over. That might actually be a good idea." Elizabeth muttered the last part to herself, taking out a piece of paper from her bag and quickly jotting it down.

William let out a chuckle at her joke. Yeah, it would be like that sometimes. He lived the same thing when he learned English for the first time. Both language presented weird sound to him.

"How would you introduce yourself in french? In sign language, it's pretty easy." She picked up after practicing for a bit. She then sign what would be My name Is followed with the signs to spell her name. It looked long and a bit complicated. William opted to sign only the expression since he didn't know half the signs for his own name. In itself, the expression only wasn't hard, just a bit weird. He even attempt to sign some of the easier letter from Elzabeth's name.

When she confess she didn't know a lot of introduction, William then had a flash to all the ways people presented themselves in French. He knew some, mostly those used by the numerous business men and women his parents met. Most of them were uptight and usually only covered the last name. He got back to reality just as she mumbled something under her breath. He waved it off and quickly began his own lesson.

"So there are many ways to introduce yourself in French, ranging from formal to completely grammatically incorrect. The more straight translation of "My name is" is Mon nom est. Though it's not as commonly used as other form of the same expression. Je m'appelle is more common. There are more fancy way to say it although they sound a bit off to native french people. The last I want to teach you is frankly the easiest. Just say "Hi" and follow with simply your name. Like this, Bonjour! William Dubois. " He extended his hand like he would do at a formal meeting. It was so natural, he couldn't help it. " Sorry, I can't help it. The greeting and the hand kinda go together. Lastly, you don't have to listen to me but your name in french should sound like Elzabeth"

OOC: for the pronounciation of the name, I couldn't find it so enter Elisabeth and don't pronounce de "e" sound that comes from the letter i.
Thought you might wanna know.