"I don't speak anything besides English fluently yet so you have a head start on me there." 

"I'll need to catch up on the modern forms of the languages I know, besides."

"J'ai seulement une petite Francaise."*

*"I have only a little French." 

"Ma Francaise est peut-etre ancien."*

*My French is perhaps old.

"Uh...je pense que c'est bien, mais je ne sais pas tres bien."*

*"Uh...I think it's good, but I don't know very good." 

"I used to teach languages, though I would want to ensure I wasn't giving you a horribly outdated accent before teaching you. Although I can certainly help you with the sorts of old languages these texts tend to be in."

"And if someone calls me on my archaic dialect I can always say I learned out of old books!" 

"We should try to find some modern teachers, still, although that could be in the course of exploring each country."

"We have forever to work on it if it comes to that." 

"I suspect by the time we have learned every language, the first ones will have changed again."

"--We should ask Nausicaa about shoggoth languages." 

"Oh, yes, that'd be wonderful - I wonder if they use different vocalization methods entirely - "

"Oh, that's true--I wonder if we'll be helpless to pronounce them, if so, at least until we invent mechanical aid--"

"A phonograph should get at least some of anything audible, though we might need more sensitive instruments - and speaking back would be quite awkward..."

"Well, we'll find out! --I suspect Nausicaa isn't actually their real name." 

"Possibly, though their parents might have given it to them all the same, if they were living among humans? The way Nausicaa spoke, they seemed to think they would end up in a human orphanage after their mother's death."

"True. I wonder why they were living among humans in the first place. My first thought is to evade the cult, but surely that would be easier in the ocean...?" 

"Unless the cult aren't human either, perhaps... Though that might be something to ask Nausicaa."

"Yes. If we should be watching for other shoggoths instead of suspicious humans that's important to know." 

She nods. "Or other species entirely - we don't know everything out there."

"Well, I hope if whatever they are can disguise themselves as humans they have meaningful specific tells, I'd hate it if Joseph approached another odd young thing and they turned out to be a cultist." 

(Joseph pouts.)

She laughs. "We got quite lucky with Nausicaa, didn't we? They seem - earnest, though of course we haven't known them particularly long."

"We don't have to trust them completely as of yet; there's still plenty we haven't told them. I do hope they are as they seem, though." 

"I do as well."