Bertie Jackson
July 10, 2021 11:04 PM
Practising (tag Jessica) by Bertie Jackson
The dictionary that Mara had bought Bertie for Christmas the previous year had received fairly frequent use. Most of the time, when he was looking at a text—other than the easy ones in Spanish textbooks—he still needed the dictionary to get the sense of it. He could pick out a lot of words ‘He did [something in the past tense] and we must [also verb] soon or [situation] will occur.’ The small words that occurred in almost every text were recognisable, but the specific verbs and nouns that gave the actual meaning, less so. He possibly could have got quite far through something like a Dora the Explorer picture book, but he absolutely refused to read anything below grade level, even if it was in a foreign language.He thought that, with the dictionary’s help, he might be able to write Mara some of his holiday news in Spanish during the summer. It was a shame to have those intermediate steps instead of just surprising her with fluent Spanish one day, but it seemed like that was considerably further away than he wanted it to be.
He was heading into the library to work on his potions homework when he passed that Crotalus girl in his sister’s year. He made it a habit to snoop out what other people were reading, and was surprised to notice that she appeared to be reading in Spanish. Grade-appropriately, and for pleasure, without much of a frown on her face.
Bertie took a seat at a not-too-nearby table, but one with an eyeline on her. He carefully set up his potions books and his essay around him, and considered the possibilities for a while. Eventually, he concluded that some practise might be beneficial, so he ripped out a small piece of paper from a lined notebook. He deliberately placed the notebook next to his potions book, rather than back in his bag.
Hola. ¿Lees español? he wrote.
A flick of his wand sent the note over to Jessica, after which he carefully resumed his studying, only monitoring her reactions out of the corners of his eyes.
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Bertie Jackson
Practising (tag Jessica)
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Jessica Hayles
July 11, 2021 5:54 AM
Spanish or spycraft? by Jessica Hayles
As far as usual things went, being passed notes was not one of them for Jessica. Neither was one written in Spanish. She knew three other people here who could write Spanish and any of them would have just…come and said something. Curious.She glanced around and was unnerved to see the nearest person was Zara’s brother. She knew he and Mara were friendly; she and her sister had had words about that. Mara said the kid Jackson was ‘alright,’ which was high praise from Em, and she trusted Mara, of course, but Jessica still would have been happier if they didn’t know each other. Which was probably why they did know each other, because the universe found it funny to mess with her all the time…
Closing her book, she thought for a moment, then shrugged and took out a pen, writing ‘yes - do you?’ In Spanish and then attempting to charm it to go back to sender, which sent it to Kid Jackson’s table as Jessica openly watched first it and then him.
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Jessica Hayles
Spanish or spycraft?
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Bertie Jackson
July 11, 2021 7:21 AM
Why not both? by Bertie Jackson
There were spells you could use to stop things being winged back to you like that. Bertie had specifically not used them for this very reason. Jessica could solve a fairly simple puzzle as well as speak Spanish then. Good. That already elevated this far higher than his other recent unintended encounter with a red-head in the library, though that was a low bar.'Un poco. Was a quick, easy reply to scribble down, and he did so almost as soon as her note arrived. He debated adding a little more, but wasn't sure how much he could add without resorting to the dictionary, and he wanted to keep the interaction going and not show weakness. He added 'Mi amiga me dio un diccionario muy bonito because that was a sentence he had practised before and sent the note to Jessica.
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Bertie Jackson
Why not both?
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Jessica Hayles
July 11, 2021 10:10 AM
What secrets could a nice girl like me have to spy on? by Jessica Hayles
OOC: I’m typing these on my phone, so apologies for not writing Spanish/any formatting errors BIC:
His friend had given him a dictionary. A very good dictionary. That would have to be Mara. Was he actually teaching himself, though? Was Mara trying to teach him? Did The Girl Who Could Not Be Named know…?
‘That’s cool,’ she wrote back in Spanish. ‘I used to go to immersion school. Do you speak Spanish too?’
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Jessica Hayles
What secrets could a nice girl like me have to spy on?
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Bertie Jackson
July 11, 2021 12:09 PM
Rich girl ones by Bertie Jackson
Bertie was pretty pleased by his ability to understand Jessica's note. Admittedly, he was taking a guess on 'inmersion' but it was very, very close to an English word that made sense in context. He scribbled one of the several other phrases his textbook had taught him meant that he showed approval/regarded this news as positive.Technically, if he could read, he ought to be able to speak some. Though he suspected it would need to go embarrassingly slowly. He would also never choose it where writing was an option.
'Prefiero escribir.' He took care with his conjugation to make sure he wasn't telling Jessica that she preferred writing. The fact that subjects were implied and that you had to learn a set of hidden rules to figure them out was one of his favourite things so far about learning Spanish.
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Bertie Jackson
Rich girl ones
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Jessica Hayles
July 11, 2021 3:13 PM
Are we talking more “how many credit cards” or “my chauffeur is also a bodyguard “? by Jessica Hayles
He preferred to write. Jessica nodded unconsciously in agreement. She also preferred writing - however little of it she had managed to do outside of classes at all this semester. That was why she had been reading Spanish, actually - hoping that making her brain work fluently but not in English would help with whatever was blocking her lately.‘Spanish is a beautiful language,’ she wrote back. ‘There are many very good books. How long have you been learning?’
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Jessica Hayles
Are we talking more “how many credit cards” or “my chauffeur is also a bodyguard “?
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