#multilingual character

Apparently, according to Nightwing #54, he can speak 12, so I went on a little quest to see just how many I could identify.

Starting off with The Essential Batman Encyclopedia, the entry for Dick Grayson lists him as being trained in French, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese with having some proficiency in an unknown Romani dialect. Given there are multiple examples of him speaking these languages throughout the comics, I am inclined to trust this claim. To start, we've got several examples of French (Gotham Knights #14, Detective Comics Annual #12, Nightwing #73, Grayson #10-- also featuring Spanish)

In Grayson #1 he speaks Russian only briefly, but in Detective Comics #36 he speaks it throughout.

As far as the Chinese languages go, while I believe Dick can speak Mandarin and/or Cantonese fairly well (Batman/Superman World's Finest #3), his Hanzi recognition and literacy could use some work.

Similarly, when the Titans head off to Japan in Titans Annual #1, we have Nightwing speaking Japanese in battle; however, when it comes to the prospective job of being a manga translator in Nightwing #125, he claims he doesn't know Japanese, which leads me to believe he is only proficient in speaking Japanese/Chinese and struggles with the writing systems.

So what about the languages not covered in the encyclopedia? To start, we have another romance language: Italian (Nightwing #72).

Followed by some alleged German (Nightwing #51, JLA #44)

And conversations in Farsi (Robin #175)

While I've seen some Tumblr and Reddit posts claim he knows Kikuyu, The Power Company: Manhunter #1 only says he "brushed up" on his Kikuyu before going to Kenya, so it is unknown how much of the language he actually speaks, but to me it doesn't seem likely to be a lot.

He also, to some unknown degree, speaks Tamaranean-- at least enough to hack into an alien computer (Action Comics #842).

As far as unspoken languages go, Dick is fluent in ASL, which is proven numerous times when he communicates with Jericho (New Teen Titans 1984).

And lastly, the two languages that remain rather uncertain are Romani and Cant-- largely due to the nature of the languages themselves and their representation in comics. "Romani," for instance, has several different dialects, and when Devin Grayson introduced it for Dick (Gotham Knights #20-21, Nightwing #91), she never specified which, and based on the lines she wrote, her research into the language was questionable at best. Writers since have recognized Dick's Romani heritage, but have not otherwise suggested he retained much of the language to be considered fluent.

Cant is an even wider term than Romani and can be seen as more of jargon for a particular language than a language itself, sometimes even being called a "pseudo-language." The colloquial term for American circus cant is Carny, or "Carny speak" as Boston Brand puts it in Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14 when he and Nightwing encounter a kid who speaks it.

So... this leaves us with 11 languages Dick has notable proficiency in: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese, Farsi, and ASL. And ~3 languages he has unknown proficiency in: Tamaranean, Kikuyu, Romani, and Carny/Cant (if you want to count it).

Maybe memory-loss Dick was including either Tamaranean or Kikuyu in that count from Nightwing #54, or maybe he knows some other language we haven't seen yet. Given how close the family is to the Al Ghuls, I personally think it would be cool if one of them was Arabic.

Character A originally came up with the idea as a study method. What better way to practice your second language than imagining someone there to speak it with you and quiz you on your vocabulary? It was so much more interesting than just reading the same lists and conjugation charts over and over again. But... was it just them, or... had their imaginary study partner started becoming a little more... interested in Character A's life?

AN: Hey guys, thought I’d share this story I started writing on Ao3. I am having a lot of fun writing it and have developed the story far beyond the origins seen in this chapter. I hope you enjoy and feel free to reblog if you did!

Chapter 1

She dreamt of a man with green scales and emerald eyes hidden within black irises. His calmingly deep voice sent shivers down her spine when he whispered seductively in her ears. A man who was unlike anything she’d seen her entire 280 years of life.

She knew he was just a figment of her imagination. Something given to her by the parasite in her head meant to seduce her, brought on by the use of the Ilithid powers granted by said parasite. She knew she should stop using them, but she couldn’t make herself do so, if only just to see the strange alien man in her dreams.

So after exhausting herself every day by using her strange powers in order to see the strange man, she was always disappointed to wake up with no more answers then she had the day before. When she would pull from her meditations she would see the same familiar sights of her camp she shared with the others in the same predicament as her.

Until one day she didn’t. Instead of open skies and lush wilderness around her, she saw walls made from what appeared to be metal although it wasn’t shaped like anything she’d ever seen before. The area she stood was in darkness. Where the hell am I? She wondered.

She stood to her feet and began to wander toward the light she saw. Once she emerged from the alley she froze, looking at hundreds of creatures which she didn’t recognize. Then she spotted one that was familiar to her: humans

“Excuse me,” she said, walking up to the nearest human and speaking in Common.

The human glanced at her, and gave her a face of confusion before moving on, not seeming to care. She stared after them and tried to get another’s attention.

They paused for a moment as she said, “Can you tell me where I am?”

“The Citadel, duh,” the human replied before rolling their eyes and walking on.

She blinked and tried to think. Citadel? That was a church wasn’t it. But who are all these people? What are they?

One thing she knew for certain is that this was not anywhere in the material plane. These creatures were too...alien. She watched the crowd for a moment, trying to figure out what she could until she was bumped into and a tall thin creature with big bug eyes which snapped out a “watch where you’re going”. Except something was off.

She understood the words a few minutes after they were spoken, but before she understood them there was a very different noise. She began to hear all sorts of tongues she didn’t recognize, slowly beginning to converge into a language she did know. Her head throbbed and she clutched at it, grunting in pain as the headache started to surface. A headache she was familiar with.

But I’m not even trying to-

/You’re not doing it, I am/ a voice suddenly echoed in her head. /Sleep, Nyralyn, and all will be well./

She cried out in pain, her ears ringing and the lights becoming blindingly bright. Her vision blurred before she succumbed to the voice in her head, falling to her knees as her world went black.

When she came too, she was in a new place, her eyes being blasted once more by the light from above, causing her head to ache. She grunted and sluggishly lifted a hand to try to block out the light.“She’s awake!” came a voice to her side, causing her to turn to try to find the source, blinking away the light.

She spotted a human racing out of the room wearing some sort of white coat. As they left, her gaze began to focus and she noticed there were more things made of metal and shaped like boxes. She pushed herself up, feeling cloth beneath her and realizing she was on some sort of bed.

She realized she wasn’t wearing the clothes she’d been wearing earlier, instead wearing some sort of gown that was open at the back.

As she continued to gaze around the room, she noticed glowing images on what appeared to be glass nearby. She was about to go over and touch them before the human returned along with a strange blue human woman? No, they weren’t human. They definitely weren’t drow, despite the coloring. She had strange tentacle things swooping off her head, looking almost like hair. Nyralyn had never seen anything like her before.“Hello, Ms…”

“Kolith. Nyralyn Kolith.”

The woman smiled. “Kolith, we have some questions for you if you wouldn’t mind answering.”

Nyra gave the woman a cautious look. This didn’t sound good. Then again, neither did her predicament. She was in an unfamiliar environment with weird creatures she’d never seen before. She assumed she’d somehow been transported to another plane of existence, one known one had heard of before. “Depends on the questions,” she said.

The woman nodded. “First off, in order to help you, we had to take a blood sample, we’ve never seen anyone like you before so we didn’t know how to treat you. We noticed that you have similarities to humans, but enough differences that you aren’t of the same race. So, what exactly are you?”

“I’m a drow...a dark elf.”

“Alright. What is your home planet?”

She frowned, confused by the word. /Faerûn/ came the echoey voice in her head. She stiffened at the voice, trying to figure out where it was coming from, realizing the people before her were patiently waiting for her to speak. She decided to trust the voice for now. “Faerûn.”

“Interesting. I’ve never heard of that planet. Could you tell me where it is?” the woman asked, suddenly holding up a handheld thing of glass with glowing images. The image shown before her looked like a giant circle made of light. She stared at it, not sure what it was.

“Um...I’m not sure where Faerûn is. I don’t really remember how I got here.”

“I see. What is it you last remember?”

“I remember….bright lights. Something about a Citadel? Then I passed out,” she said.

The woman nodded. “While you were out we also did a scan. We noticed something strange in your brain. We’re not sure if it’s a racial trait for you, or if it was some sort of anomaly. But it could cause strange side effects or even be fatal.” She swiped on the glass and showed Nyra an image.

Nyra stared at it, noting the natural curls of her brain -- she’d seen brains before, despite being a bit shocked it was an image of one. Then she spotted something that didn’t seem to fit. It covered part of her brain, almost as if shielding it. Her blood went cold and she knew that without a doubt it was the parasite in her mind. It didn’t look exactly like the one that had been put in her eye, but she could recognize parts of it.

Her breathing began to get ragged and she curled up, pushing her hands into her eyes. “No, no, no…” she muttered.

“I’m going to guess by your reaction that it’s not normal.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not.”

“And you’ve known about this for a while?”

She looked up from her hands and nodded, laughing wryly. “Where I come from, the only cure is death, or making a deal with a devil.”

While she sat there, she suddenly started to feel emotions of pity from the woman before her. She knew she wasn’t attempting to read the woman’s mind, but before she could help it, she slipped in. Flashes of memories from the woman sliding into her. Her name was Kali H’ryn, an Asari of about 361 years. A doctor with two loving daughters who had a Salarian father.

Then she flashed back to her own body and she groaned, clutching at the new memories now swirling in her head. Kali likewise looked a little dazed, but once she regained her composure, she looked at Nyra with both caution and intrigue.

“What did you just do?” the Asari asked, a little breathless.

“I...I don’t know. I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened.”

“It was almost like mind melding, but not exactly like it. Incredible. Is that an ability of your people?”

Nyra looked away, wrapping her arms around herself. She didn’t answer.

“I see...well, thank you for answering my questions. I assume you know that whatever is affecting your brain is spreading.”

She nodded.

“If you need any further help, please feel free to return. I don’t think we have anything else for you. Since you’re new here, do you have a place to stay?”

“Um...not yet, but I’m sure I can find something. I’m resourceful.”

Kali smiled and stood, shooing the human out. “I can tell.” She then walked over to the counter and picked a pile of clothing. “Your old outfit wasn’t hygienic and contained some possibly dangerous chemicals to some of the inhabitants here so we had to dispose of them. I’m sorry. But your other personal effects are in this drawer,” she said, opening said drawer to reveal the weapons Nyra had been wearing.

“Thanks…”

“Put those on and I’ll have someone help escort you from the hospital.” The asari paused before leaving. “If you would like, you could stay with me until you’re able to stand on your own two feet.”

“Oh….thank you,” Nyra replied and then waited for the Asari to leave before she began to dress. The new outfit was white and simple with a top and pants. She frowned. She didn’t like white, it tended to stain too quickly -- especially for what she did.

As she was slipping her blades and their sheathes on the belt of her current garments, she thought about what she’d gone through in the last few hours? She hadn’t dared ask the time. But she missed home. Hells, she missed Gale and the others. She’d hated the predicament that had brought them all together, but she’d enjoyed her time getting to know them. And now she was stuck in some other plane of existence with no way to return home. Were they even still alive? She didn’t know.

She sighed and shook herself, knowing it would be useless to dwell on it. With that thought in her mind, she decided to take the Asari up on her offer -- at least for now. Perhaps she could convince her to help her find some income. She could tell from the memories she’d received that she would need to have some sort of background, but her true history couldn’t be revealed. No one would understand. This was not a world of magic but of technology and science -- a concept she didn’t yet grasp.

Rating: General

Word Count: 16869