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More on Languages:
There are 3+ levels of knowledge in a language:
Basic - This allows use of only the most basic concepts of the language. You can say what your name is, ask it, discuss being hungry, and so forth. Speech is halting, broken, and hard to understand at times. Karne will have this level of understanding about a language within 4 hours of study.
Proficient - This is roughly equal to the command a 10 year old has. There is a strong dialect, tenses are often misused, gender is lost, and words are often formed incorrectly. However, within this context, language has become pretty good. Karne will achieve this level after study of two days.
Expert - This is a dialect free version of the language, at a high school grad level. Analogies and context are understood, tone is mastered, and sentences are grammatically correct. Language is no longer a barrier in communication. Karne will gain this after a week of study.
Mastery - This is the highest level of understanding of a language. Mastery includes the ability to mimic other dialects, knowledge of archaic phrases and words, and is at the level of a brilliant writer or poet, who can spin the words into a beautiful cloth. Mastery cannot be achieved in a language by Karne’s understanding of linguistics.
If this is a language that is particularly easy to understand (like a trade language, or one in a family that Karne already has knowledge of) then time to learn is halved. If Karne has a universal translator, then time is quartered. If both, then he starts at Basic and he can learn Mastery in a week and Proficient is in 4 hours and Expert in a day. Some languages may be harder to learn or impossible to learn through a universal translator, forcing linguistics to be used.
Note that the knowledge these fields is equal to humanity’s knowledge in 2130. Discoveries made in the last years or not known by humanity are not known to The Century.
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