Two notes

[alt_sinistra]

To answer a number of questions I've gotten recently.

First, I've been asked what I think of our new Headmaster.

In the two years I've known him, I've come to greatly value both Headmaster Dolohov's breadth and depth of knowledge and willingness to share what he knows, and also his ability to admit what he does not yet know and learn more about it.

More than that, I deeply respect his approach to teaching, wanting each student to know themselves and what they're capable of. No small thing, that. I look forward to his plans for the school and I like the ones I've heard so far.

Second, I do intend to continue teaching, and cannot imagine being anywhere other than Hogwarts come September. Students, if you have questions about preparing for the coming year or astronomy, you are welcome to write.

Comments

Re: Private message to Sally-Anne Perks

[alt_sinistra]

Sunday for lunch? Poppy is coming later in the afternoon, not quite sure when yet. I've just told Pansy she's welcome to come with you, or some other time if you'd both rather.

I've been reading some of my research mentor's old journals, the one I was apprentice to, and thinking about how completely overwhelmed I felt most of my first year with her. Over and over. It got better, eventually.

Re: Private message to Sally-Anne Perks

[alt_sally_anne]

First she was dismayed at how little I knew about eyes and eye diseases and eye curses and glasses and spectacles and charms for them and she had me read about 5,000 pages in about a week and a half.

THEN she was dismayed because I don't speak German, Russian, French, or anything other than English. She gave me some German healer's journals but as Profes Headmaster Dolohov no doubt told you, I couldn't make any sense of them with translation spells. So then she gave me what she said was a beginner's textbook for learning German but some of these letters aren't even English, I can't make any sense of this, either. Also she decided yesterday that it might be better to have me learn Russian, first. So I have a Cyrillic alphabet to study.

I'm wondering if there are any spells or potions that make it easier to learn another language. I've never heard of one.

Re: Private message to Sally-Anne Perks

[alt_sinistra]

That sounds entirely familiar. Overwhelmed is not the word. I spent months in tears every day even though the actual astronomy part was mostly fine. There are translation charms, and ways to get a fair bit of the language in your head quite quickly.

Alde had an hour's lecture on why people she liked didn't use them them that ended up at "I thought you were supposed to value hard work, and why should I trust you with complicated tasks if you take shortcuts with words." All in the most scathing tone you'd expect of a Slytherin witch in her twelfth decade.

She had a point. I've a much better grasp of the whole of the language than people I know who've done the charm-helped versions. It turns out to make a lot of difference sometimes.

The thing about Latin and German - and Russian, I gather - is that they're inflected languagues, where the part of speech matters a lot. Not just verbs, like in English, but nouns (and adjectives, and so on.) Getting a handle on the grammar parts in English will help. I'll see if I can rummage for a book or two that will help, and send them round, and we can talk more Sunday.

Re: Private message to Sally-Anne Perks

[alt_sally_anne]

Oh and yes, Sunday for lunch would be perfect, thank you. I'll ask Pansy when I see her later if she's coming.