Peace Talks snippet on Entertainment Weekly

[g33k]

They are probably written in old welsh so good luck reading them.

Bob could likely read them (AND help Harry figure out the magic).
Also, insta-language is a known thing, just ask Lasciel!  I wonder if Bonny might know OldWelsh?  I bet Harry could get Old Welsh from Mab (but the price may be high, or have hidden catches), or from Vadderung (likely to LOOK like a high price, but not actually be a problem).

Or, hell, Eb could've decided to be easy on Harry, and create/bind a Mini-Bob OldWelsh Tutor into the first volume, or something similar...  I mean, Eb could've, but Jim wouldn't!

[Mira]

Bob could likely read them (AND help Harry figure out the magic).
Also, insta-language is a known thing, just ask Lasciel!  I wonder if Bonny might know OldWelsh?  I bet Harry could get Old Welsh from Mab (but the price may be high, or have hidden catches), or from Vadderung (likely to LOOK like a high price, but not actually be a problem).

Or, hell, Eb could've decided to be easy on Harry, and create/bind a Mini-Bob OldWelsh Tutor into the first volume, or something similar...  I mean, Eb could've, but Jim wouldn't!

Where is Professor J.R.R. Tolkien when you need him?  Harry might ask..

[Arjan]

Bob could likely read them (AND help Harry figure out the magic).
Also, insta-language is a known thing, just ask Lasciel!  I wonder if Bonny might know OldWelsh?  I bet Harry could get Old Welsh from Mab (but the price may be high, or have hidden catches), or from Vadderung (likely to LOOK like a high price, but not actually be a problem).

Or, hell, Eb could've decided to be easy on Harry, and create/bind a Mini-Bob OldWelsh Tutor into the first volume, or something similar...  I mean, Eb could've, but Jim wouldn't!

Bob is not that old but he can process information a lot faster than Harry so who knows.

There are more than enough Sidhe who can read and speak it fluently and Harry met a whole lot of them in curses so Harry could even ask for a translation but that means sharing the information.

All fast methods imply sharing the information with someone and Harry might not want to do so. He can try to learn the language but he is not a fast learner of language if his experience with latin is indicative. It will take real effort over years.

There might be tricks to speed it up if Harry is prepared to leave his body for a while and stretch subjective time the way Bob does but....

[Mira]

Bob is not that old but he can process information a lot faster than Harry so who knows.

  Bob is that old, but he no longer works for Harry.

[Arjan]

  Bob is that old, but he no longer works for Harry.

His skull is not that old. We do not really know how old Bob is.

But getting Bob’s aid is as difficult as getting Butters aid. It does mean sharing information with Butters though.

[morriswalters]

Butters got Bob for the same reason my kids get my old computer, Harry got an upgrade.  Bonea's mommy predates the Universe.  Bob is a mere pup by comparison.  Lasciel was going to do an impromptu c section on Harry's brain to take control of an asset she said was too valuable to die with Harry.  That just has to say something about Bonea and what she will be capable of.

[Mira]

His skull is not that old. We do not really know how old Bob is

  The skull is merely a vessel, Bob's dwelling, has no baring on how old he is.   I am far older than the house that I live in for example.

[g33k]

Bob is not that old but he can process information a lot faster than Harry so who knows.

Bob is just plain smarter than Harry!  Though blindingly naive & ignorant in some ways.

IIRC Bob used to be human, in the Renaissance-ish era...?  I doubt he spoke Old Welsh in his lifetime, but I suppose it's possible.

But since death, he has been a dedicated magic-learning spirit.

Edit:  per WoJ, Bob never was human.  But that doesn't actually alter the following point:

I (strongly!) suspect that the original Merlin's native tongue is something a dedicated magic-learning spirit knows!  I don't doubt the journals are among the most significant books Merlin left behind, but I strongly suspect there are others... plus other relevant books written in Old Welsh just because it was the Merlin's tongue.

All fast methods imply sharing the information with someone and Harry might not want to do so. He can try to learn the language but he is not a fast learner of language if his experience with latin is indicative. It will take real effort over years.

There might be tricks to speed it up if Harry is prepared to leave his body for a while and stretch subjective time the way Bob does but...

Lash spoke a bunch of languages.  She was information in Harry's brain.  So the ability to translate multiple obsolete languages can be conferred very very quickly!  And Harry's notoriously-bad ability to learn Latin can be bypassed.

Now... that may be a trick only known to Angelic-origin beings.  Even Mab may not know it, and I'm certain that "ordinary" fae don't!  Similarly for Vadderung.  Or one or both of them may know the trick; we just don't know.

OTOH, we know Jim plans to introduce other pantheons to us.  Maybe Cerridwen (Welsh goddess of knowledge & magic!) might be a source, or Hades (who likes Harry) might simply be one mask, and visit Harry wearing the Arawn-mask...  Or introduce Harry to the entirely-separate deity, Arawn.  Etc etc etc...

Bonea does seem like an excellent source of this sort of thing!  OTOH, I'm sure Jim needs her not to be Harry's deus ex cranium.  So there's probably a fair bit of stuff that Bonea could credibly know, that she doesn't know, simply because Jim needs her not to know it.  Or maybe she "knows" it, but it's all uncategorized and she has no way to "remember" it -- maybe she'll spend YEARS on that project...
 

[morriswalters]

I took the time to check, and the Dresden Wiki states Bob was an air spirit before being bound to the skull, sometime in the Middle Ages.  A quick look at Wikipedia suggests that Bob could know Middle Welsh.  If the Journals need to be read, Jim has done the ground work to set the stage. And of course there is the old fashioned way where the intervening users marked up the journals in more recent languages.

[Arjan]

I took the time to check, and the Dresden Wiki states Bob was an air spirit before being bound to the skull, sometime in the Middle Ages.  A quick look at Wikipedia suggests that Bob could know Middle Welsh.  If the Journals need to be read, Jim has done the ground work to set the stage. And of course there is the old fashioned way where the intervening users marked up the journals in more recent languages.

I believe that was later changed and Bob started much the same way as bonea did.

[g33k]

I believe that was later changed and Bob started much the same way as bonea did.

I don't see this in the WoJ collection.  Do you recall where you got this?

[Arjan]

I don't see this in the WoJ collection.  Do you recall where you got this?

Sadly no but maybe someone else? Something about both of them are spirits of intellect and both come from someones mind.

[Mira]

Sadly no but maybe someone else? Something about both of them are spirits of intellect and both come from someones mind.

   That may not be true,  where do we have that clearly defined?   If it is true, Bob may have emerged from the original Merlin's mind.

[Maz]

We don't know specifically how old Bob is.  What we do know is Bob was bound to the skull by Etienne the Enchanter during the Middle Ages.  So Bob is at least that old.

[toodeep]

I believe Jim indicated that Bob was born just like Bonea but his mortal parent did not survive.  It would be interesting to find out what his non-mortal parent was and what kind of information he might have inherited from them.

We have also seen Toot-Toot can speak pretty much any language he wants (addressed after chewing out Sanya in Russian, "you just speak it!").  So it is possible there might be a way to access that ability through the winter mantle.  Sadly, as Toot-Toot can only read three words, it obviously isn't free literacy.  Though I guess it remains to see if Toot can read the word pizza in every language...