So, I am a language nerd, and I love trying to figure out what languages characters I love speak. So why not share some of these ideas? To start us off - Aleksandar of Hohenberg in the Leviathan trilogy.
In Goliath, they specify that Alek speaks six languages. Some of these are obvious, others less so.
1. German
Obviously his first language.
2. English
And he’s pretty good at it too.
3. French
Which we learn when it turns out that he doesn’t know Russian. When asked if he knows Russian (again in Goliath), he says that “all the Russians I ever met spoke French”. (French was a common language among Russian aristocracy and at court.) He also acts as a translator for the Russian captain.
4. Latin
Knowing your own family’s Latin motto off by heart hardly proves that you know Latin, but he can judge (supposedly by Dr Barlow’s pronunciation) that she knows Latin in Leviathan. Even if this bit of information was not in the book, I would have put Latin on this list, as Classical languages were a central part of an elite education in the 1910s. In addition to this, Alek is Catholic, so Latin would be central in terms of religion (the Catholic Church didn’t start using vernaculars in mass until the 1960s).
5. Classical Greek
It would be pretty unlikely to find a young man of the European aristocracy who did not know Greek in the 1910s. As with Latin, it was seen as essential to your learning. The quality of both his Latin and his Greek can be up for debate, but there is nothing pointing to that he wouldn’t be good at them.
A side-note on the fact that he says that he speaks six languages. You could exclude Latin and Greek from this, as they are not spoken, and suggest two modern languages, but English, French, Latin and Greek constitute a very well-rounded curriculum for a young prince. It’s pretty common that people use the term “speak a language” to mean “know a language”, and Alek makes this observation to illustrate (to himself) that he’s pretty useless, which Latin and Greek might seem to be if you’re on an airship.
Also, Alek would have done more than just learn to read Latin and Greek. He would have been trained in composition, e.g. translating speeches into Latin and/or Greek, and more likely than not also verse composition. Image Alek having to write love elegies in Latin. Isn’t that a lovely thought?
6. Hungarian
This is the odd one out, both in terms of linguistics (Hungarian is part of the Finno-Ugric language family, while all the languages above are Indo-European) and in terms of evidence. There is no indication that Alek knows Hungarian, but it is never indicated elsewhere that he speaks any other language. So why Hungarian? The Austro-Hungarian empire was surprisingly accepting of the many languages spoken within its borders. It is not a question of German as a majority language with several smaller languages in the minority. According to a 1910 census, 23% spoke German as their first language, and 20% spoke Hungarian as their first language (source). Other languages that were spoken were Czech, Ukrainian, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovak... I’m not a hundred per cent sure that German-speaking aristocrats would bother learning Hungarian, but in Alek’s case, it seems like a real possibility. After all, his father was keen on reform, and seems to have wanted to keep on the right side of his subjects. And of course there was Hungarian-speaking aristocracy, so this is not only a question of status.
BONUS! Turkish
I hesitate to include Turkish in the six languages Alek speaks, as I don’t think he ever became that proficient, but we know that in Behemoth, he was trying to learn Turkish. He seems to have been able to do business transactions (read: buy coffee), but not much more than that. Still, I admire his linguistic zeal.
