Altair: bilingual?
I just thought of something. It's assumed that Altair mainly speaks Arabic. We can't tell from his voice (so monotone!). Almost everyone Altair interacts with has a middle-eastern accent (except for the 3 targets in Acre, Richard, and Robert). I just thought, after he assassinates Robert, he speaks with King Richard with no problem. Were they taught multiple languages as they were trained? This would make sense for an occupation that requires one to adapt continuously, but I'm just curious. If not, then that's a very convenient loophole. 
Maybe. French in the game is not translated most of the time but Sibrand and Garnier would have most likely spoken french so it's clear he must have spoken french if why try to make sense of it. Then comes the doubt if Altair could have known English, as King Richard most likely was able to speak French as well.
ROB_88 wrote:
[On the meaning of BAMF]i figured it was something similar to a MILFBabes Await My..............Flap-a-doodle
Supposedly King Richard didn't actually speak English - French was the language of the nobility at the time. So if Altair had to talk to him he most certainly spoke in French.
It's possible that Altair and Richard might have been able to speak in French, which was Richard's natural language anyway. Because Richard was a second son, he was intended to rule the duchy of Aquitaine (modern Provence) as the heir of his mother. He certainly spent most of his life in France (or what we think of today as France).
There was quite a bit of travelling between Europe and the Middle East. Due to the large numbers of Frenchmen who served in the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitallers, France had a permanent French-speaking population base and consequently an enormous influence there. Richard's mother's uncle, Raymond, had been invited to become king in Antioch, where he modeled his court after the Duke of Aquitaine and used the langue d'oc as the official language. Eleanor of Aquitaine's neighbor, Count Alphonse of Toulouse, was also Count of Tripoli for a time.
A lot of cross-cultural fertilization is what I'm suggesting. Not just with the nobility. Going to the Holy Land on pilgrimage was manageable for more "middle-class" people as well. I believe Chaucer's Wife of Bath went to Jerusalem twice, and this was not treated as especially remarkable.
It probably wouldn't be extraordinary if Altair could speak a bit of French (I wouldn't imagine he would be very fluent, though).
It probably wouldn't be extraordinary if Altair could speak a bit of French (I wouldn't imagine he would be very fluent, though).
Well, if they were able to have a conversation of the scope they had, he'd have to be somewhat fluent.
Bilinguility (which is now a word) would be an extremely useful skill for an assassin to have, and although the animus automatically translates everything into English, I still think it would make sense for Altair to speak a second language if not more.
That being said, I would be surprised if Richard did not speak at least a little Arabic, given the ridiculously close relationship he had with Saladin even though the two of them never met.
Off topic fun fact: William of Montferrat was Richard's Uncle. The more you know...
Off topic fun fact: William of Montferrat was Richard's Uncle. The more you know...
Really? Where did you see that? Just wondering because I can't find anything on it.
Bilinguility (which is now a word)...
Bilinguilism...? Bilinguility works too though 
Didn't Stab make a video about the different phrases Altair said in the save a citizen missions a while ago?
Didn't Stab make a video about the different phrases Altair said in the save a citizen missions a while ago?
Yes, he did.
Great video - especially the censoring at the end 