Quote Originally Posted by hermy_loves_ron
Sorry if this belongs in the language thread instead, I wasn't sure!

In and around the time period of the French Revolution (more specifically 1792) what languages would it be plausible for the French to speak? I'm aware that centuries ago it was pretty normal for children to be multi-lingual, especially in Europe. The languages I'd thought of were French (obviously), English, German, and Italian. Not every French person would be able to speak all of those, of course, but overall, those seemed like they might be relatively common. I just need a way for the students of Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Hogwarts to have only one language in common with all three of them: English. Am I totally off on this?

Thanks!
French was spoken pretty much in every country of Western Europe, at least among the noble, the rich and the powerful; and the French living near the Spanish, Italian and German borders probably knew these languages as well. Given the existence of the Triwizard Tournament, it is however likely that the European cooperation was quite developed in the magical community, therefore the students would have at least one language in common. I don't know which, of French or English, is the most probable; so you might choose either. Both are possible, although it would be a good idea to have the students from the two foreign schools to have foreign language classes.