Capellan n. 2

Bellowing orders, thundering deep-chested Capellan profanity, attacking the generator as though it were a personal enemy, Gorr Holl drove his crew of hard-handed spacemen into performing miracles…. Kenniston…began to pick up the language with amazing speed.

There are some good books on Earth psychology in the library. One especially by Rillattall—if you read Capellan.

‘They appear to be sending some sort of standard contact broadcast…. Three or four phrases repeated, and switch to a different language. At least twenty-eight so far. One of them resembles Capellan, but not enough to read.’ ‘I think it’s like a high Capellan…. You know, like Mandarin to Cantonese. The Capellans who came here must have spoken a dialect. I’m sure I heard a formal I and you and something about speak.’

MacDonald pointed at the picture in White’s hands. ‘They seem to apply to something that is on the same line or lines with them, usually to their right. Let’s skip the top one for a moment. The next one is repeated three times. Two of them the Capellan is pointing at with his right upper limbs. Perhaps they are the Capellan word for “Capellan.”’

I have never been able to learn how to speak Capellan fluently, so we never converse in his native language.