Let's Educate! A Reincarnated Young Lady Decided to Change Common Sense. - Chapter 12
Learning Letters!
That day, I was still following the attendants around, practicing my conversation skills.
Keeping me in the corner of her eye, Mother seems to be looking at some kind of letter or document.
After a break in my conversation with Samantha, her attendant, I slowly approach her with a sweet look on my face.
I stare at the paper in her hand with interest and ask
“What’s this?”
I cast my special magic spell.
“Hmmm? Is Amelia interested in letters?”
These are letters, and they are written on a piece of paper so that you don’t forget your stories.
Yes, of course I know something that simple.
My game strategy is always to make it hard to refuse my approach.
***
“What does this say?”
“This is…”
After such exchanges continue for a while, Mother thinks for a while and asks one of the maids to prepare a piece of paper and something to write on.
Then, the mother started her course on letters.
The letters in this country are phonetic, the same as the alphabet.
In other words, the pronunciation of a word is represented by letters.
The number of letters is 25 and the notation method is the same as the Roman alphabet.
A sound is represented by a consonant plus a vowel.
There are six vowels, which is one more than in Japanese, but much less than in English.
There are no Character Groups like in Japanese, and the way of pronunciation and sound production is almost the same as in romaji, so to put it bluntly, as long as you can speak, the letters are a piece of cake!
“Then, you read it like this…”
“Hmmm, you read ‘thank you’ like this…”
“”My name is Amelia” is written like this…”
***
Pointing to the letter chart that my mother has written for me, I check the spelling of the words that come to mind.
After confirming all of my questions, I danced my fingers in the air as I spelled the words that came to mind and let my fingers become familiar with the shapes of the letters.
Mother, who has been watching me with amusement, gave some instructions to the maid again.
“Amelia, use this.”
She hands me a pen!
It looks like a wooden stick with a comfortable grip and a slightly pointed tip.
It’s not a cool quill pen like Mother and Father use, but it’s the first writing instrument I’ve ever used in this world.
Until now, they never let me touch ink or pens because they said they were dangerous, but now I am three years old.
I guess that means I can finally lift the ban on writing implements.
“You just put a little ink on the end of this…”
As I listen to my mother’s explanation, I slowly dip the nib into the inkwell.
Then I carefully drop the nib onto the slightly poor quality paper placed in front of me so that the ink doesn’t bleed through.
The paper is bumpy, and the feel of the nib is quite different from a ballpoint pen or pencil.
Still, it felt better than writing my name with an unfamiliar writing instrument.
When I think back to the times I used to sweat at tea ceremonies when someone handed me a calligraphy pen and said, “Please write your name here,” I feel much safer using a dipping pen because it doesn’t make my handwriting stuck.
Being careful not to let the lines tremble, I spell out letters, my name, for the first time since I came to this world.
The grip of a toddler is weak, and the weight of the pen would distort the lines if I did not hold the nib firmly and consciously, but I was still somewhat happy to be writing for the first time in a long time, and I enthusiastically copied the letters of this country that my mother had written for me.
“Amelia, use this pen over here.”
Mother, who had been watching me practice the letters for a long time, suddenly held out a beautiful quill pen.
It was the quill she often used.
The grip of the quill fits my small hand, and the pen, which is literally as light as a feather, naturally draws beautiful lines without any effort on my part.
After watching me practice my writing for a while, my mother got up from the sofa and said to me…
“That pen is for Amelia. Take good care of it. If you need new paper, ask Samantha. You can use it without hesitation.”
I don’t know if this is a good idea. I wonder if it’s okay to receive a pen that looks so expensive.
But it’s not simply expensive as it sounds, the comfort of writing with it is incomparable to the first one I was given.
I’m grateful that it’s lighter than the first one.
To be honest, even a small difference in the weight of a pen makes a big difference in my handling.
I’ll gratefully use it.
Then, I hurriedly call out to Mother as she is about to leave the room.
“Thank you for the quill, Mother. Also, I have one favor to ask you.”
“It’s unusual for Amelia to ask you for a favor. What is it?”
“I’ve learned to read, so I’d like to read a book.”
“Okay, I will find a book that even Amelia can read.”
Saying this, my mother left the room, this time leaving me alone.
Okay, now I can take notes!
First, I check the letter chart and write down all the words I remember.
There are not many letters, and many of them are similar to the ones I know, so I can probably memorize them on my own as I write them down.
I’ve already memorized about half of them.
Looking back, I think my memory has greatly improved over the past two years of hard work.
It is possible that I am just soft-headed because I was originally an infant.
If I had studied this hard since I was on earth, my life might have been different.
***
Thinking about this, I silently wrote down all the words I had learned so far on a piece of paper.