The next morning, Milo woke up refreshed. He rolled over to check his phone, the time was already eight o’five A.M. Milo turned to his left to see Harry.

‘Ah Harry, wake up, wake up!’ Milo gasped.

‘Milo, what time is it now?’ Harry asked, still half asleep.

‘It's already eight o’five A.M.! We have the Botilish school at nine A.M. I don’t want to be running late!’ Milo replied in panic.

‘Woah, I better get up now. I completely forgot to set an alarm last night! But if we hurry, we can definitely get there in time.’ Harry responded promptly whilst hopping out of bed.

‘Alright, I’ll get dressed as well and what about breakfast? Should we go to have breakfast first or go directly to the language department?’ Milo questioned.

‘Uhh it really depends on time. I think it's best to have breakfast first so we don’t get hungry soon, but if it's too tight we will head to the lesson first.’ Harry replied.

‘Okay sounds good. I’ll go brush my teeth.’ Milo replied in a rush.

‘Go ahead, I’ll get our bags prepared first.’ Harry replied.

They both worked together to get ready to head off. At eight twenty A.M. they had just left the room. Harry followed Milo towards the lifts and decided to head straight back to the main building where the language department is located.

‘So Harry we’re back at the main building, we still have around half an hour before the lesson, should we get something to eat first?’ Milo asked.

‘Sure, I think we can. Ah I kind of forgot what level the cafeteria department is at. Let me have a quick think.’ Harry replied.

‘Umm I think it's on level 202.’ Milo blurted out of memory.

‘Oh well there we go, not sure if they serve breakfast but there’s no harm in going.’ Harry replied.

‘Alright, let go!’ Milo exclaimed whilst clicking on the level 202 button in the display screen.

As they entered the lift, they waited patiently for the lift to open on level 202. The doors had just opened, Milo could already smell the fragrant dishes from the lift.

‘Hi, can we please have breakfast here?’ Harry asked.

Loro recognised Harry and Milo from yesterday however he did not reply this time. Harry instantly remembered Yoki was the one that helped them communicate with others here and had just switched to hand gestures. Loro seemed to look confused at first but then soon understood what Harry meant. He led them both to a table for two and indicated that it's a self serve breakfast where they can grab whatever they like. Milo looked at all the dishes and cannot recognise any familiar ones. He thought it’s a guessing game again and just picked the ones that looked the most appetising to him which is barely any of the dishes. Harry on the other hand really didn’t mind and just picked three small dishes and rushed back to the table.

‘So what did you choose? Milo asked, looking at Harry’s plates.

‘Uhh, I can’t remember those names but since we’re in a hurry, let’s not waste more time talking.’ Harry replied while munching away.

‘Alright, I’ll start eating now.’ Milo added.

Milo took a bite this time and it reminded him of chocolate pancakes, one of his favourite dishes to have for breakfast. Harry thought everything tasted good and had finished within a few minutes. It’s eight fifty-two A.M.and Milo has just finished his first plate while Harry is becoming a little impatient.

‘Milo, are you finished yet?’ Harry asked politely as he didn’t want to rush him.

‘Not yet, are we running late?’ Milo questioned back not knowing what time it was.

‘Uhh not late, but there’s only eight minutes until nine A.M. I just want to be there a few minutes early.’ Harry stated.

‘Oh my gosh! I totally lost track of time. I’m full, we better get going now.’ Milo replied as he nearly choked.

‘Well, I’ll stack our plates up and bring it to the line for the automatic machine to clean them and you can take a quick sip of water before we leave.’ Harry informed.

‘Right, thanks!’ Milo replied.

Harry and Milo had just rushed back to the lifts and Harry had clicked on level 201 to the language department. The doors slid open within seconds, Milo could see Yoki waiting for them beside the front desk.

‘Yoki, finally how have you been?’ Milo asked.

‘I’ve been well, how about you guys?’ Yoki asked back.

‘Well, our lives have been a little hectic after you left. We had difficulties communicating with waiters as we had dinner and breakfast. Also Quba did not understand English as well!’ Milo explained.

‘Ohh my, I’m sorry to hear that. I completely forgot about how you guys would encounter a language barrier with us. But at the same time, I can’t be with you both twenty-four seven. Luckily Mr. Zigi can offer you guys language lessons so you both can communicate with us more efficiently in Botilish.’ Yoki replied.

‘Alright, so does Mr. Zigi understand English or will you be with us when we undertake those lessons?’ Milo asked.

‘No unfortunately Mr. Zigi does not speak English. I’m the only one in Boltilanic City who translates to English. So I will be with you both for the next two weeks.’ Yoki replied.

‘Oh I didn’t know that! So what about after the fourteen days we have to learn Botilish, are you going to leave us?’ Milo questioned.

‘That’s a great question. Unfortunately as much as I would like to translate for you both, I have a set time period as well. My auto translator will be disabled after you guys undertake the Botilish language exam.’ Yoki explained.

‘Right, I see, thank you.’ Milo replied.

As they waited for the next few minutes, Mr. Zigi walked down the hallway exactly at nine A.M.

‘Well, well, well… Good morning gentlemen, please follow me to begin your first day of Botilish!’ Mr. Zigi exclaimed whilst gesturing his arm towards the classroom.

‘Great, thank you! Please lead us to our class.’ Harry replied as he stood up and followed Mr. Zigi inside.

‘Alright guys, please take a seat and I will begin our lesson.’ Mr. Zigi commanded.

‘Sure, we will.’ Milo stated.

‘So, according to our initial plan, we should begin with the basics of Botilish. I will break down today’s lesson into five sections which will cover the following areas: The Alphabet, Pronunciation, Basic sentences, Key verbs, and Common vocabulary. I will hand you both the textbook as well as a worksheet to complete and feel free to take any notes if you need.’ Mr. Zigi explained.

‘Sounds like a solid plan.’ Harry replied.

‘Okay, here you go. There are a lot of pages but I will cover each area throughout the day.’ Mr. Zigi stated as he handed them out the worksheet and the textbook for each of them.

‘Thank you.’ Harry replied.

‘Thanks!’ Milo added as he stared at the textbook that appears to be at least 200 pages thick.

‘First of all we will start with the Botilish alphabet. As I assume you both are native English speakers, the Botilish alphabet shouldn’t be that complicated. Our alphabet is basically very similar to the English alphabet but has a few different pronunciation sounds. It goes as follows:

Aa - ai

Bb - ber

Cc - che

Dd - dei

Ee - er

Ff - fi

Gg - gi

Hh - o

Ii - aye

Jj - jee

Kk - ko

Ll - elle

Mm - emm

Nn - an

Oo - ou

Pp - pe

Qq - ke

Rr - ra

Ss - si

Tt - te

Uu - yo

Vv - va

Ww - ve

Xx - xha

Yy - yai

Zz - zi

So here are the basic sounds in Botilish.’ Mr Zigi stated.

As Mr. Zigi slowly read out the alphabet in Botilish, Harry could see around a third of the pronunciation sound was very similar to English. Milo on the other hand seemed super confused with all those different sounds. His mind was about to explode!

‘Umm Mr. Zigi, could we read the alphabet once again, and are we allowed to voice record you doing so?’ Milo questioned.

‘Ah yes, I will read the alphabet three more times slowly and sure you can record me if that makes it easier for you both to learn.’ Mr. Zigi replied.

‘Cool, thanks a lot. I am really not getting it.’ Milo sighed anxiously.

As Mr. Zigi repeated the alphabet slowly three times, Milo took his phone out to record him sounding out those letters. After that, Mr. Zigi wanted both Milo and Harry to repeat each letter of the alphabet with him so he could see the level of understanding they both are up to. As Harry read out the letters, Mr. Zigi was quite impressed at how fast he could grasp the sounds and most of them were pronounced as accurately as native speakers. When it was Milo’s turn, he really struggled to sound out the correct letters and could only get half of them decently.

‘Well, I’m very impressed by your achievement Harry, you seemed to have learnt the alphabet in less than an hour into our first lesson. And Milo with a little more practice, I’m sure you can be as fluent as your brother.’ Mr. Zigi stated.

‘Thanks, I will keep up the pace.’ Milo replied.

‘So I would like you both to complete the worksheet of and fill out the Botilish alphabet from memory first, and for whatever is remaining you can refer back to the textbook.’ Mr. Zigi instructed.

‘Great, will do!’ Harry replied.

‘Sure thing.’ Milo added.

Harry instantly filled out twenty letters in Botilish and could not remember the last five. Milo could only remember eleven of those letters as is not the fastest learner and needed a little more time to process all the new content.

‘Alright guys, are you both ready to move on to pronunciation?’ Mr. Zigi asked politely.

‘Uh I think I’m ready, what about you Milo?’ Harry asked.

‘I don’t think so, I’m still barely getting the hang of all these letters, but I could practice these letters later though.’ Milo replied.

‘Well I think you both should be fine because I will only be teaching you the different sounds that all the letters could make so it will be much easier when it comes to learning new words. In Botilish there are basically two main sounds that each letter can be pronounced in all words. I will go through each sound and you both can refer to either the textbook or on the display screen beside me.

Aa - ai or arr

Bb - ber or bi

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

Cc - che or ki

Dd - dei or dai

Ee - er or yi

Ff - fi or fe

Gg - gi or gei

Hh - o or ohh

Ii - aye or li

Jj - jee or ge

Kk - ko or ki

Ll - elle or lei

Mm - emm or mer

Nn - an or no

Oo - ou or oh

Pp - pe or po

Rr - ra or rrr

Ss - si or sha

Tt - te or ti

Uu - yo or oow

Vv - va or vi

Ww - ve or why

Xx - xha or zi

Yy - yai or ye

Zz - zi or zhish

These are the different ways each letter can be pronounced.’ Mr. Zigi explained.

‘Woah, I do think English has two different pronunciations for each letter in the alphabet but this is getting harder and harder. How are we supposed to know when to pronounce a letter this way or that way?’ Milo questioned.

‘Well it all comes down to practice and familiarity with different words. I know it does sound like a lot now, but I promise you that it will get easier with time.’ Mr. Zigi replied.

‘Sounds logical to me, don’t worry too much I’m sure we can get better at it.’ Harry comforted Milo.

‘I hope so, can we have a few minutes to take some notes down?’ Milo asked.

‘Sure, go ahead just let me know when you are ready to move on to the next topic.’ Mr. Zigi replied.

Milo took the next ten or so minutes jotting down as many notes as he could to help him remember. Meanwhile, Harry was skimming through the textbook as he was very curious about the content they will be learning soon.

‘Mr. Zigi I think I’ve finished taking notes, we can move on to the next topic.’ Milo commented.

‘Well that’s great to hear! We will get started with learning some basic sentences that you are likely to encounter and use in your everyday lives at Botilanic City.’ Mr. Zigi stated.

‘So is that in Chapter two in the textbook?’ Harry queried.

‘That’s correct! Didn’t know you already had a look at the chapters yet. But yes, please flip to Chapter two on page twelve and we shall take a look at the dialogue scenario.’ Mr. Zigi instructed.

‘Sure.’ Milo replied.

‘So I will read through a section of each dialogue one at a time first before you both can have a turn at the role play. You can also refer to the translated text written in English right beside each dialogue if you need to. Alright, so here it goes:

‘Ehio Jay! Solo za vou tolip?’ Kio asque.

‘Ei Kio, woli holing chez! Solo za vou?’ Jay exhied.

‘Woli holing sa! Solez za vou shazing tolip?’ Kio asque.

‘Ja za shazing el fazin desonez. Wa vou loz sa tose lui?’ Jay asque.

‘Sop! Caz ja cine wiz vou?’ Kio asque.

‘Yai, leshe toli askew ip oni waz tozi de desonez!’ Jay conemez.

So this is the first section from this dialogue. I’ll put the translated version on the display screen so you both can have a clear picture on what’s going on.’ Mr. Zigi stated.

The translated version displayed as follows:

‘Hello Jay! How are you today?’ Kio asked.

‘Hi Kio, I’m doing great! What about you?’ Jay exclaimed.

‘I’m great as well. Where are you going today?’ Kio asked.

‘I’m going to a fancy restaurant. Would you like to hear more?’ Jay asked.

‘Sure! Can I come with you?’ Kio asked

‘Yes, let's talk about it on the way to the restaurant!’ Jay commented.

‘Well, although this is just a short dialogue, I can still feel the pressure of learning a new language now. It’s definitely very different from English.’ Harry stated.

‘I honestly wanna give up now. I have no idea what’s going on in this speech. But I still have the determination to push through.’ Milo whispered to Harry.

‘Milo, remember what's at stake here. No matter how difficult it gets, we will need to fight through these challenges.’ Harry reminded Milo.

‘You’re absolutely right. Let’s continue, Mr. Zigi!’ Milo stated.

‘Sure, I want you guys to repeat that section of the dialogue with me and then both of you will take turns to role play as Jay and Kio. Does that sound okay?’ Mr. Zigi asked.

‘Sounds good to me.’ Harry replied.

For the next half an hour, Harry and Milo practiced the short dialogue until they were significantly more fluent with the language and that Mr. Zigi could clearly understand them in Botilish before Mr. Zigi was ready to teach them the next sections.

‘Alrighty both of you did an amazing job at Botilish so far, I think we can move on to the next three sections before you both can go have a lunch break.’ Mr Zigi stated.

‘Awesome! Thanks for the great lesson so far.’ Harry replied.

‘So the next three sections goes as follows:

‘Soi haz vou bezi quore basine?’ Kio asque.

‘Yai, Ja haz! Zi wozenity e plaz jozi shazing toz sizi de voz si ashamiz si de foz thoz si bonizin supaz!’ Jay repliz.

‘Woz, ja ashiz omba azi vou menzin tot! Cas waz tot seez ti.’ Kio repliz.

‘Wilz, tis nei toli fas ashi foz holiz, maiz fiz miaz miniz e wesi shinaz bei thez.’ Jay conemez.

‘Grax! Soz si ti lozax oni e avi levi ofiz e buliz?’ Kio asque.

‘Ai Grax quzini! Ti si acizi oni de 99th floz e 100 floz buliz?’ Jay repliz.

‘Woz, ja hazin beinez moz eshiniz ni mi liz tot visi e plaz lush tiz!’ Kio solit.

Translated section 2:

‘So have you been there before?’ Kio asked.

‘Yes, I have! It’s definitely a place worth going to since the view is amazing and the food there is absolutely spectacular!’ Jay replied.

‘Wow, I’m already hungry after you mentioned that! Can’t wait to see it.’ Kio replied.

‘Well, it’s not too far away from here, maybe five more minutes and we should be there.’ Jay commented.

‘Great! So is it located on a high level of a building?’ Kio asked.

‘Ah great question! It is actually on the 99th floor of a 100 floor building. So I would say it’s nearly at the top!’ Jay replied.

‘Wow, I haven’t been more excited in my life to visit a place like this!’ Kio stated.

Section 3 begins here:

‘Wilz, woz ash holiz! Juz nesh tot tish de linish op tot levi 99, ozwen woz wosh haz e losh wim tot klimo.’ Jay conemez.

‘Haliz, vou doz holiz e grax sono foz ommi, dozi you.’ Kio solit

‘Vou caz soli taz foz soz! Avaiz woz holiz aviolez.’ Jay repliz.

‘Woiazi, tiz plaz si incinibli! Ja caniz beliz ja yesin risz noi. Ja mez eshin si juz 10 tiz beizzar tha what vou haz dexin.’ Kio ginzed.

‘Caz woz pline haz e oble foz dou?’ Jay asque de wasiz.

‘Suz, pline foliz ja tot vou setiz.’ Wez repliz.

Translated section 3:

‘Well, we are here! Just need to take the lift up to level 99, otherwise we would have a long way to climb.’ Jay commented.

‘Haha, you do have a great sense of humour, don’t you.’ Kio stated.

‘You can say that for sure! Alright we have arrived.’ Jay replied.

‘Woah, this place is incredible! I cannot believe my eyes right now. I mean everything is just 10 times better than what you have described.’ Kio gasped.

‘Can we please have a table for two?’ Jay asked the waiter.

‘Sure, please follow me to your seats.’ Wez replied.

Section 4 begins here:

‘Whaz whish vou quzi loz tot ordi?’ Wez asque.

‘Hmm, Ja noz soz yi, what doz vou reccozi? Kio asque.

‘Wilz, woz holiz de amazon Rezin Pozii azi de kilshi oz de daz.’ Wez replied.

‘Grax, ja thop ja juz ordi thaz zen! Quisi.’ Kio repliz.

‘Soz, anz what ashi vou?’ Wez asque.

‘Ja wiz tashi de Yozez homizi, Qusi vou.’ Jay repliz.

‘Cazi, ja wiz bei bashi waz vouz ordi sonez!’ Wez repliz.

Translated section 4:

‘What would you guys like to order?’ Wez asked.

‘Hmm, I’m not sure yet, what do you recommend? Kio asked.

‘Well, we have the amazing Rezin Pozii as the dish of the day.’ Wez replied.

‘Great, I think I’ll just order that then! Thanks.’ Kio replied.

‘Sure, and what about you?’ Wez asked.

‘I will take the Yozez homizi, thank you!’ Jay replied.

‘Cool, I will be back with your orders very soon!’ Wez replied.

So that’s basically it! Do any of you have any questions before we start practicing these lines?’ Mr. Zigi questioned.

‘This is very complicated for me, are you sure this lesson is the right one for today?’ Milo asked.

‘Yes, this is the correct lesson for today. The dialogue is written pretty casual and I just wanted to add a little bit of spice into our lesson so it wouldn’t be like ‘how are you’, or ‘where is this’, ‘I want to go there’, etcetera, that's directly translated into English for you guys to learn.’ Mr. Zigi replied.

‘I can see where you are coming from, however it’s definitely a challenge for us to digest the amount of knowledge in a short period of time. We will try and do our very best though!’ Harry commented.

‘I agree, I’m happy to continue with practicing the dialogue but we do need a break soon.’ Milo suggested.

‘That’s completely understandable, I think we will just do one round of the dialogue together and you guys can head off for lunch!’ Mr. Zigi stated.

‘Sounds good.’ Harry replied as he raised his right thumb up.

As Harry and Milo both repeated after Mr. Zigi, Harry noticed that many of the words had a very similar tone to that word translated in English and that each word in Botilish corresponds to a word in English. He felt a little more relieved as he could relate back to some of those words. After what seemed to feel like another hour of practicing the dialogue, a bell in the classroom finally rang.

‘Well Harry, Milo it's lunch time! You guys can take a short break before we continue in the afternoon.’ Mr. Zigi stated.

‘Alright, thanks for the lesson. Will see you soon!’ Harry replied whilst he stood up with Milo and was about to leave the room.

‘So Yoki, are you coming with us to get some lunch?’ Milo asked.

‘Ah sure! I will come with you both. Where would you like to go for lunch then?’ Yoki questioned.

‘Well, is there a place you recommend?’ Milo asked.

‘We do have another cafeteria on level 306 in this building or we can go to the closest one which is level 202.’ Yoki stated.

‘I think let’s try something new for lunch, I’d say level 306 what do you think Harry?’ Milo asked.

‘I agree, I’m always in for a different experience!’ Harry replied.

‘Sure, please take us to level 306’ Yoki stated as he talked to Quba on the lift.

‘Processing to level 306, please wait a few seconds.’ Quba stated.

As the doors on the lift slid open in less than ten seconds, the cafeteria on level 306 had a much more elegant view compared to the ones they had visited before. Even all the windows are covered in glass and they could see the entire city in front of their eyes.

‘Wowwwww! This view is incredible, it's like we are on the highest level of this building right Harry!’ Milo gleamed.

‘Yeah, is this the highest level of this skyscraper?’ Harry asked.

‘Actually it's not. This building has a total of 501 levels so this is just a little above half way.’ Yoki replied.

‘Well, it's still amazing, we better get going to try some food as well!’ Milo stated.

As they sat down on a table for three, the waiter approached them.

‘Hello guys, what can I do for you today?’ Zita asked.

‘We are here to have lunch, what do you recommend?’ Milo asked.

‘Well, we have a variety of different dishes. What flavours are you guys looking for?’ Zita asked.

‘Hmm, I’m leaning towards something savoury, maybe a little acidic as well.’ Milo replied.

‘I’ll go for something spicy if you offer that.’ Harry replied.

‘Ah got it! Luckily we have two specials of the day which are the Goti Zani for something that's on the acidic side and the Quoti Alim for something that's spicy.’ Zita replied.

‘Great, we'll take these two dishes, thank you! What about you Yoki?’ Milo replied.

‘I’ll go for the Riviz Zamini, thanks.’ Yoki stated.

‘Noted, please wait a while for your order to be made.’ Zita replied.

As they patiently waited for the next fifteen minutes, Zita returned back with all their orders. Milo took his first bite and instantly fell in love with the taste! He’d never though something that appeared to look that transparent pearls could taste so delicious. Harry enjoyed ths spicy dish as well.

‘So how are your meals?’ Zita asked.

‘It’s amazing! I loved it, thank you.’ Harry replied.

‘Same, thanks a lot!’ Milo exclaimed as they left the cafeteria.

As they returned back to the lifts and headed for the afternoon lesson, Mr. Zigi had just returned as well.

‘Are you guys ready to continue for the rest of the afternoon?’ Mr. Zigi asked.

‘Yes! Let's begin, what are we going to learn now?’ Milo questioned.

‘We will be looking at Key verbs first and then finishing off the day with Common vocabulary.’ Mr. Zigi stated.

‘Great, looking forward to it!’ Harry replied.

‘Alright, so as you guys may have heard the verbs ‘to be’ or ‘to have’, these kinds of verbs appear in all languages and Botilish as well. I will list the first thirty most commonly used verbs in Bolish below and we will carry from there:

Be - Bei

Follow - Foliz

Have - Holiz

Show - Soz

Want - Waz

Hear - Honli

Listen - Lisini

Wait - Watz

Go - Goz

Call - Coli

Speak - Spoliz

Decide - Sevinez

Ask - Azi

Arrive - Arizi

Do - Doz

Receive - Rezin

See - Sez

Respond - Retroni

Leave - Leniz

Live - Litz

Know - Quzil

Act - Avi

Come - Coni

Play - Potz

Eat - Eaz

Like - Limni

Find - Foz

Think - Taszi

Keep - Koz

Choose - Cozop

So here are the verbs, can you both repeat after me and then complete the exercises in the worksheet.’ Mr. Zigi stated.

‘Sure, will do.’ Harry replied.

They followed Mr. Zigi and tried their best to pronounce each verb as close to him as possible. They followed by using the verbs and creating short sentences on the given worksheet until five P.M. As the time arrived, Mr. Zigi was about to conclude the lesson.

‘Alright, our lesson is finished for the day and both of you have done an excellent job at cooperating with me to learn Botilish! Please enjoy the rest of the evening and will see you guys there tomorrow!’ Mr. Zigi stated.

‘Alright thank you so much for today, we really appreciate it! See you again tomorrow.’ Harry replied.

‘Thank you, your lessons are over the roof! We will head back and practice a little longer before tomorrow!’ Milo replied as he placed the textbooks into his backpack.

‘No worries at all! I'm glad I could help.’ Mr. Zigi replied as he waved goodbye to them.

As they headed back to the hotel and ordered room service for dinner after a long day of learning Botilish. Time flew by in a blink of an eye, they were ready for bed. Milo reminded Harry to set an alarm for tomorrow morning so they would not be in such a rush like today.