#I took plenty of language classes too but unfortunately nothing ever stuck but sign language

[chronal-anomaly]

Does tracer know sign language? How about other languages in general?

Unprompted || always accepting!!

Oh man Ruki once again you have itched just the right part of my brain.

I'm working on a long-form headcanon about this, where I spit out my actual speech nerd nonsense on everyone, but I'll break it down a little here.

In short, no. Lena doesn't know ASL/BSL as it traditionally known. For those who don't know, ASL/BSL are fully-formed languages, with grammar and language rules that are unique to the language. Very similar to how English is structured differently than Spanish or German, ASL/BSL don't have the same structure as the languages they derive from (ASL grammar is actually closer to French, fun fact, because it was a French man who came up with it. I digress).

Lena knows a pidgin of sign language, which is a bit of mashing-together of language and language rules. In essence, her and Winston and any typical visitors to the isolation chamber (barring doctors, as Lena often made things as difficult as humanly possible for them at times), created their own "sign language", using typically known gestures, ASL/BSL derived signs, and mainly verbal English shorthand rules, with some ASL/BSL rules to communicate. The iso chamber was not soundproof, but Lena was borderline non-speaking for a lot of the time when she was 'fresh' from Time, anywhere from 1-3 weeks post return.

Beyond that, Lena doesn't speak much fluently. However, due to her experiences in time being so diverse, she was able to pick up enough to 'get by' essentially, surviving as a stranger in a strange land who didn't speak the language. These were basic enough phrases, enough to get her safely oriented to the area and gave her enough context to the situation. If Lena believed that she would be spending enough time there to warrant it, and it was possible, she'd attempt to find a job, where more contextual language was important. Otherwise, she'd steal her way until Time reclaimed her again. Her basic-but-passable languages include some German, French, verbal aspects of Arabic and a very, very basic framework of Portuguese. She knows these languages enough to get a job doing manual labor, where nobody would ask many questions of the newcomer who otherwise remained very quiet and withdrawn.

She was often in total-immersion situations, where she either learned the language or perished. French is likely the best-known language, as she spent 4-6 months there before being whisked off to another Timeline. But again, "best" was enough to get her a job in an ancient time with ancient attitudes. Hardly conversational now. However, learning that much of French made it easier to pick up the Latin-based languages.

This got so long and I'm not even done with my longform headcanon. THANK YOU Ruki you always ask the best headcanon questions love you sm!!!!