From the introduction, each being speaks two different of the eight official
interstellar languages; and each language is spoken by two of the visitors.
By clue 3, Romulus speaks Earth and Symbolic; while by clue 5, YanChe speaks
Flavian and Z. By clue 4, Laird Alfred could communicate to xRySzT through
Fala Bett, so the two languages Fala Bett speaks can't be any of the four
given in clues 3 and 5 or more than two of the beings would speak one of the
languages (for example, if Fala Bett spoke Earth, so would Romulus and either
Laird Alfred or xRySzT). So, we'll call the two tongues Fala Bett speaks A
and B, with Laird Alfred also speaking A and xRySzT speaking B. Similarly,
by clue 7, Muujeeb acted as direct interpretor between Krom and Voldema, so
that Muujeeb cannot speak any of the six languages given so far or there would
be three beings who understand one language. We designate the two languages
Muujeeb speaks as C and D, with Krom then also speaking C and Voldema D. Each
of Laird Alfred, xRySzT, Krom, and Voldema then speaks a different one of the
four languages understood by Romulus and YanChe. By clue 9, neither Laird
Alfred nor Voldema could speak directly to Romulus, so neither of then speaks
Earth or Symbolic; they speak Flavian and Z, or vice versa, and Krom and xRySzT
must speak Earth and Symbolic, or vice versa. The quickest route for Fala
Bett to talk to YanChe did not involve Z (clue 8). The quickest route for Fala
Bett to communicate to YanChe was directly through Laird Alfred; therefore,
Laird Alfred speaks Flavian, while Voldema understands Z. Neither being who
speaks Asimovian understands Flavian or Z (2), so Asimovian can't be language
A (spoken by Laird Alfred) or language D (spoken by Voldema). Language B,
spoken by xRySzT, also isn't Asimovian (6). Muujeeb and Krom speak Asimovian,
which must be language C. By clue 4, Centaurian wasn't used when Fala Bett
translated for Laird Alfred and xRySzT and isn't language A or B. Muujeeb
and Voldema speak Centaurian, language D. By clue 1, New Greco isn't spoken
by Laird Alfred and thus isn't language A; Fala Bett and xRySzT speak
New Greco. By elimination, language A is Rimtongue and is understood by Fala
Bett and Laird Alfred. Finally, xRySzT speaks New Greco and Earth (1) and
Krom is fluent in Symbolic. Summarizing, the eight beings speak instellar
languages as follows:
- Fala Bett, New Greco & Rimtongue
- Krom, Asimovian & Symbolic
- Laird Alfred, Flavian & Rimtongue
- Muujeeb, Asimovian & Centaurian
- Romulus, Earth & Symbolic
- Voldema, Centaurian & Z
- xRySzT, Earth & New Greco
- YanChe, Flavian & Z
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