In reading Sherlock Holmes, there are quite a few lines in French or German without translation. Would the average English reader in the 1890s be expected to understand multiple languages?

by iblamepaulsimon

I've found myself having to look up the translations and then realized there would be no easy way for a reader to easily access translations when these stories were written. Were the foreign language portions included as simply a means of showing Holmes' brilliance or was there something more to it? I know very little about the Victorian period and thus don't know the intellectual expectations with which Doyle was working.

lazerbeat

As a follow up question, the first Sherlock Holmes short stories and 2 of the novels were first published (or serialized) in the Strand Magazine, was the readership average in terms of literacy or was is aimed at more highly educated readers?

Edit - Sorry the first 3 volumes of short stories were published in the strand. That paragraph implied all of them were.