I'm writing a historical fiction novel where the main character is a student at a university in Scotland, but his ability to speak German is important later in the story. How likely is it that he'd have learned it in school?
Language learning has always been very important in Europe and extremely necessary for the ruling households. Much of that language learning was when they are younger though.
My honest follow up question is would the students have even been able to make it to a university setting without knowing these languages?