Breathing in several grammars, she was melding them together inside her body, and then exhaling them as sweet breath. Listening to those strange sentences, I stopped worrying about whether or not they were grammatically correct, and felt I was gliding through water.
-- Knut (chapter 1 paragraph 5)

Importance: Knut is entranced by Hiruko speaking Panska on the television talk show, as he is a student of linguistics and has never heard this language before. It changes him, causing him to be less concerned with grammar and more interested in simply letting the sounds of the words wash over him. Panska is a language that is fluid, a melding of multiple Scandinavian languages that allows Hiruko to communicate with anyone in the region. This is especially beneficial to an immigrant like Hiruko, who longs to feel at home in the world after her home country has disappeared.

...I said that matcha must come from Spanish, like macho...
-- Knut (chapter 1 paragraph 6)