Hagrid was going through the most painful period of his life.
Hermione and Harry squeezed time out of their busy schedules to teach him how to read and write, starting from the very basics of phonetics. Ron had originally planned to coast through and spend his time playing with Fang, but he was forced down into a seat and made to study along with them.
Hogwarts did not have a "Language" subject, and young wizards' education in linguistics depended almost entirely on their families.
Chapter 207