It might not technically be stated anywhere that animal linguistics requires magical proficiency, but as NRC is a magic school it seems like the two would be related–but maybe not:
We don’t really know that every single class at NRC is magic based, and there are courses like Master Chef, for example, where the use of magic is forbidden.
Here is some of what it is that we have seen of animal linguistics in the game:
Jack has said that he is poor at animal linguistics, citing the fact that he is still a first-year student: “I know a few words in wolf, but other animals? Forget about it.”
Rook, Leona and Azul might be skilled at speaking with animals, but in Azul’s case it may have been an ability that he acquired via a contract that he lost in Book 3 (this is unconfirmed).
While listening to Ruggie speak with Lucius Leona seems to understand their conversation, describing Ruggie as “pretty fluent,” so it is possible that Leona has a decent grasp of animal linguistics as well.
Ruggie is, however, quick at picking up languages in general, not just those of animals (“I can say hello and goodbye and haggle prices in like ten different languages”) and Leona is one of the more intelligent people at the school (more here: Leona, Intelligence), so it is possible that their talent with animal linguistics is not related to how they happen to be beast people.
Animal Linguistics is Ruggie’s best subject (as well as Grim’s, with Grim capable of understanding Stitch during “Lost in the Book”), and neither student seems to be particularly adept at magic, from what we have been told.
Ruggie calls himself a “middling mage” while Idia says that Grim is as “lackluster with magic as he looks,” which seems like a decent argument in favor of animal-linguistics-talent being independent of the strength of one’s magic.
But this doesn’t technically mean that someone with no magic at all would be capable of learning it.
Jade has a comment about potionology that seems to relate to this topic, saying, “When it comes to potions, intelligence trumps magical power. That makes it the perfect subject for you, yes?” insinuating that the potionology might not require magic, and Riddle says that “The freshmen curriculum is more focused on magical theory than practice.”
So it seems the school does have classes that do not require magic, it may be possible that Animal Linguistics is one of them, and this opens the door to a lot of possibilities.
Do magicless schools in the Twst universe also offer animal linguistics and/or potionology classes? Or are they considered arcane subjects, even if magic is not technically required to study them? Is talking to animals no different from speaking a foreign language in this universe?
And then there is Silver:
It has not been confirmed that Silver understands what animals are saying, though they seem to understand him without the use of a foreign language, which we see Rook teach to Ace.
Rook’s comment on mole language being understood by hedgehogs seems to insinuate that “animal linguistics” is something of a blanket term to describe a variety of languages that might vary by species, yet Silver seems to talks to many different animals at once in one language that is also being understood by Kalim and Jamil, rather than speaking in a foreign language like Rook does.
And Rook and Silver aren’t the only characters who use light-magic during battles and have also been shown possessing inter-species communication abilities:
Kalim says that he is “great with animals,” with Jamil confirming that he has had empathy for animals since he was a child.
In a vignette Kalim seems to be corralling a menagerie of different animals together by himself, but it is revealed that Jamil is talking to the animals in the background, so we cannot be sure how successful Kalim would have been on his own.
There has possibly not been any commentary on Kalim’s magical abilities (unlike Ruggie and Grim), though we have been told that he is a poor student, so maybe his ability to commune with animals is being bolstered by his magic and/or natural talents?
Twisted Wonderland Reference Note 