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Shall we impress upon our kids here how much FUN they miss out on being willfully, ignorantly monolingual? It isn't ever a matter of being fluent, it's about making an effort to COMMUNICATE!
Twenty years ago I went to Japan with $100 and an AE card. I knew enough of Japanese culture to sing folk songs, do line dances and my mastery of the pronunciation of just a few rudimentary phrases led people to believe I could actually speak. OH, the HILARITY that ensued as I biked with my hostess through the suburbs of Tokyo... I followed my dear Buddhist priest through the alleys of Osaka (at a proper distance, HEAD DOWN, HEAD DOWN) until we reached a Sukiyaki place (where the waitress was at least 70, ELEGANT and BREATHTAKINGLY BEAUTIFUL), ate and drank well, even SHE emitted a giggle at my attempts to "assimilate." So much laughter!
Last night I was depressed, hungry and didn't know what to do with myself... Then it occurred to me, RAMADAN ist vorbei!!! I rang Mama's bell. I understand her commands in Turkish. "SIT DOWN." "EAT." Damn it was tasty! "COME AGAIN! TOMORROW?" She speaks a Turkish/German dialect (as her children were born here and REFUSED to speak Turkish to her) that I'm S-L-O-W-L-Y beginning to be able to decipher. But I don't get to talk much after Papa and I finish waving our hands in the air and raising our voices about the crazy world in our pidgin Deutsch. He takes his leave and I am commanded to shut up, take the remote and eat. (She thinks I'm too thin...) OH, those NASTY Muslims! :sarcasm:
This guy across from me on the train was blabbing on his cellphone. I was switched off taking him for a Turk/Iraqi/Whatever. Then my ears said SPANISH ABER NICHT. When he concluded his call I asked him, WHO ARE YOU and what-the-hell language was that? Turns out he and the party-to-whom-he-was-speaking were BOTH born here, raised bi-lingual and had developed their own personal dialect. What a personal history I heard!
I WISH I could convey to those in the land of my birth HOW MUCH FUN it is to engage with others. Sadly, their assumptions of superiority and FEAR make it virtually impossible...
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