Porthole

Me speak English ... poorly (I'm American gimme a break)

30DBC: "How many languages do you speak? If you could instantly learn any language and be able to speak it fluently, what language would you pick? How would you use it and where would you go?"

5 ... poorly.

Let me explain.

1. English. I'm American and have difficulty understanding the English at times. Forget the Scots. I can hear the melody of the Irish best. The Norwegians are the easiest to understand and speak it better than I do. Lots of Irish where I grew up; here too. I have a Wisconsin accent although I've never lived there. I partially devoice final voiced consonants like many who grew up among German Americans.

2. French. I was raised with silly French songs and I can still remember snippets of them. I sing those to people who speak French. It makes them laugh; we all know the same songs. I had French in grade school and high school. I never could quite speak it. The grammar drives me nuts. My accent however isn't too awful. I last spoke French in Taiwan.

3. I was bored ... so I took Spanish in Summer school. Aced it throughout high-school. Bombed out in college but I was adored by my Spanish teacher because I wasn't a Spanish major. I went to Costa Rica and went mute. One month stranded in Peru helped. Having a car accident that jumbled my brain may have helped more. Afterwards I took in refugees and ... could think and dream in it. A miracle, imho. Someone in IT would probably say that old damaged software was dumped and a newer version installed. Whatever. I speak it all the time now. I sound Central American.

4. Portuguese. I took it in college on a whim. After a year I could actually speak it with a Brazilian accent, but ... Costa Rica ... and if you don't use it you lose it. I can still understand a lot. Helped in Portugal. I still speak it with a Brazilian accent though. I last used it on the plane (NRT-PDX) with a young Portuguese-Dane from Winnipeg. (Can't make this s*** up!)

5. Norwegian. I wanted to speak it sooooo bad. I've been interested in Norway since I was 12. But... it wouldn't stick. The verbs drove me nuts. Now that I understand how they work I could learn it if I focused on studying it. I can speak a little. People tell me I sound Swedish... I've used it in Norway, Albania ... even Taiwan last year!

There isn't a language I don't want to learn. An implant would do me well. Yes, Mandarin would be nice but you should see how people smile when I say thank-you in Taiwanese instead. Even shocked someone by saying thanks in Atayal last trip.

I use language to connect. Everywhere I go in the world ...

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