poll: languages

Erica Neely tries to convince me to bid for chocolates at
the Concertino Interfilk auction.
Photo by Jim Leonard.


Everyone seems to how to speak more languages than I do. Like every other Canadian of my generation, I had to take French in school, but I recall very little of my lessons except being highly intimidated by the teacher, who yelled everything in French with the enthusiasm of an Army sergeant. I opted out of French as soon as I was able, and thus managed to escape the legendary ferocity of the Grade 13 French teacher, whose spittle-enhanced lectures inspired the more savvy students to sit as far from the front of the class as possible.

My parents always spoke English when we were little, wanting us to fit in with the other children, but speaking in Japanese when talking privately about topics we should not be overhearing ( and of course that made Ruth, Jim and me listen that much harder, hoping to pick up enough words to understand what was going on).



Gary McGath. Photo by Jim Leonard.



My mother's first language was Japanese, and her accent was strong enough that I learned a number of words and phrases as a child that I later realized were regular English, but enhanced with my mother's Japanese accent. I was also familiar with a collection of "kiddy Japlish"" words like "neh-neh time", which means bedtime.

My friends Scott and Anita, who are visiting from Vienna, are both fluent in German. Andrea's husband Tom knows a zillion languages. I know a tiny smattering of Japanese and French, some useful phrases in German ("I like chocolate!") and Swedish ("My hovercraft is full of eels!") but little else.



Jodi, Allison and I perform at Concertino.
Photo by Jim Leonard.


What about the rest of you? What languages do you know well enough to hold a decent conversation in? What about reading and writing? What languages do you wish you knew?

July/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ