I were smarter and more energetic, I would not be bound by English. There are many languages in the world but I am only comfortable in one of them. I have studied others. Latin for two years in grades 9 and 10, French in grades 11 and 12. An all-boys class with a strict woman PhD teacher still had some snickers over the Latin for “sheath” [vagina]. I have since remembered the Latin for “baggage” many times. We need our baggage but it is impedimenta, too
Both of my daughters did so well in French that they received credit for a semester of college French from their high school studies. My wife studied French and liked doing so. My great grandson speaks French. Well, one word only, but to hear a young boy suddenly exclaim, “Voila!” in the midst of his conversation is arresting. He also speaks the Spanish for water, uncle and aunt.
In graduate school, I was informed that an educated person reads two foreign languages. My friend had worked with the Maori people of New Zealand and wanted their language to be one of his PhD requirements but he was refused. I, too, needed modern languages that had a research literature that I might be required to study someday. Ok, I had studied French so that was one. I had heard that German was a cousin of English so maybe I could pass the exam in German. After all, I could look at the words “maus” and “haus” and tell what their English equivalents were. My major was research and testing and I knew the theory of multiple choice tests. That might give me an edge.
I did pass the required grad exam in French but was told I needed to confer with the foreign language testing office. They informed me that I was 2 standard deviations below the mean in German, ranking in the lowest 2.5 % of those taking the test. That simply wouldn’t do. I was required to register for German 0, the 8 AM class for doctoral students trying to pass the German exam. I attended, faithfully, as I remember. Took the exam a second time. Told I needed to confer with the foreign language testing office. They informed me that this time, I scored only one standard deviation below the mean, above about 16% of the class. Not great but such progress that I was to be listed as passing the German exam. Auf Weidersehen, Herr Kirby, und viel Gluck!
Later, I was entrusted with shepherding 40 students for a stay in London, where I knew much of the language but had some difficulty understanding its spoken form, especially as spoken by those from Glasgow. On the tour of Europe, I got a chance to see just how much French and German I knew. Approximately zilch. Standing in a bookstore where everything was in Dutch, another cousin of English, I realized I couldn’t read a thing. Looking at a sign in the Czech republic that read “xxx Z xxx”, I realized my language studies had not given me a clue about a free standing Z. A little diacritical mark above it was no help.
Since then, I have had a little instruction in Spanish and 6 classes of Chinese. I have not learned much from either but it is my fault, since I didn’t study or practice. My wife’s grandmother was born in Cuba so my mother-in-law could surprise the pants off her 2nd husband several years into their marriage when she began holding a conversation with a stranger in Spanish. The other grandmother spoke Finnish so I know that ‘musta’ is Finnish for ‘black’.
I very much admire Italy and Italian and have listened to several sets of that language. I can say,”Come stai” [how are you] properly, I think.
