Our house is a mix of languages. In addition to the family, there are two European students here.
Judith is German. She had more homework than me the other night, so I offered to help her out with the vocabulary she was studying. But her key was in German and Spanish, so I wasn’t much of a help in checking her. I pointed to the funniest-looking German word I could find and asked how to say it. The first word I learned in German was…are you ready for this?...the word for the hair on your legs or underarms. Yep, there’s a German word just for that body hair. And it’s a crazy word! My pronunciation ushered in roaring laughter. And then Judith and I were officially friends.
Massimo is Italian. He brought an Italian newspaper to Guatemala, and the other day, he had me read the headlines while he helped me with Italian pronunciation. He continues to be shocked that I don’t know who Valentino Rossi is. Apparently, everyone should keep up with motociclismo, or whatever it is in English. I know more Spanish than Massimo, but he has the added advantage of speaking a language with similar sounds and structures. When he doesn’t know a word in Spanish, he cheats and throws in Italian. Sometimes he gets away with it, but when I ask about the word I don’t know, he has to admit it’s Italian.
Sometimes I wish the whole world spoke the same language, but I admit things would be far less interesting that way!
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