Linguas

The human tongue is an amazing thing. It can make noises, it can lick your lips, it can hurt, it can taste, it can love. One thing I've tried training it to do is speak many different languages. I'm a complete dork and in my down time would gladly decline a German adjective. (Honestly, it's not that hard!) You just need to memorize 16 different endings and then figure out what part of the sentence the word is in. For example... no I won't bore you. Anyway, I pride myself in my language ability. It's the one thing I know I'm good at. Until I got to Mozambique anyway. Most Mozambicans can speak 5+ languages. My housekeeper speaks Portuguese, Xitswa, Bitonga, Ronga, Arabic (she's Muslim) and I'm teaching her some English. My best friend in Homoine speaks Portuguese, Machope, Bitonga, Xitswa, Changaan, Ronga, French, English. Here comes along the white man with his English, Portuguese, German, Spanish and I feel inadequate. Anyway, we went to our local bar the other night and my friend Scott asked the owner (who happened to be born in Austria) whether or not I spoke German well. He said, yeah I do but just a little slow. Considering I haven't been to a German speaking country in 3 years... I took that as a compliment! The reason for this post though is that I've slowly noticed over this past year how my brain and my tongue just don't keep up with each other. It doesn't matter what language I speak in, I speak slow. Here's a visual, the Simpsons making fun of starving philosophical artists speak. Or for those that know Noel... :)

I like to thing its my brain hard wiring me to speak like an interpreter. Like Nicole Kidman in that movie.