Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A Futile Attempt to Break the Language Barrier


I met with my language buddy today to speak for 1/2 hour before enslaving myself to an essay for the remainder of the evening.


Here is an exchange that we had in English at the end of our meeting which I thought was kind of humorous:


Me: "Thanks for speaking with me today."


Buddy: "Thank you too."


Me: "Next week I'll be sure to bring my A-game."


Buddy: "What does that mean?"


Me: "Um, I wasn't too alert today, I was making all sorts of mistakes. Next time I'll do better."


Buddy: "Oh, I see."



We had just spent 1/2 hour speaking in Spanish. Sure we made all sorts of mistakes and pauses and searched around for very basic words, but there was very little miscommnication between us. Then, in switching back to English, which we have both spoken since birth, I immediately say something that is totally incomprehensible to her.


Go figure.


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