Two posts in one week?! Look at me go!


          Not to go back to the same subject over and over, but I am literally ASTOUNDED by the amount of bilingual/trilingual/quatlingual (that last one is most definitely not a word) people in Europe.  A new Japanese student moved into my homestay in order to take a one month intensive French course at the Universite here.  When I first heard her speak I was given an immediate sense of relief.  Before her arrival, I had assumed that her being a non-American meant that she probably had nailed the language and knew every tense and exception to every grammar rule that has ever existed in the french language. But, as it turns out, I was proven wrong.  Turns out the new student couldn't speak very well, which I was pretty pumped about, being by far the worst French speaker in my household. My confidence high soon came to an end, however, when I found out that French is not her second--nor her third--language, but instead it is her fourth. Yes, not only does she speak her native Japanese fluently (duh), but she had also just spent a year (ONE single year) in Brazil mastering Portuguese, and has taken a couple years of english lessons as well. FABULOUS. 


          One would think that knowing how to speak four languages would be an extreme feat, at least for Americans, but in Europe, it really isn't.  I found out the other week that my host mother also speaks at least four languages (French, Portugese, Spanish, Italian, and some english I believe) which, to my knowledge, is essentially UNHEARD of back in the states.  


          These shocking realizations have got me thinking about my acquaintances back home and the languages they speak. After thinking long and hard, I can come up with two people I know who are truly bilingual (congrats, Ahhhlex and Jess!), and probably four people other than those who can potentially carry a simple conversation in a foreign tongue. Of all the hundreds people I am acquainted with, I can come up with 6 who can speak one other language besides their native tongue. That is truly shocking to me as of late.


          As of now, I am a little too tired to try and decipher a coherent meaning/message learned from this revelation, so I will just end this post with some random word vomit. By the time I leave Europe, I hope to be bilingual according to international standards. I have between 2 and 5 months left (fingers crossed I can find a family to au pair with over the summer!), and from here on out I will try my hardest to speak seulement en francais with anyone and everyone who understands french.  Also, on a (semi) random note, I have made it my personal goal to 'profite-bien' from all the internationals here and all the different languages spoken and learn how to say/write the word 'water' in as many languages as possible. Allons-y!


ming.