Multi-lingual

I promise that all of my cultural narratives will not involve food. But the other day I had a very surreal experience when Lauren and I went to the supermarket, to buy, among other things, Parmesan cheese. We went to the cheese counter, but couldn’t find anything like it. I asked the man working there, “Parlez-vous Anglais?” He replied, “No, but I speak …” and then proceeded to list the four or five languages that he did. Somehow, instead of speaking French, we ended up conversing in Spanish. I took 5 years of Spanish but was a little rusty, as discovered that now I speak it with a French accent. However, despite this, we understood each other perfectly. It seemed like Spanish was his native tongue so he seemed happy to have the opportunity to speak it in France. He was very helpful and showed us where there was a different cheese section, which had Parmesan.

            I was really proud of myself for knowing enough to be able to switch between languages so that I would be best understood. Yes, most of the people I’ve interacted with know a little English, but it is always nice to speak in your native tongue and if I only conversed in English then that doesn’t allow the other person that opportunity. And it made me very jealous of the majority of Europeans who are fluent in many languages. I’m intermediate in Spanish and French, and know basic Chinese and Korean but am only fluent in English. But I wish that America emphasized more the importance of speaking multiple languages, like Europe. It seems that they are able to have a deeper connection with others because of this skill. And this is probably why we always think of Europeans as more ‘worldly’ or ‘cultured’.