JumpStart by Robb Armstrong for January 29, 2024

Lack of practice?

Lack of exposure. I speak fluent French but my written French is poor. I speak it with friends in France and Quebec…..

It’s like the king of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander. He speaks 5 languages fluently, including English. I am semi-fluent in Spanish and am learning Dutch.

My coworker is teaching himself Spanish, and doing so well that when he signed up for a beginner’s class, they kicked him out – into a higher class!

I can order two beers in four or five languages!

When I was very young, my dad was stationed in France with the US Army. We did not live on post and my parents put me in a French nursery school. French wound up being my first fluent language followed by English. I also learned enough German and Italian to get along with the other kids. I wish I had hung onto my fluency, but I didn’t have anyone to talk to when we got back to the States (I was 4 when we returned).

If you don’t use it, you lose it…

It must be hard never staying in one place.

Cardinal Joseph Caspar Mezzofanti, a late 18th century Italian cleric, spoke 39 languages as fluently as ayone speaks their native tongue. He also spoke, less than fluently, 11 languages and understood 20 additional languages.

He is believed to have been the greatest linguist who ever lived.

Knew a boy at school who spoke ‘only’ 9 languages. His mom spoke 16. Talk about a deflating ego with my meager three.

I think languages are a DNA thing, passed down through families.

Some people pick up another language easily, while others can’t pick up anything.

I’ve tried learning other languages. Three years of Spanish in high school; a Japanese cassette course; an online German course. Nothing ever stuck. I guess my brain can only handle this language (and barely, at that).

Spanglish is a thing. Perhaps an opportunity to participate in the sea change.

A lot of Italian immigrants lived in my neighborhood as I was growing up. All of them had one thing in common. The parents spoke only Italian but understood English. My friends, their kids, spoke only English but understood Italian.

Mi inglish iz ay liddle rustee az wel.

All those countries in a short stretch? One of the parents must be a diplomat.

To move backward, it’s a big world but they’re running out of places to hide The Shark.

Julie Andrews hid from the Nazis in a convent—-try there

Interesting strip, but I wanted a follow-up on Dana and DelRay!