Love Leiden

Have you ever wondered what it is like to speak a foreign language?

As I was cycling along a few days ago coming from a full day of speaking Dutch, an analogy sprang to mind.  Speaking a foreign language is like walking along in the rain under an umbrella having a conversation with the person holding the umbrella.  We’ve all done that and it is a distinctly uncomfortable experience.

The person holding the umbrella (the native speaker) holds all the cards, and you are just tagging along.  They have much more control over where you go and control whether or not you remain under the umbrella or not.  You, on the other hand, are desperately trying to tag along and stay under its cover, hoping not to fall out of line.

The whole thing is certainly do-able, but you end up tired after a short time, and you’ve almost definitely got one wet shoulder from where you didn’t stay close enough!

Then the sun comes out!  You switch to your native tongue.  Aah, the relief of it!  The difference is enormous, no more walking along in a funny fashion trying to follow someone else’s lead.  You can now go where you want and with no hindrances again.  Wonderful.

So there you go, the joys of living and operating in a non-native language.  Fortunately the umbrella gets bigger and bigger every week!