Today’s prompt: What language do you wish you could speak?

In the eleventh grade, we had a French foreign exchange student come to our school and he created a lot of excitement. We had never had a foreign exchange student before, so everyone was anxious to meet him.

He was in a couple of classes with me and I got a crush on him—and, fortunately for me, he sat next to me in our classes so it seemed natural to talk with each other. When he had a question, he would lean over and ask me to explain more about the meaning of some word the teacher had used—that French accent was so thrilling in the tones whispered in my teen ear. We did become friends pretty quickly and good friends before long. We ate lunch together and spent a lot of time working on improving his understanding of the confusing “American” English language. I decided then and there that I needed to learn to speak French so I could follow him home . . .

Of course, I never did learn French and I did not follow him home, but I have always thought I should learn to speak French in memory of a very special friend from, oh, so many decades ago! Latin is really the only language I studied other than English and, of course, I do not speak Latin.

BUT, language is just a means of communication,
and there are many ways to “speak”—
I do feel that I speak and understand pretty well in “cat’ and
usually do okay in “dog” and maybe a little in “bird.”

A language I have wished I could understand is “squirrel.” They always seem to be chattering about so much that I figure they are either sharing some really “juicy” gossip or giving out information on the best eating places—could be very interesting to hear what they have to “say.”

Bottom line for me: I need to listen better so I can “speak” better with those I come in contact with – because speaking is not just about being heard, it is about being understood . . .
—-
tag: bloganuary
#bloganuary