# I'm Back. Kind of.



## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

I haven't posted here for several months. Life got in my way, including the birth of the most amazing baby on earth, my grandson, William.

I was lucky enough to be able to spend his first two and a half weeks of life with him and to take care of his mom, so she could take care of him. It was wonderful watching her husband become the father he had believed, for so long, he didn't want to be--he ADORES that baby!

At the moment, I'm limited in online time. I was in a car accident two weeks ago and sustained a pretty serious concussion. Reading too long, bright lights, looking up, all those really unusual behaviors-heh-lead to pain and headaches, so I'm taking it slow.

But there was something I wanted to share.

Some of you may remember that my retirement plans have changed, from full time in MX, to 3/4 time in coastal Italy, and 1/4 time in coastal MX. Even so, I was a little worried about the language. I've been learning, off and on, to speak Italian, but the idea of properly using the various tenses for verbs was daunting.

Then, one day, while I was in Italy, I realized something. My son in law is a language teacher, and speaking well is important to him. Nevertheless, when he's speaking in English, he ALWAYS uses the present tense, and modifies with adverbs and adjectives to get his point across. "I go there on Wed, Yesterday I see that is it sunny."

And I realized that I can do the same in Italian or Spanish. To make it even nicer, I shared that observation with my daughter. She acknowledged that it was true, and added that, in the 13 years that she's lived, off and on, in Italy, even when she first got there, she has had a total of two people ever try to make her feel bad about not speaking the language well. TWO. If we spend 13 years or so in Italy and MX, I am pretty sure that I can handle two rude people.

As can all of us, right? Hence, my point: learning a new language can be a challenge at any age, and if one has not learned one for a long time, even more challenging. But to know that the people who live in a country, such as IT OR MX, are willing to allow one to make mistakes, so long as one is trying, well, that's reassuring!


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

Good to see you back here, posting. Congrats! on the new grandson.

About languages: my experience, and I've traveled to scores of foreign countries, is that people everywhere (including the USA) are very appreciative and tolerant of non-native speakers who make the attempt to communicate in the language of the country they find themselves at the moment. I think the important thing is to make the effort and in return listeners will appreciate the effort and overlook the flaws. My Spanish is far from perfect but yet I travel comfortably throughout Mexico and people understand what I'm saying or trying to say and I understand them similarly.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

mickisue1 said:


> …
> But there was something I wanted to share.
> 
> Some of you may remember that my retirement plans have changed, from full time in MX, to 3/4 time in coastal Italy, and 1/4 time in coastal MX. Even so, I was a little worried about the language. I've been learning, off and on, to speak Italian, but the idea of properly using the various tenses for verbs was daunting.
> ...


Welcome back. I wish you a quick recovery.

I don't speak Chinese, but I have a friend who teaches it. She told me that in Chinese the verbs are not conjugated at all. So, in Chinese the correct grammar does just that: uses adverbs or adjectives to supply the sense of time.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

TundraGreen said:


> Welcome back. I wish you a quick recovery.
> 
> I don't speak Chinese, but I have a friend who teaches it. She told me that in Chinese the verbs are not conjugated at all. So, in Chinese the correct grammar does just that: uses adverbs or adjectives to supply the sense of time.


But if you're not speaking Chinese and if you want to communicate properly, then it is necessary to conjugate verbs in Spanish and English. Sticking an adverb in front of the basic verb form to indicate the tense just doesn't cut it.


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## mickisue1 (Mar 10, 2012)

Absolutely, Isla. But my concern was being able to communicate at all. And, if we can understand son in law with his version of the baffling language of English, I'm not so worried that I won't be able to communicate, even if imperfectly, in Italian or Spanish.

It helped to be driving myself around for the three and a half days my daughter was in the hospital; I could go to the grocery store and do fine, you know?


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

mickisue1 said:


> Absolutely, Isla. But my concern was being able to communicate at all. And, if we can understand son in law with his version of the baffling language of English, I'm not so worried that I won't be able to communicate, even if imperfectly, in Italian or Spanish.
> 
> It helped to be driving myself around for the three and a half days my daughter was in the hospital; I could go to the grocery store and do fine, you know?


I agree with you and with Isla, if you do really take it as a temporary thing.
The problem here is that, if you don't practice it right from the start, it will stick to your memory as an apache version

Hope you feel better!


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

GARYJ65 said:


> I agree with you and with Isla, if you do really take it as a temporary thing.
> The problem here is that, if you don't practice it right from the start, it will stick to your memory as an apache version
> 
> Hope you feel better!


Not sure what GARY means by "an apache version", but if your early attempts at speaking a language don't aim at speaking the language more or less correctly, you end up with what language teachers call "fossilized" language, which is very hard to change.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

Isla Verde said:


> Not sure what GARY means by "an apache version", but if your early attempts at speaking a language don't aim at speaking the language more or less correctly, you end up with what language teachers call "fossilized" language, which is very hard to change.


That's exactly what I wanted to say!
Apache version: in Spanish we say one speaks like an apache when : yo querer comida


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