I love English

Yes, it's true. The more that I study another language, the more that I love my own. Here's my new favorite quote (taken from Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik):

"We breathe in our first language, and swim in our second."

It is so very true. I breathe in English. I find myself constructing long, complicated sentences with the biggest words I can think of in English just for the fun of it and to prove that I really can speak one language well.

I swim...barely keeping my head above water these days, in French. Some of us swim better than others in that second (or third or fourth language), but to really breathe in more than one language is truly something incredible. My kids might do this if we stay in France long enough. That is amazing to consider.

Here are two things that I love, love, love about English that I never realized that I loved about English before studying French:

1 - A word is a word. Period. If you know the word and it's meaning then you can just use it. There's no considering whether the word is masculine or feminine. All the adjectives and articles do not have to agree with that masculine or feminine word. And, the pronunciation of the words does not change depending on whether that word is masculine or feminine. UGH!!!!!!!! Can I just say it again? UGH!!!!!

2 - I love it that we do NOT conjugate verbs. Sure, we have various forms of our verbs (plural or non-plural, present or past-tense), but not conjugations. It's just so much easier that way. And, my small mind thinks, "if you do want to conjugate verbs, why couldn't they always follow the same pattern?" Why are there so many exceptions? UGH!!!!!

I'm guessing someone who's first language is not English might have another perspective about this subject. :-) Certainly there's nothing too terribly difficult about speaking English, right! (I hope you can detect my sarcasm.) I can assure you of one thing. This year is increasing my respect ten-fold for people who speak multiple languages.

So, if you think of it, pray for this tired old brain to remember all of these millions of verb conjugations, hordes of grammar rules with seemingly long lists of exceptions, and finally WHICH words are feminine or masculine!

(And, now in the spirit of the classic children's book called Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans)
"Good bye, little girl!
Thank the Lord you are well!
And now go study your French!
said Madame Claire.
And she turned on the light---
and closed the door---
and that's all there is---
there isn't any more."