One of my former supervisors wrote in a letter of recommendation that I spoke 6 languages fluently. I'm not certain which six he meant. I did have a firm grasp of Spanish, German, Croatian and, of course, English at the time. I had also learned a bit of Polish for the time I spent working in a children's hospital in Krakow.
Ah yes, and I had already begun my eternal struggle with French. But six languages fluently is a bit of an exaggeration. It's not my fault Dr R hadn't checked his facts. The letter is dubiously full of double entendre and has typos--one line refers to me as 'he' which was pretty interesting. I never made use of that reference for serious purposes. Dr R meant well (I think!), but that letter didn't do either of us much of a service.
It did however impress my students. I made copies of old references to show them how it's done. I re-read the letters afterwards, to remind myself of the content.
Those referees didn't know the half of it. Ha! And the letters say a lot more about them than they do about me. But that's okay. It sounds good. And when other people make you sound good, it sounds better than you can ever make yourself sound...Know what I mean?
Oh, and as for the fluency thing, I do make a habit of speaking every language (except English, which I'm sure I stank at when I first began) fluently right from the start. I simply mimic the natives and act as if I know what I'm saying.
I'm pretty good at faking it. The one Chinese insult I know knocks the shoes off anyone Cantonese. And when I tell the French in perfect French that I don't speak French, they invariably glare at me and reply "Of course, you do." Then again, that may just be the French...
HUGS FOR HAITI!!!! (Another good reason to learn French!)
Ob ich das Gelabber von oben auch noch überstze? nay, lohnt sich nicht. Nun soll aber klar gestellt werden, Deutsch ist eine meiner Lieblingssprachen. Sie ist die Sprache meiner Selbstrealisation und fordert mich stets heraus. Hurra! Gottseidank für hervorragende Lehrkräfte!
