Friday, December 04, 2015

Language

I think that my capacity to learn languages -- to improve my ability to understand spoken French, to speak, let alone understand, Italian -- and to use them is dropping.  I am not sure why, but it's a depressing thought.

It's just harder than it was, five years ago.  Words don't stick.  (Okay, some: I'll probably always remember C'est quoi, cette merde? But most, not).  Its not as much fun to learn new phrases.  Even the one that a correspondant told me the other day, saying I knew you would like this  -- which was, I think, Je te renverrai l'ascenseur, which means literally I'll send the elevator back for you, and effectively I'll pay you back for this appreciated action  -- doesn't quite stick.  I like the idea, but the actual phrase, I'm not sure I will remember in one month, two months.  Let alone be able to work into a conversation.

I hope I'm not getting stupider.

2 comments:

RozWarren said...

At 61, my memory isn't what it was, and my memory has never been all that good. Don't give up! Learning languages is not only part of who you are, but the effort probably helps keep your brain functioning.

Cerulean Bill said...

I'm not planning on giving up. I simply wish that it came as easily as it did five years ago. (And I know that it DIDN'T come easy, back then....)