Sunday, November 15, 2009

Language Awakening

Some of you know and speak more than one language. Some know one single language, and are content with that. Some of you are learning more languages. Bravo to you. For some it is easy, for others a struggle. I grew up speaking German, my parents coming here as immigrants after WWII. Both with only a 6th grade education, because war has no time for such luxuries as education. And although they spoke many languages albeit some better than others, German, Yugoslavian, Hungarian, Polish, Russian  they now had to learn one more, English. They were older, exhausted from the war, in a country where nothing was familiar,and found it difficult. I often was embarassed by their accents as a child, and proud of their accomplishments when I was older.They spoke German with my