All of this reminds me of a jewel of cross-lingual gymnastics performed by a Bulgarian woman. I know that sometimes when I speak Bulgarian I sound exactly like this woman. I'm so thankful for patient friends who don't laugh at my attempts (much!).
There comes a time in every language learner's life when they wonder which language they actually know. It's happened several times to me. For example, in the middle of explaining some aspect of English grammar in an English club, I suddenly discovered that halfway through my sentence I had switched to Bulgarian without noticing. Other times I get stuck trying to think of a word in English. Because I know that there is a perfectly good English word used for that object or action. I just can't remember it. Today I adjecitved a verb. This is possible in Bulgarian, as many adjectives are formed using the verb. But I informed a friend with all confidence that bantam roosters were "attacky."
All of this reminds me of a jewel of cross-lingual gymnastics performed by a Bulgarian woman. I know that sometimes when I speak Bulgarian I sound exactly like this woman. I'm so thankful for patient friends who don't laugh at my attempts (much!).
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Elisabeth CarySharing the love of Christ to make known the hope of Christ in Bulgaria. Archives
November 2018
Categories
All
|