What Language Do You Speak?

Language is fascinating. There are hundreds of languages and dialects around the world, each one with their nuances and little quirks. In some cases there are lots of similarities. For example, if you speak Spanish, it would be rather easy to pick up Portuguese. Many of the words are alike but then, once upon a time, Portugal was part of Spain.

Gaelic is another example. It goes back hundreds of years and at one time when some of the Picts decided to go off on their own, their version of the language changed until today when we have Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic. There are lots they share but each also has its differences. Personally, I love to listen to the Scottish Gaelic. I may not understand any of it but I like the sound of it. With the English ruling the country, the Gaelic, for the most part has been allowed to die out. The language hasn't been passed down to each new generation. There is a group of people, though, who have been working to bring back it back. I hope they succeed.

No matter where you go in the world, I think the most asked question is "Do you speak English?" More than three quarters of the world's population know at least a smattering of the language, enough to get by on while the majority of us speak it fairly well. English is considered to be the hardest language to learn, as a second language. There are a ton of rules to learn and every one of them has its exceptions. Some of those exceptions probably have their own exceptions as well. Not a wonder people have such a hard time learning English.

If you weren't born learning English, then I can understand the frustration. I'm one of those people who doesn't learn languages easily, the secret being that you have to think in that language, not translate in your head. I just couldn't get the hang of that concept and kept trying to mentally translate the words. It certainly slowed down my learning process. (Not a wonder I couldn't get through Spanish in college) If I were to try again to learn a language, I think I'd do much better now than I did twenty years ago. (Didn't help either that other students in the class already had Portuguese, although they often confused the two.. That put them way ahead of me.)

I love the little quirks. In Britain, the boot is the trunk of the car, the bonnet is the hood, boots are wellies, umbrellas are brollies, a baby carriage is a pram and what we call soccer, they call football. Actually, that one makes a lot of sense, the rest...not so much. But that's language for you. Which brings me to a final point.

If those terms are part of the English language, then why don't we use them here? I don't know what anyone else might suggest but I have a simple answer... 

I speak AMERICAN!