Which languages do you speak and how did that impact your life?

People in the US do languages wrong. We don’t teach other languages until junior high or high school, when children have more difficulty in learning them. I took French for two years in high school, and I barely know enough to get to the bathroom. I don’t know verb tenses, and I don’t know many verbs in the first place. But I have the first conversation in the French textbook memorized:

Bonjour, Guy.

Bonjour, Michel. Ca va?

Oui, ca va.

(My keyboard does not do cedillas.)

I also can say “Shall we go to the beach?” In French, which will come in handy perhaps never.

It disadvantages me that I do not speak other languages. Not only in international travel, but the fact that the more languages one knows, the easier one can learn new languages. So a lifetime of facility in languages has been denied me.

I went to graduate school with people who knew five languages. In many African countries, this is apparently the norm. I envied them their ability to communicate. I still do. The American Way is not ideal.