This evening, after leaving my Spanish class, I went to the ladies'. While in the restroom, I had two thoughts:
1. No toilet paper? (checking around me) Oh, there it is.
2. I'm excited to read the last chapter of my book tonight.
The strange thing was that those thoughts both came to me in Spanish. Complex - or relatively complex - sentences have only recently started coming to me in Spanish, and I am thrilled. I know this is the beginning of a good path, and I can't wait to walk down it.
Next I got on the phone and called my friend, speaking to her in English. After I hung up, I read the rest of my book (highly, highly recommended, also in English), only to explain to The Boy how great it was in French when I got home. I cooked Mexican tonight, and twice I noticed myself reading the expiration date (of the cheese, of the meat) to myself in Spanish. Then I said to The Boy in Lingala, "We're going to eat," when the food was ready.
In English, "you" is the second person singular. In Spanish, "yo" is the first person singular. In Lingala, "yo" is the second person singular.
In Arabic, "nahnu" is the second person plural, and "ngai" is the first person singular in Lingala. "Nosotros/as" marks the second person plural in Spanish, and "nous" is the simple enough form for the same in French.
Whenever I want to say "her" in Spanish ("ella"), I get confused and say "hiya," which is Arabic for "she." I don't know why I do this, because my Spanish is far better than my Arabic, but I am, for some reason, very attached to the word "hiya." (said hee-ya).
These words may not seem close to you on the screen, but scramble them in your head, and they will pop out at the most bizarre moments.
A few days ago, when The Boy and I settled into our semi-weekly Lingala session, I kept interjecting with Spanish words. And finally, while trying to work out a simple enough sentence in Lingala ("he dances well"), out tumbled the following phrase:
"Just wait!! Je suis tellement perdue con toutes ces idiomas in my head!" It wasn't until The Boy looked at me quizically that I realized I had mixed them up not only mentally, but out loud as well.
This is heaven to me.
When I was taking French and Russian I would do that all the time. "Ya znayo que..." "I know" in Russian, "that" in French. The vowels in the two languages are very similar to me, very pure in their use and representation. Miel is honey in French, but chalk in Russian, and I could never identify that chalk without thinking of honey.
I still do that kind of mixing in franglais all the time... my students call me a spaz.
You rock tellement.
isn't donna tartt incredible...i finished the little friend a couple weeks ago...however, i didn't like it as much as her first book, the secret history, which is probably one of the best books i've ever read...
Natalie - I'm totally going to go read The Secret History as soon as I can get my hands on it. Loved The Little Friend (although the ending was a little eh for me) and look forward to more Tartt-ness.