Learning a foreign language - a super power
Speaking another tongue…
Now, we Indians are brilliant. We speak or at least understand a minimum of 2-3 languages.
Local, Hindi & English.
I can speak, read, write (a bit) of Malayalam, Tamil & Hindi. But I am most comfortable in a foreign language.
We must not forget that English is a foreign language. Bestowed on us by our colonisers.
It is not so hard for us to travel to many countries as the British have left their language spawns in almost all continents!!
When we travelled to Italy, we got away with Harish’s basic knowledge of Italian. There were loads of literature available in English, so it was not a problem.
But Spain.
That is another world.
Spanish is spoken in over 21 countries and “speaking English” is not a necessity for most Spaniards.
Especially, once you leave the big cities.
And we went to the very North of Spain. Into villages. 2022.
In Ribadeo, I had least expected to meet an English speaker. The young Martha (@marta_mariisa) learnt English by watching YouTube.
San Sebastian is a popular beach town, but not much frequented by foreigners, unlike Bilbao. Here we met the vivacious Nikki (@2niki6 ) . She served us lunch and spoke very good English, thanks to the movies!
My husband’s brother speaks Spanish fluently.
Two cousins can read, write & talk Japanese.
It is a super power.
A power we all can develop. Helps prevent Alzheimer’s too!!
Maybe it is something we all must do - Learn another language.
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