And then, as I’ve heard reported in several European countries, when they notice your broken grammar they switch to English for both of your conveniences. Caught myself doing that to some poor student a while back because I was in a hurry and couldn’t parse what they were trying to say.

And then there’s the other language students, who studied very very well and now sounds like the voice of a kids’ TV show with their perfect “standard” pronunciation. I love seeing immigrants who were so dedicated to their language skills that they end up speaking the local language way better than any local you’ll meet. Sometimes it’s difficult too, because random words won’t have been part of their vocabulary training and they end up talking in-depth about the geopolitical landscape but don’t know what “backyard” means.

Learning languages is cool, if only I had the patience to do it.