Last night, we watched "The Incredible Hulk" and I realized I am not alone in the language learning process. What does a movie about an green monster have to do with learning languages? Well, not much. But there was one scene where Bruce was living in Brazil, attempting to learn Portuguese, and working at a bottling factory. A situation with an agitating coworker causes Bruce to say, in Portuguese, "Don't make me hungry...You won't like me when I'm hungry." The confused looks on everyone's faces causes him to realize that his words were incorrect, but he doesn't have time to correct himself.
It's a silly scene in a silly movie, but it made me realize that it's really not easy for anyone to learn and speak a new language. I find myself in similar situations quite often. I think perhaps we're to the point where we know just enough language to get ourselves into conversations and then get lost in them. Sometimes I ask the speaker to "Mesaylesh tawed bishaya/I'm sorry, say that again slower?" just so I have time to think about what I fully heard them say the first time. So many times I say a word, then realize that it's the wrong word, and in times like this, the right word always alludes me, generally until the conversations over or the person's walked away, then I remember the word I was trying to say. Ahh!
It's ok though because today someone thought I was a native. It had nothing to do with my speaking and probably everything to do with my dark hair and recently purchased clothing (that's from here) but I count it a major victory in my book, nonetheless.
