Throw words in brain and stir!

So, I recently started learning Spanish, and wrote about how I was coping with that and in particular how it affected my grasp of the other languages I know.

Last week, I found myself in Brussels. It was a part work, part mini-break trip, meaning that I happened to be there until a Friday for work, so I extended my stay for the weekend. As you may know, they speak French and Dutch in Brussels. I used to have a close Dutch friend, so I was once upon a time quite used to hearing her speak Dutch with her husband, and on multiple occasions to me! Sidetrack - I seem to have that effect on people. My Dutch friend would unintentionally say words to me in Dutch only to realise a few seconds later that she had done it. Some years later, I had a Russian housemate who used to do the same! In Russian, of course, not Dutch. Sometimes I would even respond correctly, without it having registered that I had not actually understood what she had just said. Not long after, I had a Polish housemate who did the same on a few occasions.

Back to the point. Having French and Dutch spoken around me was like having a hibernating part of my brain poked and prodded. I was travelling with a colleague whose French was equally rusty. So we spent much of the time when we were not talking work (and I will come to that later) trying to remember how to say certain things in French and checking with each other and Google to help us remember. So my French was definitely being woken up and I was pleased to realise how much I was able to remember. So much so, that I was rather disappointed that unlike the French, the Belgians were much quicker to switch to English when they realise we were not French speaking. I would have liked the opportunity to figure out what I needed to say.

One thing I did notice depite not having had much chance to speak French, was that the similarity between French and Spanish meant that I quite often inadvertently spoke Spanish while I was trying to speak French. During those few days, I said 'si' far more times than I said 'oui'. And for some reason I could not remember 'trois'. Seriously, I don't think I managed to say 'trois' a single time, even when I told myself right before I opened my mouth and that I should say 'trois'. I kept saying 'tres' instead and wondered why they switched to English...

Anyhow. During our time in Brussels, my colleague decided that I needed to practise my German. And I could not really argue. I will be working a lot more in German, so I really need to get a lot more comfortable with the language. We therefore decided that whenever we were not actually in a meeting or in a formal discussion, we should speak in German. It turned out that everyone we had contact with during our work in Brussels also spoke German. Fluently. So it because the common language except when we were officially in meetings, then we switched to English. All the small talk before and after were in German, but the meetings themselves were conducted in English, even if all the same people were involved in the conversations. It barely took a pause for that to happen. It was like there was some invisible  English-ON, English-OFF button in the room.

By the end of the second day, it was too much for my brain. Several times during our last meeting, during which we were speaking in English, my first language and the language that I am miles better than the others at, my brain wasn't having it anymore. One more than one occasion, in the middle of a sentence, my mind drew a blank and for the life of me, I could not think of the word I wanted to say. Not in English anyway. I found the Swedish word instead. Yes, Swedish! The one language I had not needed on the whole trip! So much for my brain being able to distinguish between my first language and the other "foreign languages". Hmph.

So there is evidently a price to be paid for this polyglotism. Just that week, I was secretly celebrating having correctly deciphered (by which I mean, partly understood, partly guessed and without any help) most of a completely in Spanish email from a hotel containing information about some reservations. In that same week, I was faced with the sad reality of my deteriorating English. But you know what, if that's the choice: being able to communicate in a whole different language OR always being able to find the word I want, when I want it, in English (which was never the case anyway), I choose the former. It is a price I am very happy to pay.

Of course, having not had a chance to practise Spanish, I am not entirely sure that I would be able to communicate verbally, but that is a whole other story.