reply to post by rawsom
My heartiest congratulations on your English, then. The only clue that it might not be your first language is the cerebral formality of your style,
though even that isn't very different from a good many native English speakers. I didn't even notice until you pointed it out.
I took French lessons a good many years ago, learned to read and write quite well but not to speak or understand speech; the accent defeated me. Now
I'm getting better, because I play lead guitar in a band otherwise composed of French expatriates. When I first joined they were very kind; at
practice, they politely communicated in halting English for my benefit. This made me feel terribly guilty, but they soon gave it up because it was so
hard for them. Now they only speak English when they're addressing me directly; sometimes they even forget to do that. As a result my spoken-French
comprehension has improved out of all recognition and I'm even daring to speak a few halting, stuttering phrases.
Among non-native English speakers, the most amazing performance (one for the ages) has got to be Nabokov's. The thought that he wrote
Lolita
and
Pale Fire in -- not his second, but his
third language -- never ceases to stagger me.
Best way to learn a foreign language? Use a 'sleeping dictionary'. Even if your facility with the language remains modest, you'll have other
consolations.
