LL-L 'Language proficiency' 2006.07.20 (07) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 20 July 2006 * Volume 07
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From: Leslie Decker <leslie at familydecker.org>
Subject: LL-L 'Language proficiency' 2006.07.20 (02) [E]

> From: 'Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong' <Dutchmatters at comcast.net>
> Subject: LL-L 'Genetics' 2006.07.19 (03) [E]
>
> Hi Roger,
> I do believe you, but I do not think it has anything to do with senility.
> When you are comfortable with a language it does not demand your attention,
> it does not take any effort to decode it and so it becomes like background
> music. That does not happen with a language that you experience as foreign.
> I remember driving with a Dutch friend from Philadelphia to Montreal. We
> were both going to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania and
> were therefore used to speaking English all the time. The car radio was on,
> but we were in deep conversation until all of a sudden the announcer gave
> the address of a store in French and we became both aware that we had been
> "listening" to a Dutch language program. That was a real odd awareness.
> Also, I dream in both Dutch and English, but become only aware what language
> it is when a character in the dream uses other than those two. Funny stuff
> those languages. Jacqueline
>
Although I'm definitely not in the same boat as Jacqueline,
fluency-wise, I have had a similar experience. I was once flying on KLM
from Amsterdam to somewhere in the states, and the flight attendant
starts all of her normal announcements in Dutch. I listen to them
half-heartedly. About five minutes later, more announcements come on.
I remember thinking, "Didn't they just say this?" It took me about ten
seconds to realize that this was the English version of what had just
been said in Dutch! The delay added to the confusion.

Leslie

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