I confess. I'm hopelessly mono-lingual. The disaster I experienced in high school when I was force-fed two years of Latin soured me for all time with regard to applying myself to learn a language. I could do reasonably well with nouns, but conjugation of verbs in another language was more than I could ever deal with.
The result was that I lived outside the US for about 10 years of my life and in the process stumbled along with pidgin versions of whatever language the locals spoke. They almost always graciously offered me English in return. I often joke that I can order a beer in 42 languages, but not much else. I learned common greetings, simple directions and basic courtesy responses. Gracias, los cientos, de nada, and buenos tardes pretty much exhaust my lexicon.
Yet, I learned enough that every time I hear Bono screaming out, "Uno, dos, tres, quatorce..." I gag.
So, what explains the smartest man in the world doing this:
I'm a Buffoon, But You Love Me
Can you imagine what the MSM would have done if Bush, Cheney or Rumsfeld had done this?
1 comment:
I have the same problem with languages except in my case it was French that did me in. When Stationed over seas I always made an effort to at least try which also earned me a lot of good will, but all I ever learned in any particular country is how to order food and booze.
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