Alice's Brain vs Languages

[wonderlanded]

My dad rang today. (The phone actually rang as I was in the gas chamber at Auschwitz. Thankfully, I had switched the phone to silent and called him back later. More on the visit later when I have collected my thoughts about it

Comments

[glitterboy1]

*giggles madly*

I've done that speaking English with an accent, too. Why?? Especially when I'm rubbish at accents.

Auschwitz must be a huge experience. I'll look forward to hearing your thoughts, when you can find the words.

[katherine_b]

*giggles helplessly* Oh, that's beautiful! Particularly your brain quitting. Did you manage to persuade it to come back?

You'll be glad to know that I did manage to make it out to Forest Hill after our lunch together (it turns out F. Hill is south-east of London, so my sense of direction was waaaaaay off!) and had a lovely if full afternoon. So glad we had a chance to catch up!

[kylegirl]

I suspect that the speaking-English-with-a-Polish-accent thing might actually work sometimes -- I know I understand French and Spanish much better when they're spoken with Anglo accents.

Last week I kept finding myself slipping into a bizarre exaggerated American accent such I have never used in my life. I have no idea what was going on there.

[maju01]

Very funny to read about, but must have been frustrating for you. When I was learning Indonesian my brain used to come up with German words, because I'd learnt German in high school several years before, although I couldn't claim to actually speak it. Weird.

[sabethea]

My brain is doing what it did when I was in Italy, which is to search any and every other foreign language with which I have a faintly passing acquaintance and spit it out at inappropriate moments

Oh gods, yes, mine does this. (internal dialogue: "The language here is not English, therefore it is Foreign. So speak a Foreign language. ANY Foreign Language." I am ashamed of this internal dialogue but have not yet learned to switch it off.)