[Sca-cooks] language

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 17 Jul 2002, at 21:19, Louise Smithson wrote:

> Apollonia asked where I learnt Italian.
> The short answer is that I was a cruel victim of an EU
> plot to encourage understanding.  As a second year BSc
> (Microbiology) student I was transferred to Bologna,
> Italy to study Microbiology for a year.  A total
> language immersion thus ensued.  It was learn Italian
> or struggle.

My grandfather went to medical school in Germany.  Midway
through his studies -- and midway through the 1930s -- it became
evident that this was not a good place for a nice Jewish boy from
the Bronx.  He transferred to the University of Lausanne in French-
speaking Switzerland.  He had studied German in high school.  He
had not studied French.  He got through it somehow, and went on
to have a successful medical career.  I have a certain aptitude for
languages, but the thought of studying complicated subjects in a
foreign language makes me shudder.


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net