[Sca-cooks] globetrotting

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

On 20 May 2002, at 11:46, Elaine Koogler wrote:

> However, when you don't use a language on a
> regular basis, I believe you tend to forget it.

Very true.  I took Spanish throughout high school and college, and
I was semi-fluent.  Then for many years, I did not use the language,
except for helping the very occasional Spanish-speaking patron in
my library.  Within the last ten years, the number of Hispanic
immigrants in this NJ suburb has doubled, and within the last two
years, many of them have been flocking to the library.  It's
embarassing how rusty I am -- can't remember some of the
simplest words, and my grammar is dreadful.  But I make myself
understood, and my comprehension is *much* better than my
speaking.  Also, the patrons are very kind, and appreciate having
someone who can assist them in their own language, however
clumsily.

And you know what the funny thing is?  I was a French major in
college.  (I can still read it, but please, please, please don't ask me
to speak it.)


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