28/08/2022
When I was younger (until my 30ties) I understood and spoke 6 languages: Dutch, Italian, English, French, German and Spanish. It was like a game jumping from one language to another. When I was little and went to Sicily for holidays my nice always presented me as her nice from Holland who could speak 6 languages. And then they always asked me “How do you say …” and then I had to say it in all of the other languages. I always felt like being a bit of a circus 🎪 act.
But then a time came where I didn’t speak or hear 3 of them and finding myself not understanding or speaking them anymore. Never could I ever have seen this coming. Now I realize the gold I had in my head, I did not realize it because it was so easy for me. Working now with people from all over the world I regret having lost this “gold”. However I’m working on it, my German has improved and I can understand most of a Spanish conversation but I do not speak.
So actually I’m waiting for my daughter having to study languages for school so I can refresh my brain and hopefully bring back a lot of my retired skills. 😁