Living in a Multilingual World
The one about Daughter and the shouting
The following exchange happened between Daughter and Me when she was six and a half years old.
- Do not interrupt me when I’m talking, and DO NOT CORRECT ME!!!
Thus spoke Daughter then, or rather shouted at me. And yes, my dear reader, I hold up my hand in shame. At the time I suffered from severe linguistic obsession.
You see, it was difficult for me to let grammatical errors slide by and glide aimlessly into the void generated by half-said phrases, onomatopoeia and grunts which were actual words, but sounded like grunts. Back then I was obsessed with my children learning good Spanish. I was aware that something was wrong when in a normal conversation I was more attentive to their use of the subjunctive mood than what was being said. So, hand up, mea culpa. That’s me.
How did it all start? And when? Well, the when I can point out. Uni. Yep, that’s when all hell broke loose and I suddenly found myself immersed in this competitive environment from which I could not escape, nor did I want to. Because although it pains me to admit it, I loved linguistic competitiveness back in my uni years.
