Thursday, March 01, 2007

On becoming fluent

One of the desires that I've long harbored is to become fluent in a language other than English. The romance of the concept has always fascinated me...the idea of being able to express my ideas in words other than my native tongue. (I don't know if I'm conveying this as it appears in my head.)

Perhaps this desire arose within me as a consequence of my love of words and how things are expressed. I don't know.

In high school this goal of fluency became much more concrete. I'll know that I've reached that point when I can dream in the other language (at this point in my life it's Spanish).

I think I'm getting close. :D The incident that I will relate in just a moment is what sparked the idea for this post that I should have already posted two days ago.

I go over to my grandparents on Tuesdays and Thursdays in between school and work and this particular Tuesday I happened to spend a few minutes talking to my grandfather about my paper for History of Africa (social customs/ideas in South Africa that facilitated the spread of AIDS) and I don't remember the exact context but I was explaining that there was a "rejection" or "turning away from" of a certain idea. Yet as I started my gesture the only word that came to mind was "rechazo" a Spanish word that roughly translates as the above. Even now, in my mind, only that word expresses precisely what I wanted to express.

You tell me. Is this a sign that I'm becoming more fluent?