An aside on Latin, which is dead but won’t lay down.

Many years ago, the late Prof. Ian Jack, of Sydney Uni, went to a Latinist conference in Paris.
There were Latinists from all over the world and they quickly found that although they could all speak very good Latin few of them could hold a conversation, all their accents and pronunciations were different.
Those who knew Church Latin did better, but that was not much help, so the conference was held in French.
They were however able to pass notes to each other in fluent Latin.

Talking about language experiences?

I remember a few decades back - my husband was waiting to be
seen by a doctor in a public hospital and this elderly nurse
came up to him with her notebook, glanced at his surname and
slowly asked - "Do you need an interpreter?" To which my
husband replied in his Oxford English - "Why doesn't the
doctor speak English?"

Have times changed?

Not sure. Papa could speak several languages. The most
illogical one he found to be was English.

I was told that I'd never finish high school because I was
bi-lingual. I ended up being not only in the top of the
school - but finished uni as well. And my languages
were an asset not a hinderance. Go figure.

I also found that languages made a big difference when
travelling to other countries. But of course we can only
speak from our own experiences - broad or limited as they
may be.

Foxy,
Indeed having more than one language can be very helpful, politeness turns to friendliness when one speaks to people in their own language.
I have found this particularly so in France and India ; in the Gaelic speaking areas of Ireland one enters a whole new world.
Some surprises can come up too; I was in the Museum in what was then Bombay, when I heard some women behind me speaking fluent French, I turned around and to my surprise they were all Indians and wearing saris.
We got talking and they came from the former French colony of Pondicherry, French was their second language

Is Mise,

Learning a new language can have some hilarious
aspects to it. I remember a friend of mum's
lending me her copy of "They're a Weird Mob,"
John O'Grady wrote under the name - Nino Culotta.

I read it on the train on my way to work in Sydney
and couldn't stop laughing.

It struck home because my own family members used
to occasionally get their English words mixed up.
Mum once asked in a department store for a skirt
for her husband. She meant a shirt.

Then my aunt left a note for her delivery man to
" put the package on your backside." She meant
around the back of the house - on the back verandah
because she wasn't going to be home that day. She didn't
want the package to be left on the front porch.

Well the package was not delivered. She had to trace it.
The delivery man took the note the wrong way.

Foxy,
In the same vein, a friend, recently arrived from Germany was passing the green grocers when she glanced in the window and saw something that puzzled her, so in she went and asked why the red berries in the window were labelled ‘black’, that’s because they’re green was the reply.

One of her favourite funnies was ‘ that’s expensive venison, darling’ —- ‘that’s dear deer, dear’.

Is Mise,

I'm glad I know sign language.
It's pretty handy.