October 2011

Forbes' Forays 

Mike Forbes is a retired Royal Naval commander who lives in London with his wife. His first visit to Croatia was in the year 2000. 

 

 

The Language Switch

My elder brother Ian and his wife Lyn have lived for the last ten years in a cottage near a village in the countryside of Brittany, France. Five years ago Ian suffered a stroke and is mostly confined to a wheelchair. The French health and social care system supports him efficiently and about twice a year I go over to see them. I enjoy my visits but I have a problem whenever I am invited to speak French, a language I learned at school and have used occasionally since. Faced with a French physiotherapist or care assistant I find myself breaking into Croatian. "Bon jutro. Je suis brat du monsieur!", I blurt out.  When they correct me, I splutter "Da, da, da, hvala!". I have this dire struggle with the switch in my brain marked "French/Croatian" which, I assume, has been hard-wired to "Croatian" by Linda's excellent tuition at the Croatian Language School.

 

 

So, I wonder, how do multi-lingual people cope? Perhaps when crossing into a new country when they re-set their watch, they click the switch and have no cross-over problem like me. Frequent switching keeps the electrics smooth, no doubt, but it doesn't work properly for me.  It could explain why I never became a linguist or translator, but it makes me admire, and even envy, them all the more.

 

Mon frere est bolji, hvala for asking!