I’ve always enjoyed the fact that I’ve experienced much of the world. I, like many other US Army Brats, spent much of my formative years in far off places. In my case, Germany and France.

There always has been a bit of wanderlust in my soul ever since.

This fact has only been reinforced since the advent of the Internet and the opportunities for unfettered conversations with people on the other side of the world. I’ve recently enjoyed those interactions even more so. Especially, as I’ve attempted to discuss topics in the language of my on line conversationalists.

I grew up with a rudimentary understanding of German and then spent time with French in school, and most recently I’ve vowed to learn Spanish and I’m not kidding this time!

I’ve always been amazed at the resistance many of my fellow countrymen show to being immersed in another language. It seems that EVERY European I run into is bi or tri-lingual and then genuinely apologetic for their English. Many speak it much better than my friends here in the good ‘ole US of A !

Many of these new found friends have been found here through my BLOG. Bianca in Romania comes to mind, but I also run into a lot of other country types whilst doing my SongPlanet radio shows, three times a week. Christine in Belgium, Mike in Germany, Serge the French Canadian are all on the international chat-email radar screen these days.

So, here I find myself conversing with those from other countries and doing it in English. Boy is my guilt meter off the chart! Ok, Michael, give it a shot. Try to branch out and speak in their native language.

I might add that “TRY” is the key word here. Oh sure I cheat. I use Alta Vista’s Babel Fish on line translation tool. But be forewarned if you use this on line translation accomplice, you may well espouse something entirely different from what you tried to communicate. This unintentional mangling of the language could end up with phrases like “Do you like Fluffernutter sandwiches?” when in reality you were trying to congratulate Quebec on it’s 200^th birthday. Oh well, such is the culture-language gauntlet we all risk when trying to correspond with those half a world and several time zones away.

I’d rather make the attempt at internationalizing myself and risk some momentary embarrassment than deny myself the satisfaction that inevitably arises thanks to these brief encounters.

That being said! Vive Le Quebec! Or is that? Viva La Quebec? Or….

Long Live Romania!

Michael
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