More Milestones in Language Acquisition

During my trip to Kasai, one of my fellow travelers told me that I talked in my sleep. No news here--I have been told this before. The news is that I talked in my sleep in French! That has to be some kind of marker of fluency.

The other sign has been my willingness to speak English with friends here. At first, I was so eager to practice my French that I resisted it and took any advantage to speak French. Great for me. Not good for my friends trying to learn English. But another of my fellow travelers who lives in Brazil told me how insulting it is when he speaks in Portuguese and they reply in English. It struck a chord--I have felt the same way (even thought I don’t know very much Portuguese). And I thought about how good I used to feel after having a relatively complicated conversation in French--buying a car or explaining how George W. Bush became president, for example. So I consciously try to speak with folks who want to speak English--and everyone here is learning or wanting to learn English. My French still has plenty of room to improve--and I will work to see that it continues to do so--but for now I find myself quite satisfied with patiently speaking English with many of the people who have so generously helped me with my French. Plus my English can probably use some polishing before I come back to the usa in a week and a half.