I speak English Aussie style and that was fine for the first 12 years of my life. Then it was high shcool and Latin and French were not an option - just what was expected of the class. So I persisted with both languages on into University and ended up with a Latin major. My hope was to be a language teacher but we were sent (that's how it happened in those days) to a small country town high school where no languages were taught - although I did learn a few words from the students that had not previously been part of my vocabulary.
One of the other teachers and I decided the students needed some exposure to a second language so we carved out a few minutes from our lessons each day and taught them Indonesian using vinyl 45s and a workbook put out by the ABC. No matter that neither of us had known the language before.
Apa kabar? How are you?
Kabar baik.
Sounded fair.
I did get a chance to study Indonesian for a year by distance from Adelaide Teachers College which still existed in 1974 but the exam came two weeks after my first baby arrived and the supplementary exam was on the day we moved from that town to another nearby. That was the end of that.
Then the Primary School my children went to thought it would be good for kids to learn a language. This was before all primary children had exposure to another language. I offered to teach some French on a voluntary basis and had visions of myself singing Frѐre Jacques and so on. But no. There was a change of principal. He rang to thank me for offering to teach a language - German. Okey-dokey. Guten Morgen. Wie gehts?
I read the grammar book and went to my friend Brigitte who had arrived in Australia at age 11 not knowing a word of English. So I learned ahead of the children. Eins, zwei, drei.....
Next came Greek - New Testament Greek as part of my theology studies. Fabulous once I got used to the script but I knew α alpha and β beta and π pi and a few others from Maths and the language had similarities to Latin. What shivers went up my spine when our teacher read the beginning of John's Gospel. Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος. In the beginning was the word.
So we moved to the Riverland and I thought that was the end of language study. But there was an advertisement for Italian classes so after a term I could just about read it - again closely linked to Latin - and order two cappuccinos. Due cappuccini per favore. Pretty handy if I ever get to Italy.
And at last Hebrew. During my theology studies I had been frustrated not to be able to read those strange symbols none of which appeared in geometry formulae. There was a 3 week intensive and I was between jobs. The bliss of being able to concentrate on working it all out. I was the dunce in the class when it came to reading Hebrew aloud but loved decoding and deciphering; even reading from right to left didn't phase me. And the shivers came again with the blessing at the end of each class. The Lord bless you and keep you spoken in Hebrew and ending with שָׁלוֹם shalom.
And suddenly it's Afrikaans. Ernest and Hannelie joined the singing group and then came to dinner with us bringing their charming children. I couldn't resist. 'How do you say hello?' 'Hallo.' Well that was fine. And 'My naam is....' and 'Wat is jou naam?' So here we go again.
I wonder how much use 'Ek is lank' (I am tall.) 'hy is kort' will be? Dankie, Ernest en Hannelie!!