A Strange Moment

The other evening I finished cleaning the kitchen after the kids were in bed and was just spacing out for a minute and somehow started thinking about something that reminded me about Spanish and I proceeded to amuse myself by having a conversation with myself in Spanish to see what I could remember.  You see, before I came to Turkey and started learning Turkish my Spanish was pretty good.  To be honest, I question that now because for the last three years I have literally lost it all somewhere in my brain.  When we were out of Turkish for three months this past summer it slowly came back. First words, then two words together, maybe a full sentence without any Turkish words intruding the scene.  Well, since then it has been coming back more.  So as I sat there I was really impressing myself with all the things I was able to say and the more I was saying (in my head) the less Turkish mixed in with it.  Because it was going so well I kept going with it and it was amazing all the words I was remembering on the spot.  Now, here is the strange moment.  I said something in Spanish like, "I just wanted to know if you liked it."  And then I tried to say it in Turkish and I could not think of how to say the verb "want."  I'm serious.  It kind-of freaked me out because it wasn't just a second of losing it, it was at least a full minute of hard thinking.  Every time I tried to say the sentence, Spanish kept coming to me.  When it finally came to me I decided to steer clear of Spanish for awhile.  I was scared my neighbor would ring the bell right then and all I'd be able to say was some bad Spanish sentence.  It made me marvel at all that goes on in our brains when we learn language.  Someday I hope I will be able to access all three of my languages on the spot and use them well (heres my confession that I sometimes can't remember the right words in English).  Until then I think I need to stick to working on Turkish until I can make the switch without panic.  It was exciting for a moment to think I could actually say something to my Grandma and Grandpa again in Spanish.  

Turklish

As Turkish language learners we speak our fair amount of Turklish (English and Turkish mixed).  These mixed languages (like Spanglish) must be the case for anyone living in an environment where you function in two (or more) languages.  I know we've given some examples of this before but here is a new one:

The other day at the dinner table Malachi was describing something (and you will probably be curious concerning what he was talking about but I really can't remember what the reference was) and threw in such a small Turkish suffix I almost didn't catch it.  He said, ". . . it was legsiz and headless. . . "  Siz is a suffix used exactly like our suffix "-less"  in English.  It means "without."  But I found it funny he used the Turkish suffix on the end of leg and the English equivalent for the same thing on head, just two words later.  Language is so interesting, it never ceases to amaze me what is going on in my head.

The Turks have this great saying.  It goes like this:  One language, one person.  Two languages, two people.   The point is that learning another language so broadens you that you become more than just one person.  That sounds good doesn't it?  More honestly, my second person still sounds a lot like Tarzan.