Languages

How many languages do you speak?

I've been able to do some travelling in my years, a bit through the Middle East, Europe, and some of the Caribbean.  It always amazes me when someone speaks to me in english, then that same person turns and speaks to someone else in french, then moves on to a conversation in spanish, and rounds it off with some italian.  So cool!

Personally, I speak english (obviously, lol), some french, and arabic as my parents are Egyptian.  I've always loved languages and think it's really neat to be able to communicate with someone who doesn't speak your native tongue.  There are several advantages of course:

1 - Travel is much easier
2 - Ministry is much easier, both for missionaries and for those who are not - conversations can be had
3 - The number of jobs available to the bilingual is crazy, both locally and abroad
4 - It's great to learn new things!

I didn't realize that I like languages until mid-university.  A little late by that point, but not too late.  I took a sign language course and a few french courses.  That was years ago and if you don't practice, you lose it.  My knowledge of sign language is gone unfortunately except for a few words here and there.  As for french, I actually became quiet proficient, but not having spoken it regularly for a few years, it's definitely not where it once was.  However, I'm pleased that I was able to carry on a conversation in french last week when my wife and I were away on vacation - not as fluent as I would have liked it to have been, but we understood each other!

My goal a few years ago was to perfect french and then move on to spanish.  But since then, life got in the way and it's the age old excuse - I got busy and there was no time (or money) to learn.

Last week's travels have inspired me though.  It's never too late, right?  I'm tackling french first.