Mother Tongue English

When I travel to foreign countries I am often amazed at the power of the English language. In the back alleys of Bangkok, markets in Marrakech, and highway stands in Quintana Roo I have met people of little means who speak excellent English.

Being a mother tongue English speaker is of course a blessing and a curse. The blessing: that wherever we go we can be somewhat accommodated with English. However, if I were born in Germany, for example, I would have to know German, English, and possibly a romance language. Of course, to Germans that isn’t that impressive as they know that by the time they are 15 years old. Now imagine you grew up in Chechnya. Thus the curse… many of us never had to bother learning 2 or 3 languages, what a shame that is for us.

So, hats off to all the people in the world who can surprise you with their English as you stop to buy a water… and let’s give a cheer to the mother tongue English speakers who go out of their way to learn foreign languages to surprise those vendors who sell the water.