I Used to Speak Vietnamese

It's not been a good language week for me. And it's only Monday.

Saturday night one of my classes invited Nancy, me, Robyn, Rick and Karen to dinner and karaoke to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. (I think Rick may have been the impetus behind it.). Karaoke is far from my favorite activity, but I'd like to get to know this class better and this was a good opportunity. An existential side benefit was the deep meaning of singing, "When I'm Sixty-Four" now that the words are starting to have a whole new meaning for me.

We met up with the students in front of the school and walked over to a restaurant along the lake for some fried rice. Along the way I was chatting with some students and realized that they were having trouble understanding me. Now, I've always known my vocabulary was limited, but my pronunciation used to be "pretty good for a foreigner." I do not want to be that guy who thinks he can speak well but no one can understand a word he's saying!

So, I need a new plan. I've been meeting with a young couple once a week so I can help them with English and they can help me with Vietnamese but that's really not enough. Once things get settled with the schedule at school...

It's a lot easier to teach a foreign language than learn one.