My Bart Simpson Moment

My friend Monika (who majored in Linguistics in college) and I have been talking about the meaning of language lately. When I first got here and I really wanted to say thank you to someone I would always say paldies (the Latvian word for thank you) and then say thank you so much. This is because the word didn't really thank you to me..and now it does..its very weird to have that kind of language transformation.

But what I am really waiting for is what I like to call my Bart Simpson moment. There are only two Simpson's episodes that I can recall with clarity, one is the episode where Bart participates in a Model UN conference and then other is when he is an exchange student in France. In this episode he lives with a French family that makes him do a lot of work, sleep in the barn and yells at him in French. They end being corrupt and when Bart goes to town he seeks the help of a French policeman and when the policeman cannot understand Bart's English, a frustrated Bart walks away and rants about how stupid he is for having not learned French, when all the sudden he starts speaking in French. He hurries back to the policeman and explains his situation in French the corrupt Frenchmen are arrested and everyone lives happily ever after. I have studies Latvian for going on five years now and still have difficulty speaking (its the last piece of the language acquisition puzzle). I mean I can communicate just fine but in my classes and at meetings when I try to articilate my ideas in coherent sentences they always come out like I am a five year old. Its just frustrating sometimes when you realize just how difficult it is to learn another language..So I guess I am still waiting for my Bart Simpson moment with only 90 days left I hope it comes soon!