Bilingualism in action

As a translator, I envy the plum of my loins immensely. I was born in England in the 60s and my first exposure to French was in First Year at grammar school.

It was essentially the subject I was least bad at. As I went through school, I found that I was improving my position in the class rankings - although this may only have been because it became an elective subject in Fourth Year and all the nerdy kids went off to do Chemistry and Maths and things like that. By the time I took my "A" level French, I was one of two in the class. That was a veritable party compared to my "A" level German group, where there was just me. Sometimes, my teacher didn't even show up.

I then studied languages at university and ended up getting chosen to go and work at a university in France as a lecteur. Typically, I outstayed my welcome (staying 5 years instead of 1). By the time I left France, I was pretty fluent and managed to get a job using my French here in Canada. 

And then many years later, my son arrives. And grows up with a Polish godmother (matka chrzestna), cutting swathes through Polish grammar. And then goes into the Ontario school system, which is BILINGUAL. One day English, one day French, etc. And he is nailing it. With no effort. 

What took me 20 years to master, is taking him 2 years. It is absolutely brilliant. And while I am jealous, I am immensely proud. Speaking a foreign language gave me the attributes of which I am most proud. My son is already a much better person than me - and I couldn't be happier about it.