Re: Somewhat Off-Topic: thinking in conlangs

> Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...> wrote:
>
> That happens to me when I'm at an Esperanto event and have been
> speaking Esperanto for a while, and then suddenly have to speak to
> someone in English (usually a waiter or other service industry
> person). But a few weeks ago I was at an Esperanto meeting, when I
> had been working pretty intensely on gzb for the last few days, and
> occasionally I found myself starting to speak to someone in gzb
> when Esperanto (or English, sometimes) would be appropriate.
When I first began to study Spanish formally in preparation for a
Peace Corps assignment, I was assigned to a group with a moderate
knowledge of the language.  However, whenever I couldn't find or
didn't know the correct Spanish word, I often substituted the
Italian!  "Ma" seems somehow more appropriate than "pero."

Nowadays, after spending 2+ hours on a Sunday afternoon with our
Hispanic community, I find that the next English-speaker who contacts
me will get at least the first sentence in Spanish, unless I'm able
to catch myself.

Charlie

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