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Lost in Translation

My brother had gone to Kerala for his studies and so I went to visit him. Now, if you Google, 'God's Own Country', Kerala comes up. The college and the hostel is built on a mountain and is surrounded by lush and green forest. I lived in his hostel and knew none of his friends. So I befriended everyone from the working staff. The Security staff, staff help, hostel head, warden, professors, and professor's assistant too! People working at the mess- the head, cook, and basically everyone. I am an introvert, but I am not shy. People often mix the two. I was a shy introvert earlier, but I came over the fear about talking to actual humans, I'm just an introvert now. There was only one problem- Everyone spoke Malayalam, the regional language of Kerala. They spoke broken English, and I learned few Malayalam words, it was really fun communicating with them. Lots of laughter and comedy of errors. I'm a little late to the party, but finally, here's my submission for @JonicaBradley and @TengoLoTodo  's prompt #13, Language. I can speak four languages at present- English was my first language in school. All the subjects were taught in English. I speak English commonly with friends, and also when presented in formal conversations. 'Nincompoop' is my favorite English word, don't ask why. Hindi is commonly spoken in the majority of India. I speak in Hindi at home and with close friends. My first words were in Hindi. 'Ji' is my favorite Hindi word. Adding the word 'Ji' at the end of a noun (mostly proper noun) adds respect. For example, 'Masterji', or 'Tailorji'. I live in the state of Maharashtra, so Marathi was taught to us in school to promote the regional language of Maharashtra. Sindhi, is my mother tongue, though I can't speak Sindhi fluently, I can understand most terms and can form basic sentences. I read an article by @Eybyoung , She Speaks Three Languages, where she talks about her daughter being multilingual. I'm somewhat along similar lines. https://read.cash/@Eybyoung/she-speaks-three-languages-953af67f I've been meaning to learn French for quite some time, and now that I have some extra time in my hands, why not? Though I can read and understand basic words, I can't, for the life of me speak any word other than, "Oui".

*My progress report on Duolingo.com* My grandmother could speak 7 or 8 languages! I can only hope if it's in my blood to learn languages quickly. So I planned on attending online interactive sessions, hoping it would help me with pronunciations (and confidence!). After my second session, I understood 2 things- We do not agree on the meaning assigned to the word 'Beginner'. Some of them 'Beginners' spoke French so fluently, it made my head spin faster than a fidget spinner, thus making me forget all the words that I had previously learned. Some of them mentioned I spoke English better than some of the native speakers. Of course, I speak decent English, I've been speaking English for almost 20 years! But more on verbal communication later. Facial communication! That's my thing. I can almost speak entire sentences without using any words. Most of the time when I need to communicate with a certain person and not let the other people from our group know. **I have shitty cards!** You know this one. Either you're making them, or catch others making them.

**What do you mean we're out of fries?** Are you seriously considering dating him? The ice cream machine at McDonald's is finally working? Did he buy you an actual star? And everything in between. But most importantly, when I see my grade sheet.

**I know what you did and I'm going to secretly judge you for it!** I won't tell anyone, but you are a prime suspect, so you can stop lying to me.

**I'm bored, let's leave right now!** Now that we've established that I have shitty cards, can we leave?

That's all folks, I hope it was fun. A little something I wrote when I was attending a wedding, pre-pandemic, surrounded by a thousand relatives- *Do you tremble in fear? Does your leg shiver?* *It happens to me quite frequently, I start breathing heavily.* *Profoundly I sweat, almost like someone's given me a threat.* *What am I doing, at a social gathering?* *-Stea, 2018* Let's thank my sponsors for believing in me :)!

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