Reason #9381 Why We All Need To Learn A Second Language

(But hopefully not the same ones.)

In one of my soc classes, the one with the bumbling professor, the only class in which the discussion does not make me shake my head and actually long for those sessions with BSketch when she assigns discussion questions, I've fallen with the Chinese crowd. I'm a versatyle Sri Lankan and just happened to, on the first day, strike up conversation with this girl with whom I share a common language. Ok, so by 'crowd' I really mean three other kids and by 'fallen with' I mean that we sit together and occasionally chit chat, whatever. Point was, today we were discussing a familiar topic to those at the Bo'- the fashion stylings of the lecturer. One kid pointed out that he has a distinctive style and dresses rather well, "it's his business casual" someone said, while another pointed out that he never repeats outfits. And in the midst of all these discussions, said lecturer walked by and smiled in our general direction. Now, at the Bo', we'd all be hushed at this point and move on to a different topic. Or we might have done so even sooner, as the classroom got more and more populated. But that, my friend, is the beauty of having a second language. No one else in the class could understand us. "He has no idea what we're saying," one kid said, as we all nodded and continued smiling and maintaining eye contact with the lecturer. "Yeah, he thinks we're really studious and always discussing classwork." And then the discussion moved toward his marital status and whether he's spending Valentine's day in Eddie Bert. Awesome. I have resolved to learn as many languages as I can so I may gossip with as many people as possible.