Speaking a language that is new to you or that you speak rarely at home, you live inside an invisible box with boundaries of communication. Familiar transactions are empowering and make you feel functional (to yourself and perhaps to those around you), but any variation in the pattern causes confusion and momentary (feelings of) helplessness - ´was that information important?´, ´does that mean tonight or tomorrow morning?´, ´pay now or later?´...it feels wrong to nod and smile sometimes because I worry that I will smile or laugh at something I should not (updates on the evening news or an insult intended for me), so I apologize and ask for a simpler explanation.
It is interesting what we assume when communicating this way. When you speak with someone whose native language is not your own you have to determine what layers of metaphors and slang to peel away, and, for me, in doing so I have discovered just how much I take linguistic short-cuts for granted and that words whose English meaning we transfer from one situation to another (you can take a class, take the bus, take a number) don´t necessarily translate.
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