Day Sixteen

Today I was thinking about my personality when I am, and when I’m not, drinking.

Living in another country is quite hard in itself, and anyone who lives in a foreign country and has had to learn the language to get by probably feels the same (I hope I’m not alone!) in that when speaking or trying to speak another language you lose your personality. I can’t make quips and an anecdote kind of gets lost in translation…or people get bored half way through the story because you’re struggling to come up with the vocabulary to explain your point. It’s not snappy enough and what I think I’m translating from a really funny situation becomes a long-winded story that probably doesn’t even make sense!

When I first came to Italy I remember someone saying to me that they had met some French people at a party the night before and while he was drunk he said he was practically fluent in French, but in the cold light of day he said what came out was probably just gibberish!

I can totally relate. At parties, now, I’m the life and soul! Get me some wine and I’m flitting around like the social butterfly that I was in England, dancing around as if it were NYE 1999 and usually the last to leave. If there isn’t a drop of alcohol you wouldn’t even know I was there. I have nothing to chat about, nothing springs to mind and I’m the first to suggest popping off to bed. God I’m dull as ditch water! I’m the first to admit it.

It must be the fact that inhibitions fly out the window with a bit of booze in me and, I reckon, I’m fluent in the lingo. Ask friends and they’ll probably tell you a different story. But I’m not the only one who thinks this: A student of mine, who is really not confident in English, had an English-speaking business lunch with a client and after a glass of wine he admitted to loosening up a bit and, like me, he became magically fluent. Before that he had refused to speak English with clients for fear of making a bad impression. A glass of wine makes you feel fine…and loosens your lips…but make sure it’s just the one, otherwise you’ll end up making a right fool of yourself and end up giving the likes of Amy Winehouse a run for her money.

Thinking about it, I wonder if that’s why you see famous people sloshed on talk shows…they were just nervous and needed ‘just the one’ to take the edge off.