The Immediate Linguist

Several years ago, I visited a friend in Berlin. It was such a fascinating city to me, full of history and different cultures all crowded into one place. I think it would be an exciting place to live some day. If I could instantaneously know a language, I think it might be German.

Mark Twain wrote an essay about "That Awful German Language," bemoaning how impossible it is to learn. I have tried to understand a little bit of the language and would agree that it is complicated. It could be so useful to just wake up one day and know it without any studying required! My husband studied German years ago and has a mind like a sponge, so he remembers a lot of it. If I knew German, he and I could converse with our German friends and, some day, maybe move to Berlin to work with our friends there. There are a lot of other countries that use German as well. It would have been so helpful to know it when I lived in Hungary! It may be a complicated language, but I think it would be worthwhile to know.

Look in the sky!

My superpower of choice is flying. While I can see the allure of invisibility, I think that the gathering of secrets and the ability to go where I should not go would be a corrupting influence. It certainly wasn't a helpful power for Gollum in Lord of the Rings. Super strength would be great if I had another power, but on its own it actually seems a bit weak. Sure, I could hold up the bridge to keep it from falling, but if I can't fly to get to the middle where it's collapsing in, what use is my strength? Sure, I could bat together alien robots with my pinky finger, but if I don't have the speed to catch them, what use is my strength? No, the best power for me is flying. First stop: Hawaii at sunset!