language learning

I love learning languages . As of now knows with varying degree of proficiency around 7 languages . But thinking back languages was my achilles heel always . Especially i struggled with hindi when i was 10 years old and the male and female versions of non living things really confused me . I still dont know whether milk is male or female and tea whether it is male or female in hindi . And with a "mallu " accent my hindi accent still makes my colleagues and strangers smile . (grammar is equally pathetic ) .

But still i love learning languages and still learning as a pastime . Recently my cousin asked what is the hidden reason for learning german . Frankly there is no hidden reason . I learnt a few basic phrases when i visited germany out of curiosity and now thought why not learn more . I have a few friends in germany including germans but they speak very good english .

But arabic is a different story . Having worked in an arab country where the common man spoke arabic and had little english knowledge i was initially wanting to learn it for survival . Think about getting stranded in middle of a desert and you dont know arabic word for "water " . So that was one of the first words i learnt . Then with the help of arabic-mallu and arabic-english books learnt some more words . I had some arabic friends and i tried my little arabic with them and also with some of my patients ( being in radiology could easily get by with minimum vocabulary ) . Then came the challenge . One day sitting with a pile of xrays to report the prettiest of the staff an arab girl came to me . She knew basic english but after sometime we became friends . But she was soon asking in arabic something related to heart palpitations . Of course she was not sick but how to ask her further questions ... "do you have rising heart beat when you climb stairs " ?
" Do you get it often " ?  etc etc . Whats the arabic word for stairs ? I still dont know .  Believe me but that day i stopped learning arabic ... Its a complicated language :)

Marathi learning was even more disastrous . Fresh in mumbai as usual i wanted to learn the local language . Most marathis know good english and hindi also fluently . But "local language " especially when you have friends in mumbai . I should learn . But i chose the wrong teacher . My young cousin who was learning it in school .  The initial vocabulary he taught included the word for a female dog . I still remember the look on my friends face when i uttered the word in all innocence . Luckily she asked who taught me this and forgave me .

I still havent stopped learning languages . I heard even french has this male and female words . But i will learn it too one day just for the sake of it .