His Native Language

My son-in-law is Dutch and Dutch is his native language. While he was growing up, he also spent some time living in France and so he is fluent in French as well as Dutch. As a teenager, he joined a Boy Scout troop where meetings were conducted in English and he soon became fluent in English. I marvel at his ability to rapidly switch between the three languages. At a holiday gathering that included guests who spoke all three languages, Bram communicated with each person in his or her native language. It was truly impressive.

As a linguist, I was impressed with one particular instance of my son-in-law’s language usage. We were invited to my Uncle Bob’s for dinner one evening. My aunt and uncle take pride in preparing gourmet meals and then elegantly serving them to their guests. Of course, wine and the selection of the wine are important components of the meal. Uncle Bob makes sure that his guests never have an empty wine glass.

That was also the case on this particular evening. It was Bram’s first experience with an Uncle Bob meal. He didn’t realize that the faster he drank his wine, the faster Uncle Bob would refill. There were several times when I think Bram wasn’t even aware of the refilling. In any case, he was feeling quite happy at this family gathering.

Conversation flowed just as easily as the wine. We laughed and shared stories. We told Bram all about Tiffany when she was growing up. My son, Tim, filled his future brother-in-law in on special experiences he and Tiffany had shared. It was well after midnight when we finally got up from the table to head home.

As we had brought two cars, my son volunteered to be the designated driver for one of the cars. He had to be up early the next morning and hadn’t had any wine, so he drove my daughter and her then fiancé home. With the happy couple seated in the back, my son served as chauffeur.

On the ride home, while my daughter slept, the “boys” conversed about a bunch of things. It was a good time for them to get to know each other better. But at one point, whether it was because he was tired or had had too much wine, Bram said something in Dutch. Tim thought that Bram was mumbling because he was tired, so he asked him to repeat what he said. It wasn’t until that point that Bram even realized he had switched languages.

It just goes to show that when we are not 100% ourselves our brains revert to what they know best. In this case Bram’s brain went to the language it knew best. My son still has not learned any Dutch, but there have not been any major communication differences between the two since then. My son recognized that his brother-in-law doesn’t mumble, he just speaks words that Tim doesn’t understand!