With all our travels, FM, FG and I have developed our own way of speaking which includes a smattering of foreign words infused into our conversations. Some words seem more meaningful and descriptive in another language. For example, we use the German word “stau” for traffic jam, Ciao (Italian) or Tschuss (German) for goodbye and a whole host of Spanish and Hawaiian words. The cell phone will forever be known as a “handy.”Now that we’re here in Guam, we’ve picked up a few new terms such as “waterblaster” for power washer and “zorries” for flip-flops. I knew something was really different when FG got in the car the other day and said “konichi-wa” which is good afternoon in Japanese.
We usually speak this way only amongst ourselves but, once in awhile, we forget when we’re with other people and get some mightly strange looks. I know a lot of people who speak a mix of two languages. In Hawaii, there is always a little English mixed with Hawaiian words. And then there is Spanglish. But we seem to use a multitude of languages. Is it just us or do other people speak “fusion” language as well?
Displaced Beachbums 
It’s good to hear we’re not the only ones 🙂
LikeLike
We do the same thing. I still use “stau” and we say Tschuess as well. I usually refer to the kids as Kinder when talking to or about them (as in, “let’s go Kinder!”). Every now and again they’ll come out with something in German, too. I know very little Spanish anymore, but do sometimes use a few Spanish words here and there too.
LikeLike
There’s never any guarantee in this house about what language you’ll hear. In Germany we often incorporated those words into our house, but now it’s pretty much Ukrainian and Russian with English.
I used stau for a long time as well (mainly because there wasn’t an American substitute), but now I use the Ukrainian word for it which is ‘propka’. The funniest is when we don’t mean for word to come out in a foreign language and then it does. Surprising to all involved!
LikeLike
We do it too, but mostly just with German. D. can speak it quite well, so he throws out a lot of phrases. I try some French when it comes to me, but my recall for foreign languages isn’t good. I can read German and French pretty well, but speaking is another story. D. is the history/language person; I’m the math/science person!
When we first got here, the kids would say things in German. Tchuss was always our goodbye, but they’ve gotten away from it. I think some words are just easier for them to pronounce in German. M. still counts on his fingers the German way (starting with the thumb). You’re not alone!
LikeLike