It *is* possible to spend an entire day not speaking English!

[kareina]

I don't know why it occurred to me, but sometime late on Saturday night/early Sunday morning I suddenly wondered if it would be possible to spend a day not speaking English. So I mentioned the thought to lord_kjar (in Swedish, of course), and after we chatted about it for a bit, I decided to go for it for all of Sunday, since it was only just after midnight, and we had been talking in Swedish for long enough that I hadn't used English yet that day. To further increase the odds of doing this, I mentioned the plan (in the form of "wondering if" on FB.

I was slightly concerned about the danger time--first thing in the morning: would I remember that I wasn't supposed to speak English? Yes! I did. The "rule" I came up with was just "no English". I didn't have to limit myself to Swedish--if I had wanted to say something that I didn't happen to know the Swedish word, but I did in some other language I could have used the other language. (Not that it came up, this time).

Sunday morning he was home with me, and I spoke to him only in Swedish. He used a mix of Swedish and English, depending on what he was saying and how important it was to him that I understand on the first attempt, but I always replied in Swedish. Then he went back to Spelmansstämman to play some music with the other musicians, while I caught up on some basic housework (I do NOT want to confess just how long it had been since last we washed the sheets and pillowcases, luckily, I can't, since I don't know). Then I took my trike out to the event, where I spoke with other humans, too.

All of them were very supportive and encouraging when I told them that it was my first attempt at going a full day without speaking English. It was fun to actually communicate with others, without falling back on my native language when it got tough.

Now I need to decide if this should be something I do every week, once a month, at random,unpredictable intervals, or...

In other news--dancing at the event was WAY FUN, as it always is.

Today's adventure will have to get a write up on another day, as it is past my bedtime.

Comments

[corva.livejournal.com]

What is the Swedish word for "nifty"?

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I didn't know, and David said he would just use nifty, because he couldn't think of a word with the right connotations. So I asked google, which suggests " tjusig", but he says that is more "beautiful" or "good looking". Then he suggested "trevligt", which can be nice or cosy or well done...

[darttn.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your write up about your 'no English' day was in English, as I wouldn't have been able to understand it if it had been in Swedish!
Love you
Mom

[kareina.livejournal.com]

There was a reason I waited till it was over to post about it. That is also why yours and Beth's joint blog thing didn't get a comment from me this time; I didn't think you wanted it in Swedish.