"Carlos Alden" wrote in message
...
were speaking English! It was the beer, and the fact that we probably
hadn't heard English spoken in a month that threw us off.

We lose our ability to speak and recognize even our native language pretty
fast if we don't use it every day. I've heard of people picked up from
deserted islands who talked almost like "deaf" people do (that "mumble" that
you can "almost" make out what they are saying). I had a girlfriend who's
mother was born and raised in Japan but lives here (US), has Japanese
friends here (who she talks to in Japanese almost everyday), but has trouble
speaking to her relatives in Japan. The Japanese relatives tell her she as
an "accent" they can't understand. Plus language, such as slang, vernacular,
tech-speak, etc., changes so fast nowadays if you're away from a language a
little while, you're not familiar with half the new words when you get back
to it.