I certainly did not leave Britain for the Swiss national sausage, the cervelat, although I quite like them. You can eat them fried or raw or even make a salad with them. They are quite versatile.

However, yes, I left England to travel to another country and learn a foreign langauge. Why? I do not really know, but at the age of 20 I decided that I really wanted to discover other possibilities. By chance I found work in Switzerland, in Zürich to be exact. It was not roses all the way, and I discovered that another country was not only learning the language, but also the temprement and character of the inhabitants. After 56 years living here I am not perfect in the language, but I discovered that will never be possible. An original accent always remains. Most people here seem to think I am originally dutch.

I grew up in London, with a cockney dialect, but made an effort to speak better english when amongst the population, although at home it was pure cockney. With time I learnt the German spoken in Switzerland. I can understand and speak pure German, although with a Swiss accent and vocabulary. However, once a foreigner, always a foreigner. Most people understand me and some find my mistakes to be quite amusing. There are times when misunderstandings arise in conversation, but I am now too old to bother about it. As long as I pay my taxes and can deal with the daily tasks of life, there is no problem.

I married a Swiss and so had to cope with the Swiss way of life, my kids all learning and visiting the Swiss school. My oldest understands English and can speak it, but only with English speaking people. He is sutistic but knows the difference in English and German. My No. 2 son is more or less bilingual, with english and German and also speaks fluent French after a few years in Brussels.

I also added a few other languages. I could speak French (although with a strong english accent) from my school days in England. I took Italian lessons at evening school and feel quite at home with the language. For some strange reason I decided I wanted to learn Russian, which I did for 10 years. I can still read and write it and speak it, but have forgotten quite a lot. I also did a year arabic, but that was too much to cope with.

I think I am now at the stage where I speak many languages, but nothing perfect (perhaps except from my origianl cockney english, spoken in the East End of London). I think I am the impersonation of ambiguity.

FOWC with Fandango: Ambiguity