Communicating through Portuguese

It is interesting that speaking a different language offers all sorts of opportunities for exploring and re-examining how we communicate with each other. I find that when I speak a lot of portuguese, then the way in which I speak English or write English becomes a translation of portuguese - very strange.

I also notice that when conversing in portuguese I am very selective about what I listen to - so although I may appear to be giving my full attention to the conversation, I am in fact only really listening to parts of it. I suppose I do the same thing in English although I am not so aware of it.

The best thing about speaking a different language is being able to hide behind it!