It is difficult to keep eating a very small restrictive diet forever, with stress, etc.
My cousin was eating around 800-1000 calories a day to maintain her newfound 100 -110 lb weight in her late 40s, and wearing a current US size 2.
I’m guessing she was back to a 5 foot US size 12/ 140 lbs 5 years later.
I think most ppl gain back some weight over time as their patterns go back to eating more.
My friend’s wife had a gastric bypass at age 40, and she probably has gained 25 lbs over the past 10 years, despite a lot of weight training. She is a veteran and very strong, but had a tendency to gain weight.
Another cousin’s wife gained everything back after a lap band or bypass at 40, and then some.
At the time I would’ve much preferred English, since I was pretty fluent already, but I have come to very much appreciate what I learned. It is, after all, the basis for all romance languages, so if one knows the Latin root or meaning of any given word in Italian, French, German, Spanish, English etc. etc. that’s pretty helpful
I had 2 years of Spanish & French. The Spanish stuck, the French… not so much. As I mentioned in another thread, most of my furrn language skillz are food related & most superficially conversational, and I understand far more than I speak/write.
Only 2 for me. But the second year, I was taking French, German and Latin simultaneously. Sometimes a word from another language would pop into my head during class. I guess the hard drive in my brain was full (oh, wait, I mean the stone tablet …no…papyrus scroll … so long ago)
I studied Spanish and Italian in college. A few years ago I had housecleaners, and one of them was named Maria. She spoke only Spanish. I wanted to say that my sister was also named Maria, in Spanish, but I could only remember the Italian word for “sister”. It was awkward.
When i was in Thailand years ago we convinced a fellow traveler that ending the phrase with “Kha” was even more polite.
He believed us for a couple days until a local woman told him the truth.
We laughed and laughed.
I learned Spanish in El Salvador, I went to live there when I was 12 when my father was transferred there. In college I majored in it and took Italian and 1 year of German.
When I was a tourist in Italy most cabdrivers etc didn’t speak English then but I could speak to them in Spanish and they understood me.
When I encountered Brazilians here who didn’t speak English, I could speak to them in Spanish and they understood but I couldn’t understand their Portuguese. The Italian language seems closer to Spanish to my mind.
An English prof of mine once told me that a non-native speaker of English has an easier time reading and understanding Chaucer than a native speaker. I get it; but I can’t articulate why.
Having never read Chaucer I’ll take your word for it (I wonder if this thread drift will be split off into some weird language-themed thread ).
I think non-native speakers often have a better grasp of grammar than native speakers, at least when it comes to English. 5 years of Latin don’t hurt, either
Later on, we moved to Quito, Ecuador. My father took Spanish lessons but he never became very adept (country boy from Mississippi) so when we’d go to restaurants he’d have me order.
He wanted peaches with ice cream for dessert. I was used to Salvadoran Spanish and asked for melocotones con sorbete. The waiter returned with peaches in syrup with 2 straws. In Ecuador I should have said duraznos con helado.
I took HS Spanish, taught in formal Castilian Spanish. But learned more in SoCal from Chicanos and Latinos. Teacher would tease Chicano and Cuban students about accents and the informal but they always got an A. I learned most of the curse words and how to order and simple stuff but a detailed conversation is pushing it. Still, ordering in Spanish usually gets you more food. Same for Cantonese and African American vernacular. In college one assignment was review a graduate thesis. I found the seminal, break through study on African American English by Claudia Mitchell-Kernan, now a chancellor at UCLA. It was hilarious and enlightening.
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