Or how I am no different from a monoglot despite speaking many languages.

It is actually very easy to learn languages at the surface level. Being able to order food, ask for the directions, and greet the people of the country you just arrived in, all takes a maximum of few days.

Before the era of multiculturalism, a second language was only learnt only by diplomats, literati, traders and people with mixed origin. After the advent of globalisation people are expected to atleast learn 2 or more languages: the lingua franca, the mother tongue and the language of the land they reside in.

Usual language proficiency scores are only useful for the first case: to be able to get your work done or to understand that which was written in a different language. What actually is the metric for practical purposes then?

You hear from a lot of people that travelling makes you realise that you’ve been living under a bubble and there’s actually a lot of things that you’re yet to learn. The realisations and their intensities are a very subjective thing depends on your worldview and how you grow up.

To me, one thing I learnt was the reality check with regard to my verbal communication, especially in English. On one side, I found that I was able to comprehend what the other person says to me regardless of how unusual or thick their accent was.

This might seem trivial, but I’ve come to notice that a lot of non-native speakers have difficulties understanding accents from the regions that aren’t theirs—the average chinese or the vietnamese has trouble understanding english spoken by a non-chinese or non-vietnamese.

There is however a different level of language proficiency that is beyond comprehending or being able to speak accents: being able to express your thoughts freely in the same way you’d do in your native language. And I’ve come to realise that this appears impossible to me or very hard to attain if it isn’t.

Who do you usually have deep/long conversations with? Family? Friends? In my case both of those had the same native language as me. Why is it that all my close friends were only those that primarily spoke tamil? Is it simply by chance or was it because I was unable to express myself to those that didn’t speak Tamil?

Even when I hang out with two strangers (of different ethnicities) that don’t know each other, they seem to enjoy each other’s company more when they both have the same native language.

Is language a more important factor than culture and ethnicity in truly knowing someone? How do I bridge that gap between my understanding of a language and that of a native’s? Will I ever be able to express myself in a language that isn’t mine?