Englisheee

I find myself continually impressed when I hear adults and small children using normal English to talk about norrmal things.

Today I overheard a swim instructor speaking with a crying four year old.

Instructor: "What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?"
Child: nods
Instructor: "What did I do?"

Maybe this is a bad example. The girl didn't even respond with words. But I was still struck by the instructor's use of sort of complex expressions like "what's wrong". In Korea I might have asked "why are you sad?" but never "what's wrong?" It's amazing - small children understand most words! Language acquisition is so cool.

I also saw an eight year old boy say to his swim instructor, "You just look so sullen. I want to see you smile." He was right, she did look sullen. Sullen! Amazing! That boy is going places.