Learning to Speak, Part Three

III.

     Now, let me admit to something: In the midst of writing part of this essay while aboard a train, I fell asleep a few minutes ago, and have awoken now to the sound of two voices near me, both voluble--one speaking French, the other Spanish, both attending heartily to their respective cell-phone conversations.

     At first, I do not remember ever reading Guo. My sleepiness shuts that door. The sound of two overheard languages, separate and yet mingling, is enticing, and so I don't mind being woken. But then, I don't have to work at understanding French or Spanish, for I can't understand them. Not really. Only vaguely can I follow the sense, in small clusters of sounds, and not in...