The other day I went to a taco shop in Berlin and managed to speak all of my languages in one go. The gracious host kept up better than I personally did, as all of these things just flooded out of my mouth. My foreign language switch has been on but unfiltered, and here, where I understood that I would be able to speak Spanish, I just gave in and let it come. I began my order in Spanish, and responded, when she asked me a question in Spanish, with German. I then swerved directly into English, thanking her for her patience while we beamed at each other as understanding foreigners. She had spoken all three languages as well, so now we were cohorts. I tipped her self-consciously, and in completing the transaction said in Chinese, “hao,” as in, “okay.” This last she did not respond to, but I almost imagine she could have. There is a universal language among foreigners in a foreign place, especially those who do not have English as their first language. I wish to speak this universal tongue as if it were given me by my ancestors.

Indeed, it has been.