Gaming with Canadians and language

I would like to say it hasn't changed me, but that wouldn't be very honest on my part. I am learning French. Most of the time now when I am on listening on our Ventrillo server it is to my friends speaking French. I am watching Canadian educational videos as well. But what is a language anyway? Is is just a means of expression? I would like to think so. But apparently its more than just that. Although the underlying humans just trying to be themselves and have fun and enjoy life is the same, I can clearly sense there are advantages and disadvantages to certain languages as means of expressing certain kind of experiences. Not so unlike programming languages actually. Japanese for example has more ways to be polite than you can shake a stick at. For each verb there is a plain and polite form. On top of that there are polite verbs that replace regular verbs that have a plain and polite forms. In addition, there are helping verbs that make the sentence more polite. Is that everything? Nope! There are words for the word 'you' that are either polite or rude or anything in between.

So, what about French? Well, I haven't dived too deeply into the grammar, but at the base level you can have very different sounds representing the same idea in English. I would go further to say there are certain kinds of sounds that are more common or more emphasized in each different language. I believe we as humans unconsciously associate certain combinations of sounds and as familiar and acceptable. When we are placed in an environment where the sounds are not what we associate with normal, we can become uncomfortable. So does the uncomfortability reveal an aspect of myself that I have not yet accepted? Maybe but its not something I could hope to put into words. Am I learning French to become comfortable with these sounds? Yes, but also so I can understand my friends.

So what about gaming? Well the truth is its fun - especially with friends. And the language doesn't matter so much, only the attitude of the people you play with.