survival technique 396

i have found a tact which, though it doesn't exactly coincide with my teaching Micheal the srpski he (of course) already speaks, falls into the same category—and also the entitled one.

although i have not inquired into their specific motivation, the kids have taken to asking me "how do you say ______ in hrvatski (Croatian)?" perhaps they are tired of knowing one enemy, and figure that, being passported among the ranks of that one, i clearly ought to understand the other.

when i respond with the queried word itself, i hope like anything that i'm passing along more than small-l language. that i have about a 90% chance of "choosing" the correct word convinces me slightly—as does the fact that most of the remaining 10% are terms that have been forcibly wrenched (with awkward, descriptive literality—with iffy success of transplantation) from original sameness.