Still Learning English...

The other day while eating some dessert with my French class, I tried to explain the word "self-control" to a German friend of mine. My vocabulary in French is still lacking, and I struggled to get my point across. Finally, he said, "Just tell me in English." But my mind went blank. For the life of me I couldn't think of the English word. He eventually had to look up the German word in his own dictionary that he thought I was trying to explain, and then tell me the English equivalent.

It's pretty bad when a German, who speaks English as a secondary language, has to tell me, someone who speaks English as his primary language, the English word for something. Once again... the joy and humility of learning another language.