My wife's death. First time I'm posting.

[DFW]

147. The languages are a combination of circumstance and necessity

I live in a country that borders on nine others, with about ten more within a two hour flight. I travel a LOT for my work, so I’d have to be some kind of idiot if I didn’t learn the local languages of countries I visit once a month or more. Think of a German who moves to Chicago, has weekly business trips to both Québec and Mexico, and speaks only German.

You seem to have retained some of your German, at least, although with dress being neuter (das Kleid) and table being masculine (der Tisch), I wonder if you weren’t thinking of another language. Table, for example, is feminine in French and Spanish (la table, la mesa). And that’s “viel, not “veil,” although I suspect that was a typo.