ABSTRACT
To some people, acquiring a second language is a difficult feat; to others, it is ordinary and unexceptionable. Take the real-life history of a boy in Tanzania who spoke Kihaya at home; he needed Kiswahili in elementary school and English in secondary school; he trained to be a priest, for which he needed Latin, but he also learnt French out of curiosity at the same time. Then he went as a priest to Uganda and Kenya, where he needed Rukiga and Kikamba, and he is now in Illinois, where he needs Spanish to communicate with his parishioners. To most monolingual English speakers, this seems a mind-boggling life story. It is extraordinary to us that someone can use more than one language in their everyday life.
