From Http://Members.Aol.Com/Lassailly/Tunuframe.Html wrote:

>
> you native speakers will never fully understand all the feeling of
> freedom a non-native speaker enjoys when expressing himself
> in english. english is the most refined language i ever met in my life.
> it is by no means easy but is so incredibly complete and exotic.

You know, I think you've hit the nail on the head again, Matthias...
the more I studied other languages (mostly romance languages), I came
to the impression that English was one odd duck.  I've always admired
its efficiencies and bizarrenesses.  I didn't want to make a relex of
English in T., but I wanted to reproduce something of its plasticity,
which is why I had never been satisfied with T's syntactical rigidity.
The more I use it--in these wonderful translation relays and projects,
the more I realize I can bend it, make exceptions, cut corners, fold
things back on themselves.  That's what English seems like to me.  A
language that can fold back on itself, do the splits, do gymnastics,
and still be legible.  "Up with which I shall not put."  "I was awarded
a prize by my teacher."  "Have you got a pencil?"  "I have."  "Do you
have a pencil?"  "I do."  The sheer weirdness of it.  I found a kindred
spirit in Welsh, sort of.  But I think I was blown away by the initial
mutations.  (When in Wales, I answered "I do" to "have you got a pencil"
and was roundly mocked!)(this was in English of course).

Sally