The other day I was writing one of my J-List updates, and a rather embarrassing thing happened to me: I found myself unable to recall an English word I needed, although I knew what it was in Japanese. The word in question was sekkyoku-teki (sek-kyo-koo teh-kee), which means assertive or proactive or forward-thinking, and for some odd reason only the brain can understand, I could recall the Japanese term but not its English counterpart. So I asked my Japanese wife what the word was in English, and she told me, no doubt smirking to herself; I thanked her, remembering the infrequent but fun occasions when she momentarily forgot how to write a certain kanji character and I was able to whip it out for her. Being bilingual can be fun, but a little weird, too!
