My Babbling

I found out in Applied Linguistics last semester that people learning a second language go through the same steps as children learning their first language: babbling, testing sounds, words and phrases, making specific mistakes even after learning the rules, and things like that. So I'm not afraid to admit this.

I babble to myself in French.

Not like rambling on about something no one cares about, but babbling nonsensical phrases that have nothing to do with anything and changing one word or conjugation here and there just to see what it sounds like. And I do this not while I'm studying French, but while I'm driving to the store or taking a shower or drawing a picture. The most random things come out. My all-time favorite: "There is something like that here." This phrase, and various other forms of it with pretty much the same words, plagues my mind. I've never thought it or said it in reference to anything, only as random words that sound nice together to me.

Il y a quelque chose comme ça ici.

All day and night.

Babble babble babble.

So I believe I'm pretty much around 3.5 to 4 years right now. I should make some French toddler friends.