I speak a few fluently, speak some well enough to survive vacation in some foreign countries, and I also understand a few that I can't speak. Then I also have theoretical knowledge of a couple - i. e. I can manage to construct a sentence grammatically and so on, but I have never heard or read the language outside the classroom. (Latin is like that, for example. Dunno if I'd be able to keep up with a catholic service these days, but that'd be about the only place you'd ever hear Latin spoken these days. Mind you, it's awfully good to know what the names of the skeletal bones are, and what old inscriptions say etc. in my line of work.)
Never mind about the damn shoes. There's a fucking line between being interested and trying your best and being a Costume Nazi. First of all, I do not wear garb to rituals. Rituals are serious bussiness, not the fucking SCA or some other recreation group play. Second, my SCA shoes are period, but because I am a woman, my garb reaches to the ground, so it's not like anyone ever notices. Only the Costume Nazis, and they always have something shitty to say about your nice work anyhow. That's when it comes in quite nicely being an archaeologist, and a Swedish one at that. North American know-it-all Costume Nazis with no historic training, who have never set foot in the old country, can't really argue the archaeological authenticity of a Swedish archaeologist's Norse garb shoes. Besides, who fucken cares, as long as you show up to blòt?!! I am pretty sure Odin would rather us ladies were all naked at blòt anyhow... (No, it's wiccans that do "skyclad"!)
