Tower of Babel
I would love to be one of those rare birds who speaks fifteen languages. Fluently.
Learning languages is the unlocking of one of the great mysteries in life. If you don't speak someone's native tongue, and they don't speak yours, how can you communicate with them (barring the rudimentary sign language we tend to make up to suffice)? Each language has its own intricacy, its own idioms and private jokes, its own culture of the mind. You get a feel for the people once you learn the ins and outs of how they think, through what they say--sayings and proverbs and word choices, things that grandmothers say, dispensing wisdom.
Each one has an aural beauty, sounds that entrance as you listen, sounds that make your scalp tingle. Pronunciation, that specialty of the tongue, makes an art form out of speaking; intonation and enunciation give shape and form to the words. The roundness of French, the crispness of German, the liquidness of Armenian, the rolling syllables of Spanish, Italian, the staccato of Chinese. Each and every one of us, an expert in speaking our native language. Our vocabulary may be simple or expansive, but our diction, our pronouncing of words, reflect both individual expertise and the indelible marks of our culture.
Oh, to be so nimble of tongue as to be able to say the words, with the proper accent, understanding exactly what you are saying, what others are saying! Oh, to assimilate one's thoughts with another language!
Words are magic implements, that, strung together, cast little spells. I hold them in my hands, gazing at the mysterious little things that possess such power. I try them out: "Mein lieber herr", "Je vois la vie en rose", "Buongiorno, Principessa!", "Salamat!" It pleases me to grasp phrases, even single words, pronounced correctly, so I can pretend that I have spoken this all my life. I am an honorary German, French person, Italian, Filipina…I can enter the culture via the language; therefore, I am universal. I am a linguist. I, too, weave word magic.
Wilkommen!
Bienvenue!
Welcome!
Learning languages is the unlocking of one of the great mysteries in life. If you don't speak someone's native tongue, and they don't speak yours, how can you communicate with them (barring the rudimentary sign language we tend to make up to suffice)? Each language has its own intricacy, its own idioms and private jokes, its own culture of the mind. You get a feel for the people once you learn the ins and outs of how they think, through what they say--sayings and proverbs and word choices, things that grandmothers say, dispensing wisdom.
Each one has an aural beauty, sounds that entrance as you listen, sounds that make your scalp tingle. Pronunciation, that specialty of the tongue, makes an art form out of speaking; intonation and enunciation give shape and form to the words. The roundness of French, the crispness of German, the liquidness of Armenian, the rolling syllables of Spanish, Italian, the staccato of Chinese. Each and every one of us, an expert in speaking our native language. Our vocabulary may be simple or expansive, but our diction, our pronouncing of words, reflect both individual expertise and the indelible marks of our culture.
Oh, to be so nimble of tongue as to be able to say the words, with the proper accent, understanding exactly what you are saying, what others are saying! Oh, to assimilate one's thoughts with another language!
Words are magic implements, that, strung together, cast little spells. I hold them in my hands, gazing at the mysterious little things that possess such power. I try them out: "Mein lieber herr", "Je vois la vie en rose", "Buongiorno, Principessa!", "Salamat!" It pleases me to grasp phrases, even single words, pronounced correctly, so I can pretend that I have spoken this all my life. I am an honorary German, French person, Italian, Filipina…I can enter the culture via the language; therefore, I am universal. I am a linguist. I, too, weave word magic.
Wilkommen!
Bienvenue!
Welcome!
Comments
:-D
Salut!
Slainte!
:)