i was reading a blog http://gledwood2.blogspot.com - a courageous person - and he was talking about learning languages, how other nationalities seem to learn English leaving those who speak only English with no 'privacy' of language.
ok. so that is slightly convoluted - but it struck a note with me.
as a child being brought up all over the world i picked up the language of the current country with ease, almost without noticing. but also without noticing i forgot the language of the country we were in before that.
i always wanted to belong to the country we happened to be in at the time when i was old enough to realise there was a difference - i.e. they belonged there and i didnt. i suppose it would have been a child-like love affair with the country born out of a need to belong. and thus having to leave the country was a traumatic world ending affair.
i never had that experience with UK. i was expected to belong here, but i never felt at home. i am not 'forgeign' to Britain, but i feel alien. i look and sound as though i 'belong' so my alien-ness is hidden.
anyway back to languages - i now wish i had remembered the languages i learned, and i think an understanding of a language which comes from learning it can give insight into the culture it is born of.
i think the misunderstanding of other cultures and the insistence that one's own is somehow 'right' or 'just' can lead to disasterous interactions.
so i would say to this person - learn languages - learn as many as you can! and try to visit the places.
i visited Spain a few years ago, having left there when i was 10, and found the language was starting to come back. but not only the language; i had a few nights of very strange dreams when i first got there, the strangeness of deep 'connections' - i was going to say memories, but it is far deeper than that.
i have not travelled very much as an adult, strange in a way. belonging has always been an issue, and roots or the lack of them. so i suppose i stayed put. reluctant to 'go back' to places i have loved to see how they have changed? probably. how narrow minded is that?
a task is to overcome it.
a pal in the here and now was born in Assam and still remembers more Hindi than i do. we sometimes banter in Hindi as he reminds me of more words.
enough for now.
ok. so that is slightly convoluted - but it struck a note with me.
as a child being brought up all over the world i picked up the language of the current country with ease, almost without noticing. but also without noticing i forgot the language of the country we were in before that.
i always wanted to belong to the country we happened to be in at the time when i was old enough to realise there was a difference - i.e. they belonged there and i didnt. i suppose it would have been a child-like love affair with the country born out of a need to belong. and thus having to leave the country was a traumatic world ending affair.
i never had that experience with UK. i was expected to belong here, but i never felt at home. i am not 'forgeign' to Britain, but i feel alien. i look and sound as though i 'belong' so my alien-ness is hidden.
anyway back to languages - i now wish i had remembered the languages i learned, and i think an understanding of a language which comes from learning it can give insight into the culture it is born of.
i think the misunderstanding of other cultures and the insistence that one's own is somehow 'right' or 'just' can lead to disasterous interactions.
so i would say to this person - learn languages - learn as many as you can! and try to visit the places.
i visited Spain a few years ago, having left there when i was 10, and found the language was starting to come back. but not only the language; i had a few nights of very strange dreams when i first got there, the strangeness of deep 'connections' - i was going to say memories, but it is far deeper than that.
i have not travelled very much as an adult, strange in a way. belonging has always been an issue, and roots or the lack of them. so i suppose i stayed put. reluctant to 'go back' to places i have loved to see how they have changed? probably. how narrow minded is that?
a task is to overcome it.
a pal in the here and now was born in Assam and still remembers more Hindi than i do. we sometimes banter in Hindi as he reminds me of more words.
enough for now.
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