Over at Languagehat, an entry about how language changes us. Only wish I had more than just English, much as I love it. I have just enough Spanish to be polite, and take care of a post surgical patient's simple needs for warmth, pain control and nausea relief. Enough ASL to say thanks, and bullshit. Japanese to count to eight and say "I don't speak Japanese." When I'm very tired, that's about all I can manage in English.
Actually see this, from the outside, going to so many foreign (to me) language films in my 20s. And since. Never had trouble with the subtitles, so I could really watch and listen. Peering into another way of thinking and seeing the world from a different angle. We still seek out stories told in other tongues, and much prefer to hear the original while reading the text, rather than suffering through dubbing in ill fitted English. Better to get the gist of meaning, and the full vocal performance. My smattering of Italian (the odd word) no doubt sounds Sicilian, from Montalbano.
I sincerely doubt I could manage more than this, even if I began to study now. Word acquisition of any kind, with any retention, is a struggle. I wonder what I could have done, given real exposure to any other language as an infant, small child. There was a little bastard-French (River Candard French) around, so my pseudo-French has a convincing accent, but no one ever spoke to me in French. It floated around at my father's mother's house, but she was already very old and never really talked to me.
Asian accents of all sorts struggle to get in. Never heard them until I was an adult, unlike with the various versions of British Isles English, heard on the CBC. Likewise Spanish inflected English, very accustomed to those sounds. The fault is mine, but I don't know how to get past this tin part of my ear.
Names from other languages follow a similar pattern. Spanish based names give me no trouble, Polynesian names look like a bad Scrabble hand. Lots of kids in school with Polish names, so I can usually figure out which letters to say, and which to ignore. German names, I choke.
I do wish I had more linguistic flexibility, which is part of why I read Hat. English has a lifetime of interest, but it's not the only vocabulary, or mindset. I feel greedy for words and variety of understanding. Too late to do more than paddle at the shore.
4 comments:
Yes, I agree with you about getting the full vocal performance whilst watching foreign films. Dubbing doesn't seem to be able to catch the intonation. Although I'm trilingual, I am the worst person to give advice, because I was simply very lucky to learn both languages (beyond my native language) in the country in which they are spoken. Immersion does wonders. I don't think I could learn a language from a book or even from the internet.
The entry at Languagehat is fascinating ... vielen Dank für das Link!
Rou,
Oh, it is all about luck, having more than one language around when the brain is still plastic. At least to start. Preferably as a very small child or babe.
I could probably be intelligible in Spanish if immersed for a good year. I don't think it likely to happen, though. Had it impressed upon me in high school, if only lightly.
We anglophones who live in Quebec do consider ourselves blessed that we are compelled to learn to speak French if we are to stay here. My job, home, school, church, friends and family all speak English, so I do not have the occasion to practice my French very often, but since my kids are learning it in school, I compel myself to practice it with them at the occasional opportunity.
Phil,
I do use what little I have, as well.
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