langue time

I studied the french language from first grade until twelfth grade, (when I became a high school dropout). It's not that I'm an idiot; I like to blame faults and shortcomings in the educational system for the fact that I can hardly make a relevant sentence in this gorgeous language. I will get back to studying it on my own terms soon.

In grades ten and eleven, part of twelve and for a year at Laurentian, I studied German. I love German. People think it is harsh and ugly sounding, but I insist that it is beautiful. I especially like their terms of endearment. (Compare with French; would you rather be someone's cabbage or their treasure?) - Treasure.

I Should have a decent handle of Spanish by now, though I don't. No offense, Mither, but you were the major influence in my lack of knowledge here. By far, Spanish has the best terms of endearment: mi ciel, mi vida, mi cafe amargo... (^_^) Poetic beyond my abilities! So romantic that even My heart of ice begins to thaw.

I am about to embark on a journey in Russian. My father understands Russian. He also understands White Russian, some Ukrainian, Serbian, Croatian and slowly spoken, enunciated Polish amongst others. I am rather green about his linguistic skill sets. I do speak a smattering of Serbo-Croatian, but it amounts to tourist level or less these days.

My mother is fluent in Finnish and I am downright envious. This is a language I have loved all my life. I can't begin to state why, but perhaps that's for the next entry. I reckon if a young lady were to proposition me in Finnish I'd Have to take it seriously.

I can swear like a sailor in Greek. I also know the names of several foods. Thanks to Stella, Maria, Jimmy, Jimmi and Jimmy at the restaurant for those relevant skills.

As a curiosity, there was a time in my life when I could tell someone to "take an aspirin every three hours" in nearly fifteen different languages. And it came in handy... ;)Though I profess I don't remember most of them.

Language is a thing that I suspect most people don't really choose. It chooses them. Your parents taught you Italian, or Finnish, or Greek, because it's what they spoke before they came here. Yes, they are keeping culture alive, but they are also keeping alive a different way of expressing the world. And that changes the world you will live in.

I once met a guy in Cuba who studied from youth and was fully fluent in no fewer than five languages. That is to say he did work as a translator for his government from time to time. He was learning two extras at the time we met. There are few men I admire as much as Michael Douglas in this world, but Hilario was one of them.

I often wonder how people come to choose what their second language will be. For that matter, what criteria makes a person choose their third language? Fourth? Etc...

French was not a choice for me. I love the language, but I am not sure I would have chosen it. I rather would have preferred Finnish. Nonetheless, I have some basic knowledge and wish to pursue it further. I think of those I chose, the biggest influence may be the cold war. Doesn't that sound stupid? German and Russian. Both have beautiful areas, magnificent and fascinating histories and a special sort of mentality that distinguishes itself. They were both the bad guys in the cold war, well one and a half of them were.

It helps, of course, that they are spoken in geographically diverse areas, by very large numbers of people. On this premise I would like to study Japanese, Chinese (probably Mandarin), Yiddish or Hebrew (likely the latter for academic purposes), Spanish or Portuguese and one of the Dravian languages.

As a reader you must think: "You'll never learn them all, Jay..." and you would be right.

*sigh*

I lost the actual point of this post, so I am replacing it with a request. If you know another language, tell me about it. Speak non-english to me. This works very well if you are using idioms that are region or dialect specific. I will be your best friend if you do...