Sunday, May 5 2013

How Speaking Too Many Languages Is Limiting

I know, by saying this - that speaking too many languages is limiting- I probably go against years and hours and sweat tears of very dubious as well as very serious research that say the contrary. As a matter of fact, if you go about googling the advantages of speaking many languages, the number of results is around 123 million results (yes, millions). So who the heck do I think I am to say the contrary?

Well, here goes. I've always liked writing. I've written as long as I can remember, which probably dates back to my absolutely quiet and boring adolescence. We're talking a few decades here. However, ever since I've moved to Germany, I've stopped writing. Not completely, I will take the occasional napkin or more fashionable Facebook status to spit out a few well thought-out words that are spinning round in my mind. But on average, I have not written in the past eight years nearly a quarter as much as I have in the 20 odd years before that. Why? Not sure. But today I came to the realisation that this whole "I speak so many languages it's so cool" thing might be the core of the problem.

© Jeremy Sutton Hibbert - Restaurant sign in Figueres, Catalonia., mai 2013
© Jeremy Sutton Hibbert - Restaurant sign in Figueres, Catalonia.

My thing about writing is that I usually write for someone. Not always someone in particular, but as I jot words down on a piece of paper, a name will pop out, and then maybe another, people past or present, who I'm thinking might find my words funny, moving, stupid or great, whatever. These people usually never get to read those words, but they are still the targets of my words. The problem starts when these people don't speak the language I'm writing in. Mind you, I write in English or French most of the time, and German comes a far third, so it's not that many languages. But still. That's three languages, and not all of my friends or acquaintances, or people I want to talk to actually speak all of those three languages. Some might speak one, others two, a few do speak the three, some even speak only very little of those to start with (that would be some of my Italian and Spanish speaking friends). So of course every time I write, I feel limited in who I can talk to.

Take this blog. Lately I've written in German, because it makes sense to write about Germany in German, and because frankly, it's often easier than to have to translate what I'm living on a day to day basis. But it's frustrating. Because as much as Germans might be interested in what I have to say about them, I'm also quite sure that my French speaking friends are interested in what I have to say about Germany. And I've caught myself numerous times citing my blogposts to someone as an example of what I think/do/feel and realizing that the blogpost i'm talking about is written in a language they do not speak.

Truth is, I am one person. No matter what language I speak. So if you know me in one language, you know me, and not just some part of me. And while I find that speaking three languages somewhat correctly and understanding two more quite well has sharpened my thinking process (the more languages you speak, the more accurate words you find to say exactly what you want to say), it also has limited my will and freedom of expression. I want to say things, but I'd like to say them in all the languages I speak AT ONCE. Not have to translate, but just write things as they come and they'd be automagically translated (and make sense, as opposed to simple machine translation) in all the languages I'd like to see them translated to. Unfortunately, we're not there yet, so I'm frustrated and I don't write.

But I have made a decision. I don't care any more. I am just going to write. If it's in a language you understand, good for you. If it's not, I am sorry, you'll either have to pass, or use bad machine translation. I need to write more, it's all cluttered in my many language head these days, I need to sort things out and writing is my way out.


Photo: Restaurant sign in Figueres, Catalonia. All rights reserved. © Jeremy Sutton Hibbert - Used with author's permission.

Friday, April 6 2012

Empathy, Culture and the Words You Use

Lara604, Latte Heart 2, March 24, 2009, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lara604/3630689319/

Je suis une empathique. De base, de tout coeur et jusqu'au bout de mes orteils. Pourtant, j'ai beaucoup de mal avec certaines personnes, notamment issues de la culture nord-américaine, qui abusent de mots teintés d'empathie et leur font perdre leur force. Je me suis trouvée dans plusieurs situations de communication où l'utilisation d'un discours empathique m'a fait me poser la question de savoir si la personne qui l'émettait n'était pas en train d'essayer de m'endormir à coup de positif et bons sentiments, une situation où l'utilisation de mots qui ont leur origine dans les sentiments n'étaient pas "ressentis" mais "pensés".

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Wednesday, March 21 2012

Of intended puns and other language barriers

L'humour est la chose la plus difficile à traduire dans un contexte interculturel. Souvent celui-ci s'inscrit dans un contexte hautement culturel et fait référence à des choses qu'une personne ayant grandi/vécu dans un autre pays ne peut comprendre. Le plus difficile à faire dans une langue qui n'est pas la sienne sont les jeux de mots, qui souvent sont pris comme des fautes de grammaire plutôt que de l'humour.

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Friday, April 29 2011

Time is Relative

Heaphys Quality Menswear - Established in the reign of William IV - © Elliott Brown-CC-BY

Où j'explique combien la perception du temps varie selon le cadre de référence. Par exemple, sur internet, un site qui a dix ans est un site vieux, alors qu'un hôtel ou un café qui a 10 ans et le montre est plutôt ridicule.

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Sunday, September 19 2010

How Intercultural Is Social Media?

meet ur neighbour - © Andrei  Prakharevich - CC-BY-SA 2.0

Les médias sociaux, contrairement à ce que j'ai lu dans un billet de blog, permettent à mon avis de transcender les cultures, notamment nationales. Parce que les gens peuvent échanger sur des sujets précis, basés sur leurs intérêts communs, ils trouvent un point d'entrée qui permet une conversation autrement impossible et ce, quel que soit leur bagage culturel.

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Saturday, September 18 2010

Of Language and Thought: Gender Awareness

The sky, a sun, a moon and a pigeon © Joao Vicente, CC-BY 2.0

Partant d'un article du New York Times sur la question essentielle de savoir si la langue que nous parlons décide de nos pensées, quelques considérations sur la langue en général et en particulier l'utilisation de différents genres pour les mêmes choses, notamment en français et allemand.

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Tuesday, July 13 2010

Why the Accent Is so Important

A tâche without an accent is just a stain.

Où la pub p)our une application iPhone sur le site spotify fait du multitâche une histoire un peu sale, faute d'accent.

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Monday, September 7 2009

Tell Me How You Eat I Will Tell You Who You Are

Practical - © Brian Boulos, CC-BY

J'ai toujours trouvé intéressant d'observer comment les gens se tiennent à table dans les différents pays. Lorsqu'on se trouve à table dans un pays dont on ne connaît pas les manières, il est toujours difficile de savoir si ce qui relève du savoir-vivre chez soi ne sera pas interprété comme une action hautement impolie ailleurs. Mais peut-être est-ce seulement mon éducation française qui joue...

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