As someone who speaks English only, I've always admired anyone who speaks more than one language ... and you speak FOUR. That may not seem like much from your perspective, but it's really impressive!
And I love how you look at and examine your relationship to each language from a variety of perspectives and with such well-thought-out depth. This is really well done.
Agree with all of this! Plus…I just cannot fathom how people’s brains work this way. I’m like Larry in that I only have English, and it feels like it would be so confusing having all of those thoughts bouncing around my head in different languages. I’m confused enough by English 🤣!
It can be a confusing potpourri haha, but the mind is so good at compartmentalizing. I‘m not running around thinking in Italian one second and then French in the next…much depends on the trigger and context.
I swear I land in Germany and within a day later my English already starts to deteriorate.
When I spent time in France, immersed in French with some new friends, I remember we went to London for a weekend. My friend Pepe would start talking to someone in English and switch half-sentence, and without noticing, back to French. Some of the best laughs…
"[A] myriad selves dart to and fro like schools of tiny, slippery, glittering fish, and as it is impossible to catch them in the net of language, we generally content ourselves with summing up the extravagant flux of our lives in a few pat phrases [like]: ‘Yeah, had a great summer.’”
What an amazing quote. Your ability to source the perfect quote and then use it to capture something so true and ineffable on the page never ceases to astound me. Different languages do have completely different feels to them, and I even feel a little different when speaking them. But I'd never have been able to express it this beautifully.
You have a great gift and I'm grateful to call you a friend ◡̈
Such beautiful feeds, thank you so much, Rachel! I was so happy when I found this quote again (I had a different one first if you remember, but this one worked even better). I am so grateful for your support and friendship ✨
Oh, I love the way you shared each language with a story :D
For me, it was a bit different. My mother was born in Germany, but her parents are both Turkish. She was the first of the third generation of Gastarbeiter. My father came from Türkiye, so for the first 3 years of my life, I only spoke Turkish.
Then, when I went to kindergarten, I started leaning deeper into German. The duality of both languages had its peak in elementary school, where I used the Turkish "Ş" instead of the German "Sch".
For me, it was intuitive, but my teacher had a long discussion with me.
Throughout elementary school and high school, it became my main language, and even though I speak it every day, I am still not 100% sure with everything... But I guess that's normal :)
Now, as I got more into the online space, first only consuming YouTube videos but later also creating, I had to start learning English, but not just the standard school version, but the more casual speaking style. I had my problems at the beginning, but through every piece I wrote and even starting a podcast, I am where I am now, fluidly speaking 2 languages, but only half-assing my mother’s tongue language.
But I am so thankful for reading this and having a moment of reflection, and am so excited to one day speak with you in 2 languages simultaneously :D
This was beautiful, and made me yearn somewhat for an experience I've only had a glimpse and a taste of (living in Korea for 4 years). I suspect that your polylingual experience has even enriched your thinking and writing in English, in that ways perhaps that English-only speakers might not be capable of.
I remember hearing you speak about living in Korea! That is amazing and must have been such a formative (and hopefully formidable) life experience for you too. Did you already write about it somewhere, and can you speak some Korean?
As far as my thinking is concerned compared to English-only speakers are concerned that is ofc hard for me to gauge. What I know for sure though is how my understanding and humility have grown from having access to various ways + words to express and relate to things.
That makes sense; I don't truly "speak" Korean, to answer your question, but I learned and understand enough (surrounded by it every day! My husband is Korean) to grasp how different words for the same thing express differencet nuances and even make you _feel_ differently when you speak them...not to mention the words that don't exist in your native language that open your understanding to the world further! (Idioms are fascinating too). As I am sure you relate, no doubt far more so.
And yes, Korea was wonderful! It was like a mini-lifetime within a lifetime. I haven't written much about it so far, although I do mention it a little bit in one essay, "The Paradox of Travel."
Again, I loved this article -- you made me think about the multidimensional aspects of knowing multiple languages, and I'm glad my daughter is growing up learning both English and Korean. Hopefully it adds some of that depth to her life!
Thank you for this beautiful additional context, Brenna. I especially love this—it’s so true: languages even make you_feel_differently when you speak them. And those shifts in feeling then open up so much nuance and new doors of possibility, both within yourself and in how you relate to the world.
What a gift you‘re giving to your daughter. When my daughter was born, I chose to speak to her in German, especially for the first 12 years or so of her life (today, it’s more English than German). Such a path isn’t always easy to walk but I think it is worth it.
I'm losing my mother tongue as it was only spoken at home and long since have i and home parted.
Have you heard the joke what do you call someone who speaks 3 languages - trilingual. and someone who speaks 2 languages - bi lingual. Then what do you call someone who speaks one language - an american.
I enjoyed and learned some from your nuanced perception of languages. look at ta page of german and the same page in english.
Thank you, Karl—I think I’ve heard variations of that joke :) But while I can remember many words in other languages, I can’t remember jokes to save my life! What’s your mother tongue?
Brigette, this is amazing! I’m always super impressed by people who can speak multiple languages. I never learned a 2nd one well enough to count. I always think of that scene in Goodfellas when Tommy’s mom is telling the story about the old guy and whatever he says “sounds better in Italian”
You have all these idiomatic expressions and words for things that are better than whatever the English translation is. That is such a beautiful gift.
I loved reading this! Partly because, it's amazing you have learned and spoken four languages over your life! You also did such a beautiful job capturing how speaking another language and being in a foreign country has it's own unique imprint on who we are. Languages are so interesting because it's more than one word translated to another. They have their own personality that comes alive when you speak them.
As someone who speaks English only, I've always admired anyone who speaks more than one language ... and you speak FOUR. That may not seem like much from your perspective, but it's really impressive!
And I love how you look at and examine your relationship to each language from a variety of perspectives and with such well-thought-out depth. This is really well done.
Thank you Larry. Your words mean so much, around a theme and an essay that are emotionally close to my heart.
Agree with all of this! Plus…I just cannot fathom how people’s brains work this way. I’m like Larry in that I only have English, and it feels like it would be so confusing having all of those thoughts bouncing around my head in different languages. I’m confused enough by English 🤣!
It can be a confusing potpourri haha, but the mind is so good at compartmentalizing. I‘m not running around thinking in Italian one second and then French in the next…much depends on the trigger and context.
I swear I land in Germany and within a day later my English already starts to deteriorate.
When I spent time in France, immersed in French with some new friends, I remember we went to London for a weekend. My friend Pepe would start talking to someone in English and switch half-sentence, and without noticing, back to French. Some of the best laughs…
That’s nuts
"[A] myriad selves dart to and fro like schools of tiny, slippery, glittering fish, and as it is impossible to catch them in the net of language, we generally content ourselves with summing up the extravagant flux of our lives in a few pat phrases [like]: ‘Yeah, had a great summer.’”
What an amazing quote. Your ability to source the perfect quote and then use it to capture something so true and ineffable on the page never ceases to astound me. Different languages do have completely different feels to them, and I even feel a little different when speaking them. But I'd never have been able to express it this beautifully.
You have a great gift and I'm grateful to call you a friend ◡̈
Such beautiful feeds, thank you so much, Rachel! I was so happy when I found this quote again (I had a different one first if you remember, but this one worked even better). I am so grateful for your support and friendship ✨
Knowing another language (or two) is such an enriching, and rewarding skill as well as being so much fun!
Yes, it it. You speak Spanish, right?
I do. And I love it. 😍
Oh, I love the way you shared each language with a story :D
For me, it was a bit different. My mother was born in Germany, but her parents are both Turkish. She was the first of the third generation of Gastarbeiter. My father came from Türkiye, so for the first 3 years of my life, I only spoke Turkish.
Then, when I went to kindergarten, I started leaning deeper into German. The duality of both languages had its peak in elementary school, where I used the Turkish "Ş" instead of the German "Sch".
For me, it was intuitive, but my teacher had a long discussion with me.
Throughout elementary school and high school, it became my main language, and even though I speak it every day, I am still not 100% sure with everything... But I guess that's normal :)
Now, as I got more into the online space, first only consuming YouTube videos but later also creating, I had to start learning English, but not just the standard school version, but the more casual speaking style. I had my problems at the beginning, but through every piece I wrote and even starting a podcast, I am where I am now, fluidly speaking 2 languages, but only half-assing my mother’s tongue language.
But I am so thankful for reading this and having a moment of reflection, and am so excited to one day speak with you in 2 languages simultaneously :D
This is so interesting and you should write about this too—and yes, it‘ll happen one day!
Yes, it will! And I guess I should slowly start thinking about the book I will gift you once we meet :)
This was beautiful, and made me yearn somewhat for an experience I've only had a glimpse and a taste of (living in Korea for 4 years). I suspect that your polylingual experience has even enriched your thinking and writing in English, in that ways perhaps that English-only speakers might not be capable of.
I remember hearing you speak about living in Korea! That is amazing and must have been such a formative (and hopefully formidable) life experience for you too. Did you already write about it somewhere, and can you speak some Korean?
As far as my thinking is concerned compared to English-only speakers are concerned that is ofc hard for me to gauge. What I know for sure though is how my understanding and humility have grown from having access to various ways + words to express and relate to things.
That makes sense; I don't truly "speak" Korean, to answer your question, but I learned and understand enough (surrounded by it every day! My husband is Korean) to grasp how different words for the same thing express differencet nuances and even make you _feel_ differently when you speak them...not to mention the words that don't exist in your native language that open your understanding to the world further! (Idioms are fascinating too). As I am sure you relate, no doubt far more so.
And yes, Korea was wonderful! It was like a mini-lifetime within a lifetime. I haven't written much about it so far, although I do mention it a little bit in one essay, "The Paradox of Travel."
Again, I loved this article -- you made me think about the multidimensional aspects of knowing multiple languages, and I'm glad my daughter is growing up learning both English and Korean. Hopefully it adds some of that depth to her life!
Thank you for this beautiful additional context, Brenna. I especially love this—it’s so true: languages even make you_feel_differently when you speak them. And those shifts in feeling then open up so much nuance and new doors of possibility, both within yourself and in how you relate to the world.
What a gift you‘re giving to your daughter. When my daughter was born, I chose to speak to her in German, especially for the first 12 years or so of her life (today, it’s more English than German). Such a path isn’t always easy to walk but I think it is worth it.
I'm losing my mother tongue as it was only spoken at home and long since have i and home parted.
Have you heard the joke what do you call someone who speaks 3 languages - trilingual. and someone who speaks 2 languages - bi lingual. Then what do you call someone who speaks one language - an american.
I enjoyed and learned some from your nuanced perception of languages. look at ta page of german and the same page in english.
Thank you, Karl—I think I’ve heard variations of that joke :) But while I can remember many words in other languages, I can’t remember jokes to save my life! What’s your mother tongue?
Brigette, this is amazing! I’m always super impressed by people who can speak multiple languages. I never learned a 2nd one well enough to count. I always think of that scene in Goodfellas when Tommy’s mom is telling the story about the old guy and whatever he says “sounds better in Italian”
You have all these idiomatic expressions and words for things that are better than whatever the English translation is. That is such a beautiful gift.
She‘s got a point! :) It is a beautiful gift (and worth the effort), and I thank you for reading, Matt.
I loved reading this! Partly because, it's amazing you have learned and spoken four languages over your life! You also did such a beautiful job capturing how speaking another language and being in a foreign country has it's own unique imprint on who we are. Languages are so interesting because it's more than one word translated to another. They have their own personality that comes alive when you speak them.
THANK you Michelle 💗