#Indie30 Day 13: If You Could Wake Up Tomorrow Knowing Any One Language, What Would it Be? Why?
I love languages! I wish I could learn them all.
Gracias a mi mamá, yo hablo español.
Since my mother is from Colombia, Spanish was her first language. We grew up around it. Thanks to the Spanish, I can make my way around Italian pretty well. Just remember to drop a few vowels here and there, use the ‘y’ sound instead of the ‘l’ sound (i.e. bella) and voilà (No wait, my French sucks) ecco!
Because I speak more than one language, I’ve heard I have the capacity to learn other languages more easily. Not quite true. Have you tried learning an Asian language lately?!
I am breaking this into two categories:
- The language I want to learn most for professional reasons
- The language I want to learn most for personal gratification
旅行 (Ryokō or travel)
Japanese – Now don’t get me wrong. I’d still love to learn Japanese just to know it. I do have extra incentive because I work closely with many Japanese and I travel there for business. I’ve started Rosetta Stone and let me tell you, it is not easy! There are also Spanish and Japanese words that overlap, meaning two entirely different things! You definitely wouldn’t say the shortened version for ‘pork’ in Japanese to a Spanish-speaking person or they might mistake you for calling them something extremely bad! I’m always wanting to apply a Spanish accent to Japanese words. It makes for an amusing time. I once told my co-workers that I eat boys instead of ‘the boy is eating.’ I still have the birthday card where one teased me, “Happy Birthday! Now don’t eat any boys!”
My father spent years living in Japan. There he learned martial arts and the language. He was just gone so much for the military and I am sure he thought we wouldn’t necessarily have a need for it later in life so he didn’t teach my brother, sister and me. I still can’t help but wish he would have passed it on.
Greek – When I was in 8th grade, my mom had a co-worker with whom I got along really well. One day I walked in and she had a new calendar on her wall, or perhaps I just hadn’t noticed it before. The photo for that month literally stopped me in my tracks. I asked her, “WOW! Where is THAT?!?” She explained it was her tiny island in Greece. I’ve been obsessed with Greek history ever since. Which also turned me onto Roman history.
I had many plans to go to Greece and Italy, but always ended up somewhere else in the world. Finally, I determined I would go with the man I knew I’d spend my life with or, when I turn 40 – whichever happened first, convinced I’d turn 40 because I didn’t want to ‘settle down.’
Well, famous last words! The hubs and I are heading to none other than Greece and Italy for my big 4-0 in two years (we have MANY trips planned between now and then). I’d love to speak the language as we island hop.
And you know ordering ouzito and toasting life and love in Greek (while IN Greece) would be a lot more fun!
