I'm writing in English, which is a language that i've been studying since i was 12, and my name is L.
My mother tongue is Italian, and, still, my name is L.
I also speak French, I haven't spoken it since that long, but, even though French people have hard time pronouncing correctly the sweet sound c of my name, i am still L.
It's known that talking in a foreign language is a hard challenge that, more and more people, lately, have to cope with. Boning up on books for years and watching original version movies is not enough to claim to properly know a language. The knowledge we get is limited. Often, especially in Italy,it only consists of a complex set of grammatical rules and an academic vocabulary, sometimes even obsoleted. Once abroad, it often happens that, even if you have years of study of a language on our shoulders, we got astonished, and also a bit upset, when we found out that natives don't speak as we thought, that we can't understand a single word and even when we understand, we are not able to reply. The big communicative obstacle that we have to face of is structured on three levels, which go together with our proficiency with the new idiom. First level is the one of the comprehension of short sentences and easy concepts. This is not that hard to pass, especially if we live close to native speakers. But I would like to focus more on our self-expression, which is something different than the communication of elementary needs. Who never, in the middle of a conversation in a foreign language, got anxious or embarrassed, while realizing not to be able to fully express his own idea? This is not just a matter of being good enough at talking about serious and complex issues (second level), but rather at giving to our speech those adorable language nuances that make communication adventurous, marking clear the essence of each speaker. For that reason, after some experiences abroad, or some communication attempts, i thought about how i appear to foreigners. In other words, who am I when I speak English or French?
1. The Italian: Me 100% of my linguistic potential, and so expressive one. My proficiency in my idiom is so high that enables me to give all sort of nuances i want to my sentences. I can give substance and life to my sentences, also being poetic, if needed. I can play with words, send messages, both overt or covert, and even give to my sentences different meanings. Thanks to my words and my way of expression, my interlocutor can understand who I am, and if he's really smart, he can even get what i don't say.
2.The English one: i would say 70%, quite weakened. Besides my fairly good knowledge of English, I still feel my communication not good enough to totally describe myself; my linguistic potential is limited so my self-expression.
And a part from the mastery level of the language, I guess it also depends on the differences in structures of English and Italian languages. Therefore the "somehow translated message" is depersonalized, and in a way, empty.
3.The French one: 80% Even if I have never spoken French since last year, the common history of French and Italian makes my learning much easier and faster than what happened with English. In fact, as both Italian and French are neo-romanic languages the translation mot-à-mot is often enough to send an effective and correct message.
A language is known to be reflection of its speakers, its folk, so to me it is much easier to create any kind of relations with French speaker people rather than with English speakers. This is because we share the same forma mentis, linguistically speaking.
Neo linguistic foolish mulings? Maybe, but it is a matter of fact that mankind has inside the primordial need to exchange messages with its neighbor (who's coming from further and further) and that communication is an important issue, more or less accepted, more or less perceived, of the complexity of our time.
My mother tongue is Italian, and, still, my name is L.
I also speak French, I haven't spoken it since that long, but, even though French people have hard time pronouncing correctly the sweet sound c of my name, i am still L.
It's known that talking in a foreign language is a hard challenge that, more and more people, lately, have to cope with. Boning up on books for years and watching original version movies is not enough to claim to properly know a language. The knowledge we get is limited. Often, especially in Italy,it only consists of a complex set of grammatical rules and an academic vocabulary, sometimes even obsoleted. Once abroad, it often happens that, even if you have years of study of a language on our shoulders, we got astonished, and also a bit upset, when we found out that natives don't speak as we thought, that we can't understand a single word and even when we understand, we are not able to reply. The big communicative obstacle that we have to face of is structured on three levels, which go together with our proficiency with the new idiom. First level is the one of the comprehension of short sentences and easy concepts. This is not that hard to pass, especially if we live close to native speakers. But I would like to focus more on our self-expression, which is something different than the communication of elementary needs. Who never, in the middle of a conversation in a foreign language, got anxious or embarrassed, while realizing not to be able to fully express his own idea? This is not just a matter of being good enough at talking about serious and complex issues (second level), but rather at giving to our speech those adorable language nuances that make communication adventurous, marking clear the essence of each speaker. For that reason, after some experiences abroad, or some communication attempts, i thought about how i appear to foreigners. In other words, who am I when I speak English or French?
1. The Italian: Me 100% of my linguistic potential, and so expressive one. My proficiency in my idiom is so high that enables me to give all sort of nuances i want to my sentences. I can give substance and life to my sentences, also being poetic, if needed. I can play with words, send messages, both overt or covert, and even give to my sentences different meanings. Thanks to my words and my way of expression, my interlocutor can understand who I am, and if he's really smart, he can even get what i don't say.
2.The English one: i would say 70%, quite weakened. Besides my fairly good knowledge of English, I still feel my communication not good enough to totally describe myself; my linguistic potential is limited so my self-expression.
And a part from the mastery level of the language, I guess it also depends on the differences in structures of English and Italian languages. Therefore the "somehow translated message" is depersonalized, and in a way, empty.
3.The French one: 80% Even if I have never spoken French since last year, the common history of French and Italian makes my learning much easier and faster than what happened with English. In fact, as both Italian and French are neo-romanic languages the translation mot-à-mot is often enough to send an effective and correct message.
A language is known to be reflection of its speakers, its folk, so to me it is much easier to create any kind of relations with French speaker people rather than with English speakers. This is because we share the same forma mentis, linguistically speaking.
Neo linguistic foolish mulings? Maybe, but it is a matter of fact that mankind has inside the primordial need to exchange messages with its neighbor (who's coming from further and further) and that communication is an important issue, more or less accepted, more or less perceived, of the complexity of our time.
I really enjoyed reading this and I quite agree!
ReplyDeleteIt will be so hard to express myself so that people can understand who I am...
I see we'll be able to speak French together :p but for now I'm trying to speak English, it's required!