Linguistics

Me: "Biongiorno!"
Megan: "Guten Morgen. No, wait, that's German! Biogiorno."
[Pause]
Megan: "Did you sleep well last night?"
Me: "Moy bien, gracias. No, wait, that's Spanish!"
[Laughter]

Learning a new language is not simple a matter of decoding a linguistic cypher. It requires a shift of mindset. Suddenly, you cannot equate anything with its name, but must keep the abstract idea seperate and then pick which word, phrase or connotation to express it verbally.

This sounds pretty difficult, but most people don't realise that language itself is a translation of thoughts and ideas into a collection of sounds that may or may not evoke the same idea in another person. These sounds are so superficial that they may change completely from area to area; not just country to country, but even family to family.

I love my Italian lessons. I love how learning a new language is not as gargantuan a task as it may appear. It may be difficult if you are confined to vocabulario, forced to memorize a list of words and their equivalent words in English, but when the words are in context they are remarkably easy to undertand, especially since all language is a bit like the next. Remembering is the hard part, but even then it is much easier to remember what a certain phrase or word means when you are actually using it, immediately equating it with its  meaning instead of another code (your first language).

On the other hand, the strain of absorbing as much as possible stirs depths of (mostly unused) brain power normally abandoned. Hence the sudden hodge-podge of language. It've even started to use the Latin that I was sure had been lost to the abyss! Interestingly enough, I even find myself struggling for English words when speaking to my roomates, or catching myself or others gesturing instead of speaking when we do not know the Italian equivalent, although we are perfectly capable of conversing in English. This blog post itself began with rather shaky eloquence, as if English were my second language, before my first language began to flow again.

I love to hear the bambini speaking! They suddenly seem so much more clever and interesting with their little voices babbling in Italian!

Ti Amore! I love you! (Yes, this was shouted to some of my friends. Ah, the perils of being young and pretty.)

-Maria

PS. Please excuse any spelling mistakes. I am doing my best, but not only are the keyboards slightly different, but all the spellcheck programs, even on Engligh programs such as blogger, have switched to Italian!