Writer's Block: Voulez-vous parler ...

[alexpgp]

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In the dedication of his famous book on Russian grammar, Mikhail Lomonosov wrote:

Карл пятый, римский император, говаривал, что ишпанским с богом, французским — с друзьями, немецким — с неприятельми, итальянским — с женским полом говорить прилично. Но если бы он российскому языку был искусен, то, конечно, к тому присовокупил бы, что им со всеми оными говорить пристойно, ибо нашел бы в нем великолепие ишпанского, живость французского, крепость немецкого, нежность италиянского, сверх того богатство и сильную в изображениях краткость греческого и латинского языка. (cite)

Carl V, the Roman emperor, used to say it was proper to speak Spanish with God, French with one's friends, German with one's enemies, and Italian with the fairer sex. But if he had been skilled in the Russian language, then of course he would have added that it could properly be used to speak with all of them, as he would have found in it the splendor of Spanish, the liveliness of French, the firmness of German, the tenderness of Italian, and in addition to that, the richness and vigorous imagery of Greek and Latin. (My translation)

I am not quite at Carl's level (or Lomonosov's, for that matter). :)

Currently, I speak English, Russian, and French well enough to earn a living. I can express myself stumblingly in Spanish and have been known to sputter occasional phrases in German, Italian, and Latin. Esperanto fascinates me, as does Japanese. Finnish and Hungarian intimidate me.

If I had the time, I would undertake the acquisition of Mandarin Chinese, as it would appear that China will emerge as a major power in this century, especially when juxtaposed against what appears to be the self-inflicted and likely irreversible decline of "the West."

This view, of course, reflects more of a mercenary bent with respect to language than any other, but I am also fascinated by the prospect of tackling a language whose structure and underlying principles seem, to borrow from Monty Python, "completely different."

We'll see what happens.

Cheers...

Comments

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

I have studied French, then German, and finally Norwegian, in addition to my native English. Thank God English came to me as my mother tongue, for heaven help me otherwise. I have been complimented frequently on my Norwegian, but the fact remains, I am far, far from truly fluent. I find it exasperating how difficult it is to reach that milestone, though it would be much easier if I actually spent some time living in the land to the north.

What I would like would be if a language could come to you in a dream and miraculously be fully in place. I would like to know Spanish, since it is so pervasive around here. Likewise I would like to be able to bust out Hebrew, since it is the "lingua franca" of my workplace. Sad to say, I don't have much other reason to want to know those languages. I would much rather know Portuguese, for it is, to my ears, more exotic and it is also the language of my husband's birthplace. His parents were shortsighted in not speaking it around their children, wanting them to learn the language of their adopted country instead. Well, maybe more accurately, they were far sighted, but wrong, for they never went back to Brasil and stayed in the US instead.

I also wish I could speak French fluently. That is a frustrating situation, because it appears that is is almost a matter of substituting synonyms from French into the English format, simply reversing the order of the adjectives. So simple and yet so difficult.

Russian sounds wonderful. Please send me a download for that. Perhaps finally I will be able to attain my dream: speaking a foreign language in front of others and impressing them with my secret skills.

(User icon: me and my French boys. Each of them lived here with us for a couple months. One is Alexis, very, very smart and proper, the other is Clement, the most jovial and kind person you could ever meet. I miss them both.)

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Your mentioning Norwegian in this context reminds me of radio personality Barry Farber, who taught himself in Norwegian so he could interview Anita Eckberg (who, as it turned out, is Swedish, but if memory serves, Farber's efforts were not wasted).

The thing I've noticed about kids picking up language is that unless you simply decide to shut out the world for the first few years of life, it's not going to work unless the child sees a vital and enduring need to pick up the language. I suspect one of the reasons my kids decided to not pick up Russian (from me or their mom, who was a native speaker just learning English at the time) was because they could get along - with TV and friends - quite well in English. I suspect if they had one or two Russian-speaking playmates at those young ages, things might've turned out differently.

And yes, I am convinced it was a decision on their part.

Grandkids are even more of an enigma. Huntur has adopted the strategy of simply sitting and smiling at me for as long as it takes for me to stop speaking Russian. (I don't know, maybe it's genetic.)

Cheers...

P.S. Do I have your email address? Drop me a line at my LJ handle at gmail.com.

[furzicle.livejournal.com]

Through the magic of LJ Idol I have just learned that it is your birthday. Celebrate!

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

Did the best I could, under the circumstances!

Thanks!

Cheers...

[taiyosan.livejournal.com]

My brain & memory don't seem to want to learn a foreign language

I went to lower school in Scotland and by my second year, i was 9, i was taking Latin and French which i did for the following 2 years. In high school in Germany for three years, i took German all three years and barely learned how to order a beer. In college i continue taking Germany and did learn to count to ten. During the time in college i also tried Spanish but could barely learn how to say si! And then in the Army i went to the language school in El Paso for 12 months and for 5 days a week, 6 hours a day i studied Viet Namese and never quite learned how to count to ten.

So, my wish is that i am able to learn any language other then my native language - sigh, i'd be so happy!

Oh, happy birthday Alex :)

[alexpgp.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people feel that way. I've been fortunate, myself.

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

Cheers...