I went to an
event the other week. It was an Art Exhibition hosted by a Russian friend of
mine. It was great.
Cultured.
Sophisticated.
The crowd was
mostly European and there were a lot of Russians, some French and at least one
Italian. I was the only Australian. Fair dinkum. There were not many
Singaporeans in attendance. This did not surprise me. Not at all. I have been
to the Art galleries of Singapore. All of them. There is a dearth of
Singaporean Art. I have sought it out but have had little success. I have none
at all actually. This particular Art was Russian. It was exquisite.
I thoroughly
enjoyed myself at this Exhibition. I wandered around and took in the artwork
and I chatted away to people. They all spoke English. This was good and it was
convenient. It was necessary in fact for I speak no Russian. Nor French. Nikto.
Aucon. The sad fact is that I speak no other language than English. Albeit
poorly. I am Australian.
We are
uncouth.
I believe that
language exerts a hidden power. Like the effect of the moon on the tide. It
sways and it pulls. To have many is very powerful. Languages that is.
It is
seductive.
It is sweet.
Actually I can
speak some animal. I know that 'meow' means 'woof' in cat and "Tweet"
in bird. It is also ‘Oink' in pig. I also knew that I had to watch my
language at this event. I swear a lot and I did not want people to think that I
had no fucking class. Nearly every person I met at this function was
multi-lingual. They spoke many languages. I asked them this and they told me.
I am
fascinated by this ability to speak in another tongue. I told these people such
as I expressed my admiration. I am also curious. I ask a lot of questions and I
push for answers. When one speaks a language other than one's native tongue how
does the brain process this? When I was conversing with these people did they
in fact have to rapidly translate my words in their brain then re-translate
their response? There didn't seem to be any time lag and our conversations
flowed. Most had to think about this question for a while so in this there was
a time lag. Some thought it was instantaneous and others thought it was very
rapid.
Two or more
languages in one brain? What about reading? How do you do that? I wish I could
do that. Read in another language. What books I could explore. I could see for
myself what may be lost in translation. To me no one can live at that speed.
Yet they do.
They do.
I probed
further as I am a prober by nature. I am curious. I can't help myself. Did any
of these people actually dream in another language? Did they dream at all? How
did this work? There was more pondering and more time lags as these questions
were being contemplated. Such was the delay that I wondered whether they fully
comprehended the question. Language can be a source of misunderstanding.
Most eventually said 'no'. They told me that they only dreamt in their
native tongue. Some said they didn't dream at all.
That was sad.
We should all
dream.
Van Gogh said "I
dream my painting and I paint my dream"
He likely said
this in Dutch.
Beautiful
though huh?
In
any language.
Nice writing
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