The Friday Five - 14 Oct ‘22: Languages

[sabcatt]

This week’s thefridayfive is on languages, which feels appropriate for my current circumstances. Also makes me feel like maybe I should crack open my Hebrew textbook or at least try to do some writing exercises this week, before I go back to school and discover that I’ve forgotten everything I learned last month over these past 2 weeks.

1. How many languages do you speak?
One and two halves? (One and two thirds, if I’m being more realistic and less generous.) I speak English (obviously), took French for a few years in middle & high school but have NOT kept up with it, and started studying Hebrew in college, which is currently an ongoing endeavor. My French vocabulary is… not good, but not awful, but my verb conjugation is atrocious (French has TOO MANY tenses and that’s on that), whereas in Hebrew my grammar is nearly immaculate but my vocab leaves… a lot to be desired. I also have a smattering of vocab in various other languages (yes and no in many, one friend taught me how to say “fuck your mother” in Chinese, another taught me manner words in German).

2. What is your mother tongue?
American English. (Which is the better one, for the record.)

3. What is a language that you would like to learn and why?
I mean, I’m actively working on Hebrew, because I want to be able to engage with Jewish liturgical texts in their original form and actually understand what they’re saying.
My idle-thought “I should learn this” language that I’m not currently studying is Spanish, because it’s the most common non-English language in the US and therefore would be the most immediately useful language to know, and also because I’ve read some Spanish poetry (in translation) that I liked a lot and I think it would be cool to be able to read the originals.

4. Does it bother you when people speak a language you don't know in front of you? Why or why not?
Not really, because the world is a big place and I don’t feel entitled to knowing exactly what other people are thinking and saying all the time. However it does make me a bit grumpy if like, it’s a conversation between people I know that I was part of or am clearly hoping to join; in that case, it’s like, come on, throw me a bone, please.

5. Speak to me.

אני לא יודע/ת איך מין לקרוא לעצמי, כי עברית היא שפה שבה הרבה מילים הן או זכר או נקבה, ואני לא אכד ולא אחר. בנימה שמכה יותר, הלכתי לשוק היום ויכולתי לקנות כמה דברים רק בעברית. גם אני אוהב שעברית היא נכתבת מימין לשמאל כי היא נרית כל כך טיפשית ליד טקסט אנגלית שהוא נכתב משמאל לימין.