[Fern tongue*]
Like many immigrants and translators, I became bilingual as a result of
life, not education. In the latter case, people learn two or more languages in
school and use them at home or in the street, creating a strong base of both
languages in the mind. On the other hand, those who acquired this skill later
in life moved to another country, spoke the second language at home with a
partner, maybe raising children in that language, and, most importantly, worked
and socialized with people in that second language. Thus, the adopted language
was superimposed on the mother tongue.
I can claim at least three generations of wandering Jews in my family,
all who became bilingual. My maternal grandmother immigrated from Poland to
France, then to Canada and finally to the United States. She spoke French,
Yiddish and English, all quite well. My mother immigrated to the United States
in the early 1950’s from France with no English at all. Some 70 years later,
her English is quite good. I moved to Israel 30 years ago and fully function in
Hebrew. Thus, on this subjective and limited sample, I can make several
generalizations on the war of the words between L1 and L2.
It is clear that the acquired language never reaches the level of the
mother tongue. First, certain syntactical errors never disappear, especially
with prepositions, which vary by language and defy logic. See the Ziva effect
in NCIS. For certain words,
pronunciation is problematical either because it involves a difficult sound,
such the English th or Hebrew and Arabic voiced ch, or the word in
both languages is so close but not quite the same either in terms of a letter
or accented syllable. Finally and most annoying, it becomes frustratingly
difficult to form a sentence or remember a word when tired or under stress. Suddenly,
it becomes impossible to say what you want to mean even though normally there
would be no problem because the brain is not functioning properly at a given
moment. The second language almost never becomes as accurate and natural as the
mother tongue.
This deficiency has several annoying results. First, people often
believe that your accent and apparent language deficiency means that you are
stupid and treat you as such. The reality may be that your knowledge of their
language may be far superior to theirs but rien à faire, as they French
would say, i.e., there is nothing to be done about it. Also, due to the fact
that adult emigres never studied in school, their writing skills are probably below
the level of other language skills. This means that there is a tendency to ask
native speakers to handle important writing tasks. Thirdly, depending on
options, other family members tend to handle the administrative telephone tasks
that are so part of daily life, including discussions with the various
utilities, municipal functions and tradespeople. These “blind” conversations
are simply less stressful for them. Also, curiously, phrasing from the acquired
language start entering the mother tongue over time, creating the unpleasant
situation that a person speaks neither of the language completely properly. As
my grandmother and mother would say, in terms of perfect language, you are nisht
ahin, nisht aherr, neither here nor there.
In fact, despite the ridicule from friends and family, being bilingual
is an enriching experience. Learning and applying any new language opens the
world to more people in terms of millions. Knowing Spanish alone allows direct communication
with almost 500 million people. The language also opens up a new culture, which
includes tastes, ceremonies and beliefs. It is amazing how different weddings
can be. Most importantly, it opens the eyes to different and maybe better ways
of living life. Just as people do not have to live exactly how their parents
lived, nor do people have to live as the society in which they were born
defines as normal. People have choice in almost all aspects of their lives.
They often only need to be exposed to the options. Learning a second language
at any age is the window to those opportunities. The world expands as we learn
languages and gain access to cultures.
Thus, for those who have forgotten the foreign language they studied but
still dream of moving abroad, it is never too late. People, especially children,
may laugh at your mistakes but that is a small price for immersion in a
completely different world several hours away by plane. If that is the dream,
better late than never.
*For the sake of the blind, add picture captions. Picture care of pixabay: Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/adege-4994132/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=5133721">adege</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=5133721">Pixabay</a>
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