I must admit, it's hard for me to imagine you struggling to express yourself in English because you sound like a native on lj! In fact, I think I made a reference to you during the conversation with S&C because at one point S was under the impression, somehow, that *I* was Swedish. Don't know how that happened. Both S and C speak English fluently, but it was funny, for instance, that S, whose German accent is very noticeable, was complimenting C on the fact that she had no accent at all...but she does have one. It's not one you can immediately identify as French--it's very pretty, actually. But I guess it took a native speaker for it to stick out since it's so subtle.
The other thing where C is a great example is where you were talking about how you're just trying to be understood so you can't always be so precise...often that can lead to a person speaking really beautifully. Maybe English is a language that lends itself to that sort of thing since it's not very rigid in the way people are expected to talk--in America especially. Like, I love listening to young children try to communicate something that's just a little above their heads because they'll often come out with something really poetic that works. For instance, once I was walking down the street and a little kid and his father were walking near me. As they passed McDonalds the boy asked if they could go there for dinner and the father said no. So he asked if they could go there for dinner "sometime," obviously meaning "sometime soon." So the father said, "Sure. How about June 18th, 2067?" Totally taking advantage of the kid's not expressing himself perfectly. So now I'm listening closely as the kid frowns and tries to think of how to respond. He said, "No. I mean, can we go there sometime..." And I know the correct phrase he's looking for is, "sometime in the near future" but he won't know that. But finally he comes up with, "Can we go there for dinner sometime around now?
For some reason I just loved this. It wasn't like listening to somebody inarticulate, it was like listening to somebody who spoke creatively. I think the same thing can happen if someone starts with a different native language. If they get to the point where they're very fluent in the adopted language the more interesting influences of the original language can start to shine, you know?
The fact that words simply mean more to me in my mother tongue, than in any other language, automatically makes a good poem, or other type of lyric, more beautiful then I would find it in English, French or Spanish.
Yes! I don't know how young you have to be when you become bilingual for words to have the same weight in both languages. Heh. Makes me wonder if the porn experience is slightly different for native English-speakers on lj than it is for people writing in a second language. Like, cathexys said the word for "sex toy" in German sounded obscene, but I wonder if a lot of the words commonly used in porn sound significantly less obscene to non-native English speakers.
no subject
The other thing where C is a great example is where you were talking about how you're just trying to be understood so you can't always be so precise...often that can lead to a person speaking really beautifully. Maybe English is a language that lends itself to that sort of thing since it's not very rigid in the way people are expected to talk--in America especially. Like, I love listening to young children try to communicate something that's just a little above their heads because they'll often come out with something really poetic that works. For instance, once I was walking down the street and a little kid and his father were walking near me. As they passed McDonalds the boy asked if they could go there for dinner and the father said no. So he asked if they could go there for dinner "sometime," obviously meaning "sometime soon." So the father said, "Sure. How about June 18th, 2067?" Totally taking advantage of the kid's not expressing himself perfectly. So now I'm listening closely as the kid frowns and tries to think of how to respond. He said, "No. I mean, can we go there sometime..." And I know the correct phrase he's looking for is, "sometime in the near future" but he won't know that. But finally he comes up with, "Can we go there for dinner sometime around now?
For some reason I just loved this. It wasn't like listening to somebody inarticulate, it was like listening to somebody who spoke creatively. I think the same thing can happen if someone starts with a different native language. If they get to the point where they're very fluent in the adopted language the more interesting influences of the original language can start to shine, you know?
The fact that words simply mean more to me in my mother tongue, than in any other language, automatically makes a good poem, or other type of lyric, more beautiful then I would find it in English, French or Spanish.
Yes! I don't know how young you have to be when you become bilingual for words to have the same weight in both languages. Heh. Makes me wonder if the porn experience is slightly different for native English-speakers on lj than it is for people writing in a second language. Like,