I was reminded today of how much I have forgotten about the Japanese language. Granted, I never knew much to begin with, especially considering that I took three years of Japanese in high school and a year of conversational Japanese while in college. I also had two year-long attempts to learn French, partially because Janelle used to be fluent in the language (at least, when reading it). One year was in a class with Robert Jack and then another was spent using a set of CDs that my mother, Cheryl Marks, let me use while I was commuting an hour to and an hour from work every day (I stuck with it for quite a while until it started boring me to the point I did not feel completely safe driving while listening to, and repeating, them).
None of these attempts succeeded in placing a language other than English in my head for the long term. Nor are these the only languages I am interested in learning. I remember telling Grandma Marks that I was going to learn Chinese because I was fascinated with the language whenever we went to Chinatown in Chicago (which might be an underlying reason why I took Japanese in high school). I've always felt disconnected from my Polish roots as I don't know a word in Polish despite Grandma Marks being a native speaker of the language. A trip to visit Spanish-speaking cousins, as well as some of the characters on Sesame Street, made me want to learn Spanish ever since I was quite young. The Catholic mass as well as some of the foundations of English have made me want to learn Latin. Stories about our founding fathers made me also want to expand Latin studies into Greek. My time growing up in the Cold War made me want to learn Russian. The Assassin's Creed II games made Italian sound tremendously sexy. The musicality and flowing script of Arabic has had an appeal as well.
Nor has my desire to learn languages been limited to spoken languages. I tried teaching myself sign language for a while, but never really got beyond some simple, and some profane, expressions. I am also interested in the idea of coding programs in the various computer languages. To me, that has always seemed like a super power.
As of yet, I have not had the self-discipline (or the necessity) to learn a language other than English. Like so many things, so much depends on the way(s) we spend our time, and I am not always that productive with mine. Still, I envy those who have access to more than one language.
None of these attempts succeeded in placing a language other than English in my head for the long term. Nor are these the only languages I am interested in learning. I remember telling Grandma Marks that I was going to learn Chinese because I was fascinated with the language whenever we went to Chinatown in Chicago (which might be an underlying reason why I took Japanese in high school). I've always felt disconnected from my Polish roots as I don't know a word in Polish despite Grandma Marks being a native speaker of the language. A trip to visit Spanish-speaking cousins, as well as some of the characters on Sesame Street, made me want to learn Spanish ever since I was quite young. The Catholic mass as well as some of the foundations of English have made me want to learn Latin. Stories about our founding fathers made me also want to expand Latin studies into Greek. My time growing up in the Cold War made me want to learn Russian. The Assassin's Creed II games made Italian sound tremendously sexy. The musicality and flowing script of Arabic has had an appeal as well.
Nor has my desire to learn languages been limited to spoken languages. I tried teaching myself sign language for a while, but never really got beyond some simple, and some profane, expressions. I am also interested in the idea of coding programs in the various computer languages. To me, that has always seemed like a super power.
As of yet, I have not had the self-discipline (or the necessity) to learn a language other than English. Like so many things, so much depends on the way(s) we spend our time, and I am not always that productive with mine. Still, I envy those who have access to more than one language.
RSS Feed
