NineLanguages

I’m just gonna scramble my language fix together on here and share parts of my language journey. Let’s learn from each other ✨

[ninelanguages]

The languages I’m learning, have learned about and might post about are the following.

Dutch

English

German

Japanese

Korean

Polish?

Spanish

Ukrainian

Order is alphabetical. No other importance.

My work is also very multicultural so I will post things about that as well.

[ninelanguages]

Language fun/mistake with a Bulgarian colleague.

Me saying to an old colleague “I’d like you around 24/7.” He says “you’d like me around for 20%?” I just burst out laughing. “I said 24/7, but 20% is still more than I see you now. It would be an upgrade.”

[ninelanguages]

Language fun with my Hungarian colleague (that grew out of a little misunderstanding I think).

——

My Hungarian colleague walks in, sees me and says; “I have something for you”. I ask if I can go to the toilet first without really giving him room to say no.

I return, he’s gone. He returns, I’m on the phone. He leaves, he sends me a message asking for help. I go there and I do my job.

We return to the first location when I realise “you had something for me?” I ask. He says “oh, I meant the work just now. I don’t actually have something physical.”

Understood. This was so much more logical than receiving something physical.

————

I am in his office doing my job. He walks in. I have easter eggs so I throw one at him out of enthusiasm. I shouldn’t have thrown it but I was really enthusiastic about sharing Easter eggs. The next day I bump into him again & I just give him one in a normal manner.

————

Another day, a week orso later. He’s leaving his office and he gives me a blood(?) orange while calling is a hybrid between an orange and a grapefruit telling me to give feedback about the fruit.

——

I don’t really know how we got in the weird ‘routine’ we have, but it’s quite fun.

[maxgromov]

[ninelanguages]

New challenge unlocked.

[ninelanguages]

Talking with my Bulgarian friend while he shows me something on his phone. I see something that looks like the written л and get confused. Turns out is was an A without the middle stripe. Sometimes language is confusing. I expected Cyrillic on his phone and did not get Cyrillic, but still read it that way.

[mawofthemagnetar]

Cold take but all languages are beautiful actually. Every single one. Every single human language on earth is a collection of stories interwoven into the very fabric of the words that are spoken.

“Oh but this language sounds scary-“ have you heard a child speak it while pointing at a butterfly?

“Oh but this language sounds silly-“ have you heard someone’s grandma recite a recipe with such practiced ease it comes off as poetry?

“Oh but this language is really weird-“ and yours isn’t? Everyone’s language is weird, dumbass, it came free with your fucking humanity.

Every tongue that is spoken is a work of art. Every language a unique window into the world.

Isn’t it wonderful?

[ominous-signs]

Favorite letter?

Q

[ninelanguages]

I like these ones; я, ю, ㄹ, ㅇ, の、そ.

Not a letter but I also really like the Japanese dot。It simply has a special place in a sentence and in my heart。

[ninelanguages]

Walking around at work with a Hungarian colleague when another employee asks us something in broken English. We answer but he doesn’t understand. The Hungarian colleague answers in (broken?) Polish. The employee responds in Ukrainian “I don’t speak Polish, I speak Ukrainian”. It clicks in my head. “Ah, мояа українська погана”, but I start typing my answer in an app anyway. He asks (probably in Russian, I’m not sure. My Ukrainian is not fluent yet) if I speak Russian. My answer “не, я [nationality]” while I showed the answer to his question in a translation app.

Wish I could’ve helped him fluently in Ukrainian, but the situation was interesting.

[4znek]

Mother, teach me how to speak again so that I can be oneself

In my home country, we speak more than 3 languages. The official dialect, Darija, is itself a fluid blend of Spanish, Amazigh, French, and Arabic. Over time, words pulled from these roots have been reshaped and distorted as they were woven into the local tongue. Hence, we speak something unintentionally impure. When I speak, my brain activates multiple language circuits at once. If the Arabic word is not vivid enough or if I simply forgot it, I’ll reach for English without thinking. It is simply the path of least resistance, a cognitive shortcut that turned me into a lazy communicator. But this efficiency becomes a real burden when I must confine myself to a single language; suddenly, you're filtering, suppressing, making an effort that monolingual speakers never notice they're not making.

In trying to hold onto everything, I find I master nothing.

There's a saying that language shapes identity. But when your tongue is split four ways, you start to wonder who exactly is being shaped. I wield the words of my indigenous ancestors, the lexicon of the colonizer, and the slang of a globalized internet, all in the same breath. I am left wondering which part of this linguistic patchwork is actually me.  

The Moroccan identity will always be complex to me.

[ninelanguages]

I think you can say I was or am raised monolingual at home. My mom ignored her dialect to speak with my dad, even though I’ve only heard him speak of her language with love and admiration. She learned that you don’t speak your language to someone who doesn’t return it, you adjust. (That’s how languages and dialects disappear.)

The languages I’m learning have shaped me. Some languages are more polite - they made me think twice before I say something, some languages are more or less gendered - they made me think about my gender role in society more but another made me care less, some languages are more direct - they made me more honest. All have shaped me. They are shaping me.

People are confused when I tell them where I’m from. My English isn’t British or American, but I am fluent enough to mask my mother tongue. I might even take on the English accent of the language I’m learning or the English of the person I’m speaking with. Whatever will get the message across. I adjust to the person I’m speaking with as much as possible.

What does this all say about my identity?

I know speaking just one language at once isn’t me anymore, altho I can still adjust.

[ninelanguages]

Language fun

I just learned “gedankenverloren” means “absentmindedly”. I’m looking at this German word with wonder. ‘Gedanken’ translates to ‘thoughts’, ‘verloren’ is ‘lost’. So you get something like ‘thoughts (are) lost’. Love it.

[ninelanguages]

Language fun

I am making notes by hand and mixing up my N and И. Sometimes having language knowledge is confusing.

[ninelanguages]

Thoughts.

Sometimes two people who are far off in age and don’t share the same culture should have a good conversation.

I’ve had a very nice work related conversation with an older Dutch colleague today & I also talked about some of my private worries with the 20 year older Bulgarian colleague. I learned a lot from both.

The Bulgarian colleague actually put me in my place politely and gave me a reality check. He also verified the worries I had. I don’t like it but it’s good someone said it. I appreciate it. Now I should respond properly. I can’t act ignorant and cry when I get the result I don’t want while I keep doing what I’m doing.

[thememedaddy]

[ninelanguages]

Everyone speaks their own language. It might take a while to figure out how to communicate with someone. Some you think you might never really get, others you’ll understand instantly.

In reality a language you don’t know you can study. The vocabulary, syntax & punctuation. It might just take some effort.

[ninelanguages]

Language fun - Google translate being a little bit 😂.

“Yours truly but not truly yours.”

[ninelanguages]

Language fun. Language jokes.

My Dutch friend talking while playing a game.

He “Ik gleed uit over een kwal.”

Me “een gladjakker?”.

He “No, a real kwal, on the beach”.

Me “hihi”.

He “oh god.”

Me “I did well”.

He, “haha, sure”.

I’m proud. This one was good.

[ninelanguages]

Language fun

That moment you translate the Dutch ‘andijvie’ to English ‘endive’ (unsurely) and your Bulgarian colleague snorts cause he thinks you’re joking. It sounds like a joke I admit, but I checked and I’m right. I guess they don’t use this vegetable. It translates almost the same in Bulgarian but then in Cyrillic.