1. why do all the words sound heavier in my native language? scratch that. why did I choose to seek refuge in a language of another instead of training my tongue to bear the heaviness of my own? #i can never speak of how i feel in my native language #the words are too heavy to roll of my tongue
2. Yi writes: “It is hard to feel in an adopted language, yet it is impossible in my native language.“ As every bilingual person and translator knows, there are certain words—a feeling, a way of being—that is absent in one language but perfectly brought to life in another. A word that, by existing, gives permission to be. What if you need that which does not exist in your language?
3. [Q] And how did you start writing in English?
[A] … I chose English because no one in my family or friends knew it; no one I spoke to could read what I wrote. I myself did not know the language. It was a parallel reality, an insanely beautiful freedom. It still is.
4. But a language, even a foreign language, is something so intimate that it enters inside of us despite the fissure. It becomes a part of our body, our soul. It takes root in the brain, it emerges from our mouths. In time, it nestles in the heart.
5. I write to you in a distant tongue. When I speak Spanish, I feel like I’m trying on shorts I know won’t fit. They might button up, but I muffin top, and I’m painfully aware. I slip on English like a nighty; I’m comfortable when it’s loose, it breathes with my body. It doesn’t hurt me, at least not always. – Angel Dominguez, from ”[Dear Diego],” Desgraciado
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