Final Stretch, 13 & 14. Language Evolution.

Today, it's raining. A cold front is pushing through, and temperatures have fallen from yesterday's 24ºC/75ºF to today's current 16ºC/60F and they are not forecast to go over 19ºC/66ºF. It's supposed to be iffy weather until Wednesday. Hopefully, that night will be nice and clear, for the bonfires, and for the mischief some remaining "witches" create. Today's young people don't do much, anymore. On the morning of the 24th in other years, we have found strange items on our doorstep, which the owners came by later to reclaim. Nor have we heard, of late years, of feats such as placing a small rowboat high and dry in the central square of a nearby parish. Some of today's youths think that the mischief of Saint John's Eve is more along the line of destroying garbage containers, or throwing balloons filled with paint at a building. It's not at all the same thing.

Time flies, and next month, I will have been living here for thirty years. I have now lived here more than in Boston, where I grew up. I have changed, (Though, if, after thirty years, I hadn't, there would be something wrong with me!) and my language has also changed. 

Since I started school, at least, English has been my mother tongue. Until the age of five, I only spoke Galician with my parents. However, walking around town with them, playing with some children, at times, in a North End park, and watching television, particularly Sesame Street and The Electric Company, I gained aural knowledge of English. I quickly put it into practice as soon as I started kindergarten and realized no one spoke Galician. Forced to communicate in English, it rapidly became my mother tongue, displacing Galician. I found, as I grew, that I expressed myself better in English, and that Galician became limiting. Add to that my love of reading, and my English vocabulary grew, quickly exceeding my Galician knowledge of words. 

My parents were worried, and on a trip here when I was nine, bought me a couple of books in Castilian, wanting me to try to learn that language, so similar to Galician. One of the books was Otra Vez Heidi (Heidi Again, I suppose.). The other was one of the famous Enciclopedia books used in schools here ages ago, the Enciclopedia Primer Grado. I don't think I got beyond the first chapter in the Heidi book. It was simply too slow going, having to stop and think in a language I was not used to. The textbook, however, was much easier, because it was directed at a younger audience, and therefore used simpler words, and because the different sections were short and interesting. Except the math. Math is never interesting.

But English remained my first language, so, in high school, instead of being able to take French from the beginning, and choosing the history track in sophomore year, my parents obliged me to take Spanish, which meant I could take French for only two years, instead of the history track (in the end, though, I took French for three). The first year class was so boring, I asked my teacher if I could be bumped up to the second year, at least. He talked with the headmaster's office, gave me the final exam for first year, saw I knew enough to go to a higher level, and got bumped up to Spanish 2. Though I had to learn grammar, it still wasn't difficult, and meant I had a free hour in senior year, so I took French 3, then. But English still remained my mother tongue.

When we moved here, I had little difficulty understanding anyone. At first, I had to listen carefully, while I changed my mind chip, but, with the months, it became very easy. I also obliged myself to read the newspaper and magazines in Castilian. I also tried to learn some of the Galician language that is taught here (My parents spoke a Galician very much peppered with Castilian words and usages.). My only problem at that time was that I never heard any English, and the only English I could read were the books I had brought with me. I also found a bookstore in Santiago where I could buy books in English, but, at that time, they were mostly books used in English Philology classes at the university, and all classics. 

When our daughter was born, I finally spoke English again on a daily basis, though she always responded in Galician, once she began talking. Then, DVD's appeared, with the option of listening to something in the original language. Finally, digital television, and the wonderful button that took away the dubbing. Now, I listen to English almost on a daily basis, and it is all completely familiar, except for some modern usage that I am still getting the hang of ("Woke"? How did that come about?). But my mind is now no longer the same.

So much exposure to Galician and Castilian, with limited exposure to English, has made my mind sometimes take on Spanish constructions when trying to express myself in English. Other times, I remember a Spanish word, and try to write it as it would seem in English, since English has many words derived from Latin that are similar in meaning to the version in the Romance languages. Sometimes, my Latinate choice is so ancient, it's no longer much in use. Other times, it doesn't exist, though, as some of my students sometimes say, there's no reason why it shouldn't, since it does the job. 

My heavy-handed constructions, however, are still better than my parents' creation of our family's own Spanglish. I still remember "furnitura" (furniture) for muebles, "sinque" (sink) for vertedero, "isecreen" (ice cream) for helado, "mopa" (mop) for fregona, and others I have since forgotten. We understood each other, but when we used those words here, people scratched their heads. Eventually, we dropped those usages, though our daughter picked up "sinque" and still uses it. Her friends have gotten used to it.

It's true, though. Knowing more than one language well enlarges your world-view. It also makes you wish you knew several more, when you hear strangers next to you expressing themselves enjoyably in a language you don't know yet. I wish there were a special wand one could wave to immediately learn a new language, and keep them all in their place in my mind-files. Unfortunately, it's not so simple. At least, in languages that are related, we have a first step toward learning. Even if we later make mistakes in syntax and vocabulary.

Life continues.