Speaking in Tongues

20 Jun 2013 7 Comments

by signsofsomething in Uncategorized Tags: , ,

I love language. It is one of my favorite things…I’m serious. I have a deep, deep love for languages of all sorts and I am so incredibly embarrassed and ashamed that I only speak English fluently. My grasp of my father’s native language (Spanish) and a language that I will inevitably need to be fluent in (Sign Language) is limited to the basic words. I can ask where the bathroom is, where the hospital is, and introduce myself in those languages but that’s pretty much it. I am ashamed that the only thing preventing me from learning other languages is pure laziness…nothing more.

One of my favorite languages of the world languages is Arabic. How can one not love a language so intimately connected to to its culture of origin’s religion?

Okay, okay, I admit, I love most languages. Even German, which once sounded like a guttural spit to my immature ears, now is musical, passionate and I am moved when I hear it.

There are those…those folks who think that everyone in this country ought to speak English…a language which is not native to our country. Many even amongst my circle of loved ones feel as if there should be a national language…that schools should only teach in one language, companies should only offer English marketing, customer service and products. Why?

I really would like to know…why it is that most every other country in the world teaches languages which are not their own mother tongues, even to small children, yet we as a country feel as if a language that has been created out of so many languages that it honestly can’t claim to be independent of them.

Someday, I am going to learn Spanish, Arabic, German, Swedish, Italian, Greek, Russian, and holy hell, there are so many more that I will learn…that’s my promise to myself. Sometimes I wish that I was some sort of language sponge, that I could pick up every language that I hear or read…like I said, I’m sort of lazy.

I wonder why it is that there are so many folks who have an issue with others speaking other languages, when in my less than humble opinion, most English speakers…are incredibly lacking in knowledge of their own language.

Language and the Soweto Uprising

16 Jun 2013 Leave a comment

by signsofsomething in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , ,

On June 16, 1976, nearly 20,000 high school students protested the fact that they weren’t allowed to be taught in their native language. This happened in South Africa, when Afrikaans was the language of power, and the other languages, well they just needed to go.

Language is one of our most unifying as well as divisive gifts. Even now, more than thirty years later, in this country, language is still unifying and divisive. Whether it is people yelling “Speak English!” or as I usually hear… “Speak American!” or whether the local tribes offer classes for young folks to learn their ancestral language, our ability to communicate is vital, and our connection to those who we can communicate with is even more important than our connection to those who we can worship with. In all of the situations where tribal or native or indigenous peoples have been forced to give up their native languages and adopt the language of their oppressors, the end result has never been good.

This theft of culture, of identity, is more defining and more detrimental than the adaptation of clothing and lifestyle.

Why?

Because people want to be heard…we each want a voice, to be understood, to communicate our needs and our desires, we want to know that we have a connection to not only those from the same ‘tribe’ but also to our ancestors.

Was that protest worth it? I wasn’t there. I lost nobody. In fact, I was only eight years old…but I’d say so. I’d say that nobody…and yes, I do mean nobody, has the right to steal another person’s culture…to force out a language, to kill it.

Linguists believe that there are nearly 7,000 languages currently spoken around the world…they also believe that up to 90% of those languages will be extinct before the year 2100. Of course since I can’t grasp math for the life of me, I have no idea exactly what number that is, but that’s a goddamn lot of languages to disappear, a lot of cultures that will be missing a huge portion of their individuality. It’s a lot of grandchildren who will no longer be able to read the love letters of their grandmothers, it is too many nephews and nieces that will never understand the quirks and expressions that their uncles use. It is an ungodly amount of descendents that will never hear the language of their ancestors, never speak the language of those who came before.

I think that’s sad.

So today, in honor of those children who stepped out, walked toward what they knew could be their deaths, and in honor of those who died for the right to be educated in their native tongue, to have the right to have a cultural separation from the destroyers of their way of life, just remember, the next time you get pissed that you have to push number 1 for English, that you wouldn’t want to be forced to give up your language either…

Hitting the High Notes

21 May 2013 2 Comments

by signsofsomething in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , ,

I tried listening to some Maria Callas today.

I have lost enough of my hearing that it’s difficult to hear those higher sounds, the angelic soprano voices that just hit my heart in all the right ways.

I feel like I’ve lost something super duper important. Although I’m not one of those folks who frequently listens to opera, I do sometimes feel like listening to it…so this new revelation got me to thinking…what other sounds am I missing?

So I went on an online search…fortunately, the deaf and hard of hearing community, as well as those who work in the industries such as audiologists and so forth, have put out numerous studies and articles for those of us who are losing our hearing at a later age and don’t really have that much experience with what we’ll be missing.

I found out that the higher frequencies are indeed the first to go…on average. I found out that the problems that I have with certain sounds, or even speech, are pretty common. I found out that certain vowels will sound similar, which I’ve already had issues with.

So here is what I have figured out. One of my most valued things in life, language…might just have to be reevaluated. Although my own speech and language skills have not waned with my hearing loss, my ability to hear other people speak…has. Although music is not that important to me, my ability to communicate…is. When I am speaking with someone, it’s been a pride that I am able to understand them, hear them, and grasp both their verbal and non-verbal communication. Everyone wants to be heard, and I have always prided myself on hearing those who are speaking to me, it has always been an important part of not only my job, but me. I am an excellent lip reader, but when someone has unkempt facial hair, it impedes much of what I learn from them, I often have to ask them to repeat themselves…and I feel rude when I do so. This happens when they are mumblers or folks who aren’t very expressive when speaking as well. I haven’t signed since high school, and even then it was basic sign language and never conversational, and even when I learn it again, most of the folks who I have in my inner circle, don’t sign and probably won’t. Although studies show that adults who lose their hearing later, don’t usually lose any of their verbal skills, what about when I am doing my readings or counseling? I certainly don’t want my clients having to write down what they need to communicate to me.

It got me to thinking about those who have never heard, or those who lost their hearing while still in their childhood…what communication issues do they suffer from…are they limited to encircling themselves with only the deaf and hard of hearing community? How do they communicate with the hearing community? Well I guess that will be my next research project…after I go and pull a Van Gogh and get rid of the defective body part which has now officially pissed me off.

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