September 30, 2013 – Xenoglossophobia (Fear of Foreign Languages)
I can hardly believe it. It’s September 30th and I have written A Story a Day for 30 Days – or will have once I write this one. Plus I learned to make silly drawings with paint. I am addicted to doing this and want to continue, but have to accept that:
- Not every day has something mildly amusing happen in it
- My brain doesn’t go into writing mode every day
- There will be days when I don’t have time to write – holidays, emergencies, and stuff like that
- Folks get storied out.
Still, I hope you will continue to enjoy my sporadic and silly stories and drawings, and that you will share them. HUGS!
*****
A Story A Day – September 30, 2013 – Xenoglossophobia (Fear of Foreign Languages)
For reasons unknown to me, I have an obsession with all things Russian. Currently, I am reading a historical novel by David Benioff – “City of Thieves” – which is about the Siege of Leningrad. As far as I know, I don’t have a drop of Russian blood in me – I’m ¼ Irish, ¼ German, and ½ British.
But you never know. Russia’s a big country.
When Laur and I were in South Korea in 2012, visiting son Tom and fiancée Julie, we had the good fortune of meeting up with some of Tom’s co-teachers and their friends. One lad – I’ll call him Alisher - really made an impression on me. He was Uzbekistan – that is to say, he was born in Uzbekistan. But Alisher was not ethnically an Uzbek, meaning he was not Turkic. No, his parents had the misfortune of being in North Korea when, after (what we call) World War Two, Korea was divided into North and South Korea.
The North had strong ties to Russia and for reasons unknown to me, his parents were “moved” to Uzbekistan. Somehow Alisher eventually made his way to Moscow in Russia and, from there, managed to get work in South Korea. So here we have a Korean who is Uzbekistan whose first language is now Russian, and he is at present working in South Korea.
Alisher, however, doesn’t speak Korean - though to me, he looks Korean (and, ancestrally, he is.) No matter, this is a multi-linguistic group. Step in Dmitry – a good friend of Tom’s – who grew up in London, Ontario and who happens to have Russian as the language he spoke first, having Russian-Canadian parents.
So here we are. Alisher starts speaking; Dmitry translates into English, while Julie (who is South Korean) translates from English to Korean, so that the Koreans know what Alisher is saying. (Dmitry also speaks Korean, but English was the most common language around that particular table.) I’m a unilingual English speaker. This transaction makes my BRAIN EXPLODE, much like the aliens in Mars Attacks.
It would be nice to have a universal language – like they do on Star Trek. (It happens to be English, which is convenient for me.) I thought that Sign Language might be that. I am currently taking ASL (American Sign Language) classes and one of the things that I have learned is that there are over 200 sign languages.
And if I think that learning the alphabet in American Sign Language is tough (and I do,) I should try Russian. It is like advanced yoga for fingers – I can’t even get my fingers to do many of the Cyrillic letters.
But I am unlikely to visit Russian anytime soon. My travel dollars are earmarked for Arizona, though interestingly enough, there is now a Hostel in Moscow called “Arizona Dreaming.” They must be. In February 2013, Moscow experienced the snowiest winter in 100 years. In December 2012, temperatures dipped to -50C.
Я люблю Аризона. Вам не придется перелопачивать солнечного света, или говорить на русском.
(I love Arizona. You don't have to shovel sunshine, or speak Russian.)
- Not every day has something mildly amusing happen in it
- My brain doesn’t go into writing mode every day
- There will be days when I don’t have time to write – holidays, emergencies, and stuff like that
- Folks get storied out.
Still, I hope you will continue to enjoy my sporadic and silly stories and drawings, and that you will share them. HUGS!
*****
A Story A Day – September 30, 2013 – Xenoglossophobia (Fear of Foreign Languages)
For reasons unknown to me, I have an obsession with all things Russian. Currently, I am reading a historical novel by David Benioff – “City of Thieves” – which is about the Siege of Leningrad. As far as I know, I don’t have a drop of Russian blood in me – I’m ¼ Irish, ¼ German, and ½ British.
But you never know. Russia’s a big country.
When Laur and I were in South Korea in 2012, visiting son Tom and fiancée Julie, we had the good fortune of meeting up with some of Tom’s co-teachers and their friends. One lad – I’ll call him Alisher - really made an impression on me. He was Uzbekistan – that is to say, he was born in Uzbekistan. But Alisher was not ethnically an Uzbek, meaning he was not Turkic. No, his parents had the misfortune of being in North Korea when, after (what we call) World War Two, Korea was divided into North and South Korea.
The North had strong ties to Russia and for reasons unknown to me, his parents were “moved” to Uzbekistan. Somehow Alisher eventually made his way to Moscow in Russia and, from there, managed to get work in South Korea. So here we have a Korean who is Uzbekistan whose first language is now Russian, and he is at present working in South Korea.
Alisher, however, doesn’t speak Korean - though to me, he looks Korean (and, ancestrally, he is.) No matter, this is a multi-linguistic group. Step in Dmitry – a good friend of Tom’s – who grew up in London, Ontario and who happens to have Russian as the language he spoke first, having Russian-Canadian parents.
So here we are. Alisher starts speaking; Dmitry translates into English, while Julie (who is South Korean) translates from English to Korean, so that the Koreans know what Alisher is saying. (Dmitry also speaks Korean, but English was the most common language around that particular table.) I’m a unilingual English speaker. This transaction makes my BRAIN EXPLODE, much like the aliens in Mars Attacks.
It would be nice to have a universal language – like they do on Star Trek. (It happens to be English, which is convenient for me.) I thought that Sign Language might be that. I am currently taking ASL (American Sign Language) classes and one of the things that I have learned is that there are over 200 sign languages.
And if I think that learning the alphabet in American Sign Language is tough (and I do,) I should try Russian. It is like advanced yoga for fingers – I can’t even get my fingers to do many of the Cyrillic letters.
But I am unlikely to visit Russian anytime soon. My travel dollars are earmarked for Arizona, though interestingly enough, there is now a Hostel in Moscow called “Arizona Dreaming.” They must be. In February 2013, Moscow experienced the snowiest winter in 100 years. In December 2012, temperatures dipped to -50C.
Я люблю Аризона. Вам не придется перелопачивать солнечного света, или говорить на русском.
(I love Arizona. You don't have to shovel sunshine, or speak Russian.)