FashionPolyglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3934 days ago 39 posts - 73 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Portuguese
| Message 1 of 44 03 March 2014 at 12:11am | IP Logged |
I'm just curious to know:
Do you hate your first native language?
If no then...
Do you have a love-hate relationship with your first native tongue? Explain.
What do you hate about the language your parents/guardians thought you to speak?
To those of you who don't know, my first native language was actually Tagalog. I moved to the United States at the
age of 6, and at the time, I was only at Beginner level. I was bound to forget my Tagalog, considering my age and
language acquisition. I didn't intend to forget how to speak Tagalog of course, it just happened.
I don't hate Tagalog, but I do have a love-hate relationship. I'm proud to be a Filipino, and I am proud of my Filipino
heritage. I want to relearn my 1st native tongue. What I hate about my forgotten native language is that it sounds
ugly when spoken with a mean attitude. I do not want to hear your Tagalog if you are mad at me. Whenever there is
a family argument, my parents always spoke in Tagalog. I still understand what they're saying, which makes it worst.
I do not want my mood to be broken because of poor language ethics.
Of course I hear bad mouthing spoken in English, but it doesn't hurt me personally as much.
That is why I'm asking this question, because you might have had a bad family moment, and maybe you want to
share that.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
Speakeasy Senior Member Canada Joined 4043 days ago 507 posts - 1098 votes Studies: German
| Message 2 of 44 03 March 2014 at 12:36am | IP Logged |
INITIAL REACTION:
To me, hating one's native language is just another variant of self-hate and I'm not goin' there!
ADDENDUM:
In my opinion, while the question might be interesting, it should be discussed in some other forum and I suggest that the Moderators review its pertinence.
Edited by Speakeasy on 03 March 2014 at 12:51am
5 persons have voted this message useful
|
Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4360 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans
| Message 3 of 44 03 March 2014 at 5:27am | IP Logged |
"Hate" would be a strong word, and even "love-hate" isn't really accurate. I do admit that I have a complicated relationship with English though, which ranges from neutral to negative. I'm not exactly sure why or how that developed, but I do not share the feelings others will sometimes express when they say that their native language and its connection to their country is part of their identity.
I think if you have a somewhat negative view towards your native language, it's important to try and change your relationship with it (not that I've managed to do that!). I imagine that's even more important to do if your native language is more of a heritage language, and so you associate it with particular persons and situations.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4244 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian
| Message 4 of 44 03 March 2014 at 8:36am | IP Logged |
I think people not liking their native language is a tragedy. I think OP is projecting his anxiety at the language, if they're used to hearing Tagalog during arguments and such. The nasty feelings of family argument are seeping into the area of the actual language that's being used.
As for myself I couldn't imagine ever hating any language and my native one the least. My native language is the only one with which I can always be entirely at ease.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4698 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish
| Message 5 of 44 03 March 2014 at 9:18am | IP Logged |
I like my native language (and speak it freely of course) but I don't have that much of
an attachment to it - should I be forced to speak something else during the day then no
problem.
That's the good thing about growing up bilingual. You learn that what people speak is
relative to your context.
1 person has voted this message useful
|
KevinHsu Triglot Newbie Canada Joined 4161 days ago 9 posts - 12 votes Speaks: Mandarin, English*, Korean Studies: Japanese, Spanish
| Message 6 of 44 03 March 2014 at 9:34am | IP Logged |
I used to dislike Mandarin because it sounds a bit rough on the ear in my opinion, and
then I found out that speaking multiple languages apparently makes getting girls easier.
2 persons have voted this message useful
|
Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5325 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian
| Message 7 of 44 03 March 2014 at 9:56am | IP Logged |
No, I could not hate my own language. That is the language in which my mother sang lullabyes to me, and in which I daily tell my daughters that I love them to the moon and back. How could I possibly hate that?
A la rigeur I could hate certain types of usage, and I get angry as hell when not even a Norwegian teacher at high school is unable to use the personal pronouns correctly, but the language as such? No way.
And I could not hate any of my other languages either. Learning a language is a labour of love, and it is beyond me how people can learn a language if they hate the language itself or the culture associated with that language (national policies aside of course - there are a number of politicians whose neck I would gladly wring right now, but that does not affect my love for the languages).
- Spanish is part of my soul, and although it sounds incredibly dramatic, I do not know if I had still lived had I not learned it,
- English is neccesary for 95% of my activities both at work and in my free time - I could not live without it
- French is a language where it takes me about 30 minutes of exposure before I start cursing in it, and speaking it to myself - I would find something lacking if I did not have it
- Italian - the language of love, and the language which makes me feel right at home - even while is is starting to get rusty on me
- German - the language of music and philosophy and whose people are a more well behaved and structured variant of Norwegians
- Russian - the language that has kept me occupied these last 5 years, and whose people have walked right into my heart.
How can you not love your languages?
7 persons have voted this message useful
|
aabram Pentaglot Senior Member Estonia Joined 5524 days ago 138 posts - 263 votes Speaks: Estonian*, English, Spanish, Russian, Finnish Studies: Mandarin, French
| Message 8 of 44 03 March 2014 at 10:11am | IP Logged |
I guess it's because you didn't grew up in tagalog environment. I'm neutral to my native language, it has some drawbacks but it also has some very clever devices which add to the playfulness of the language. One thing that really grinds my (g)ears though is singing in Estonian. We have that strong s-sound which often turns into hissing while singing, especially with slower songs which are supposed to be gentle and delicate and soft and whatnot.
But still, despite of how many years I'll be using English, I'll never be as eloquent as in my mother tongue. I better love it for I'm stuck with it for all my life.
1 person has voted this message useful
|