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Languages and Healing

 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages Post Reply
11 messages over 2 pages: 1
Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6551 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 9 of 11
02 April 2014 at 12:07pm | IP Logged 
I'm starting to think of myself as a linguistic healer. I resolve the concerns that "my native language is stupid for doing X", by explaining which other languages have this phenomenon and that different from English absolutely doesn't mean stupid.
1 person has voted this message useful



Fuenf_Katzen
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
notjustajd.wordpress
Joined 4323 days ago

337 posts - 476 votes 
Speaks: English*, German
Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans

 
 Message 10 of 11
02 April 2014 at 11:32pm | IP Logged 
I think I understand what you're saying, and I would agree that there are some thoughts and emotions that have a greater impact in one language versus another. The way I've come to experience this is through music, in the sense that culturally and socially you're implicitly expected to have certain reactions to a particular set of lyrics or text. So I think sometimes it's hard to fully feel everything. I just heard a beautiful version this past year of a woman singing "O Holy Night" in Yoruba, which is a language I don't understand. Now, obviously, I know the text to the song pretty well, so I have a vague idea of what she would have been saying. But without knowing anything about the language, there was something about that particular text that was very touching in a way that other languages hadn't been able to achieve (and normally I don't even like that particular song!). I have no idea if this makes any sense, but sometimes I wonder if a language that isn't a common one, or that you don't even understand can bring about a true emotional reaction because you're not confined to social expectations associated with language.
2 persons have voted this message useful



ScottScheule
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
scheule.blogspot.com
Joined 5182 days ago

645 posts - 1176 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish
Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French

 
 Message 11 of 11
03 April 2014 at 4:40am | IP Logged 
Well then, it seems political commentary is acceptable. Good to know.


1 person has voted this message useful



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