One day in the town of Mitro Vica, while I was browsing a gift shop, a kid named Angela approached & hugged me to ask me If I was seriously speaking in French?
I was of course not speaking in tongues that day, neither in Tagalog (my native tongue) but in fact, speaking in English. How it sounded french to her, I have no clue. Which got me thinking...
Having worked on ships and been exposed to more than 90 nationalities for the last 3 years, I would say that I have learned to speak English, the ship way. A ship accent is the kind adjustable to everybody's hearing. That way, every single person can understand me easily whether my guests come from Asia, US or Europe. Well, i have days when I hope that I'm a better learner than kids. I also have my share of frustrations. Like it took me 3 contracts to speak a little bit of Spanish when in our job it is necessary to be multilingual. But after a while, it got easy. I learned bits of Italian and French (the most romantic and fascinating languages in my opinion) along the way. And realized that their words are actually very similar to Spanish.
But the language I want to desperately learn not just because I have to but also because it is very interesting is Serbian.
Looks hard, eh?
I am still not satisfied w/ my knowledge level of Serbian. I speak very very rusty Serbian. Most of the time I find it incomprehensible. I don't have a natural affinity with languages for one. People over here in Uzice are learning English faster because of my presence more than me learning Serbian. Funny also that sometimes, I catch myself losing words because of too much "phrasing" and "translating"-- that even my English does not sound right anymore! But I have to trust my learning capabilities; and to avoid believing in the rumor that says that a certain age of maybe 12, you can't learn a new language.
It's also very interesting to note that in most parts of Europe nobody speaks English, that even if they know it, they would prefer using their own language. As Ivan would say it, history starts from language. Europe respect its languages thus the deep preserved history. Serbia for example was under the Turkish empire for 500 years but it did not influence the language. China is another good example.. never influenced by the Western culture. I wish the same for my country. That our language, Tagalog, is much better-preserved and used.
In few occasions when Serbs ask me to speak Tagalog out of curiosity, I always proudly deliver "Mabuhay", "Kamusta Ka?", and "Mahal Kita! Then they smile, like I swept them off their feet! I'm a proud Filipino!
Having worked on ships and been exposed to more than 90 nationalities for the last 3 years, I would say that I have learned to speak English, the ship way. A ship accent is the kind adjustable to everybody's hearing. That way, every single person can understand me easily whether my guests come from Asia, US or Europe. Well, i have days when I hope that I'm a better learner than kids. I also have my share of frustrations. Like it took me 3 contracts to speak a little bit of Spanish when in our job it is necessary to be multilingual. But after a while, it got easy. I learned bits of Italian and French (the most romantic and fascinating languages in my opinion) along the way. And realized that their words are actually very similar to Spanish.
But the language I want to desperately learn not just because I have to but also because it is very interesting is Serbian.
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| The Serbian Alphabet is called a Cyrillic Alphabet; Before the break-up of Yugoslavia, the common language then was called SerboCroatian. |
I am still not satisfied w/ my knowledge level of Serbian. I speak very very rusty Serbian. Most of the time I find it incomprehensible. I don't have a natural affinity with languages for one. People over here in Uzice are learning English faster because of my presence more than me learning Serbian. Funny also that sometimes, I catch myself losing words because of too much "phrasing" and "translating"-- that even my English does not sound right anymore! But I have to trust my learning capabilities; and to avoid believing in the rumor that says that a certain age of maybe 12, you can't learn a new language.
It's also very interesting to note that in most parts of Europe nobody speaks English, that even if they know it, they would prefer using their own language. As Ivan would say it, history starts from language. Europe respect its languages thus the deep preserved history. Serbia for example was under the Turkish empire for 500 years but it did not influence the language. China is another good example.. never influenced by the Western culture. I wish the same for my country. That our language, Tagalog, is much better-preserved and used.
In few occasions when Serbs ask me to speak Tagalog out of curiosity, I always proudly deliver "Mabuhay", "Kamusta Ka?", and "Mahal Kita! Then they smile, like I swept them off their feet! I'm a proud Filipino!
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