Yesterday I met with a couple of friends form the Chinese Department and I come to think that students of foreign cultures and languages all have a similar past.
We are being thrown into a completely different culture without any warning. The day you arrive there is when you realize, that neither Lu Xun, nor Empress Dowager Cixi will get you a mobile phone or help you with your groceries at the nearby market. If you are lucky you will stumble upon a few other exchange students; if not, you will be on your own - good luck then.
You have to learn a language, but not just learn how to look up words in the dictionary. Speaking a language means speaking culture, speaking gestures, speaking the unsaid.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Those without a tongue
I heard once a story about a russian polyglot, whose notes were written in all possible languages. He was accused of spying and sent to jail...
My notes are also rarely written in one language - usually it's three, sometimes five. I am what you call a polyglot, but truth is, I am tongueless.
In this globalized world of ours, there are more and more people without a language they can call their own. It is not a blessing, it is a curse. It is as if you were living in a room that is too small to hold you.
Each language has boundaries, when you think in different languages, you constantly cross barriers. However when three of the languages you speak are Polish, Chinese and Korean it is difficult to find someone, who can cross those barriers with you. Eventually you lose everyone. Eventually you lose even yourself.
Language is one of the things that defines us. Yet, each language has also a very distinct character. When you change the language you speak and think in, something changes in you - you become a little bit different. If you juggle with languages your personality becomes a spinning kaleidoscope.
If you do not own a language, which you can call your own, who are you then?
My notes are also rarely written in one language - usually it's three, sometimes five. I am what you call a polyglot, but truth is, I am tongueless.
In this globalized world of ours, there are more and more people without a language they can call their own. It is not a blessing, it is a curse. It is as if you were living in a room that is too small to hold you.
Each language has boundaries, when you think in different languages, you constantly cross barriers. However when three of the languages you speak are Polish, Chinese and Korean it is difficult to find someone, who can cross those barriers with you. Eventually you lose everyone. Eventually you lose even yourself.
Language is one of the things that defines us. Yet, each language has also a very distinct character. When you change the language you speak and think in, something changes in you - you become a little bit different. If you juggle with languages your personality becomes a spinning kaleidoscope.
If you do not own a language, which you can call your own, who are you then?
Friday, January 14, 2011
The caterpillar and the butterfly
There is a Japanese animated movie called Omohide Poro poro, meaning falling memories. This movie has little to do with the holly-jolly Disney movies most Europeans are used to - it is about a woman in her thirties, taking a holiday in the countryside. She is a typical Japanese women from the older generation: politely smiling, never emotional, very conscious about the needs of others. However during her trip she starts remembering the time when she was in 5th grade: a selfish little brat, going through her first childhood-love, first big disappointment, or as she calls it: “the caterpillar stage”.
“At work and at play we girls were livelier and more spirited than boys. It was like we'd finally found our wings. But looking now back, maybe we were just flexing them pointlessly.”
You see that woman, a product of the society, and the passionate girl she has once been. And you see much more - you see the Japanese society as it has been in the 60's. But the movie does not just reproduce the picture of a traditional Asian society - it questions at the same time, and the main character also starts questioning.
“Perhaps the 5th grade me was tagging along with a message for me to reflect and rethink my life.”
A few weeks ago I have been interviewed for Cambridge. When asked about what I like to do in my free time, I told the admissions lady about this movie. Call me crazy - who in their right mind talks about an animated movie during their interview for Economics at Cambridge - but I did and I got in.
I have applied to Cambridge already once before, that was 5 years ago. During that interview I didn't talk about anything that I was really passionate about, I just said what I thought they want me to say. Of course, back then, I didn't get in. I think everyone has to fall on their nose a few times in order to really understand who they are and where they are heading to. And to be able to stay true to themselves.
“Like it or not, a butterfly must first live as a caterpillar before it can fly away.”
[all the quotes are from the movie]
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Umbrellas
Every country has it's own umbrella-habits.
In Korea most people have several umbrellas in different shapes, sizes and colors. Umbrellas are used in spring when it's drizzling, in summer when it's pouring, when the sun is shining in autumn, and the snow falling in winter.
Today it rained cats and dogs in Heidelberg, but there were few people with umbrellas on the streets and even fewer with umbrellas that wouldn't be black. And I missed the colorful patchwork of South Korean streets.
In Korea most people have several umbrellas in different shapes, sizes and colors. Umbrellas are used in spring when it's drizzling, in summer when it's pouring, when the sun is shining in autumn, and the snow falling in winter.
Today it rained cats and dogs in Heidelberg, but there were few people with umbrellas on the streets and even fewer with umbrellas that wouldn't be black. And I missed the colorful patchwork of South Korean streets.
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