Being bilingual
I suddenly feel the urge to talk about being bilingual. What inspired me was a survey posted in a linguistic community I joined last month. Someone was doing a research about difficulties faced by bilinguals and it got me thinking.
I speak fluently Portuguese and English. The latter is my second language, but I still consider it to be MY language, even though I had never spoken any of it until I was 8 years old and also in spite of not really using it in my everyday life.
I sometimes wonder if it's just pride, but I do consider it as part of me just as much as portuguese.
The only time in my life when English was ever used more routinely than Portuguese was from age 8 to 10, when I lived in the south of England. But since then I am bilingual. And since then it feels incredibly constrictive to try and communicate in just one of the languages. You can not imagine how much more comfortable I feel when I know I can mix and match portuguese and english. Each language has certain words or expressions that simply cannot be translated!
The problem is, it's a very unique quality to be bilingual in these two languages and I know people would think me a snob if I just gave in everytime. Even here in Brazil, even knowing most of my work colleagues have learned English at some point of their lives, I can't really resort to it or I'd be a snob. What's worse, I can't even pronounce correctly the English terms that are used at work because no one does that.
The good news is that my boyfriend is also bilingual. He grew up attending an american school and being taught in English. Poor R, he refuses to copy the incorrect pronunciation of those English work terms and people make fun of him all the time for it! I'm proud of him for not crumbling under the pressure to fit in. But at the same time I do think it's easier to be understood the first time I say something.
I'm at least glad that with R I can talk freely. If I can only say exactly what I want in English, then that's what I'll do, if it's in Portuguese, so be it.
Yes, it's great to be able to communicate in more than one language... it does open up some doors... but it does cause some difficulty.
I speak fluently Portuguese and English. The latter is my second language, but I still consider it to be MY language, even though I had never spoken any of it until I was 8 years old and also in spite of not really using it in my everyday life.
I sometimes wonder if it's just pride, but I do consider it as part of me just as much as portuguese.
The only time in my life when English was ever used more routinely than Portuguese was from age 8 to 10, when I lived in the south of England. But since then I am bilingual. And since then it feels incredibly constrictive to try and communicate in just one of the languages. You can not imagine how much more comfortable I feel when I know I can mix and match portuguese and english. Each language has certain words or expressions that simply cannot be translated!
The problem is, it's a very unique quality to be bilingual in these two languages and I know people would think me a snob if I just gave in everytime. Even here in Brazil, even knowing most of my work colleagues have learned English at some point of their lives, I can't really resort to it or I'd be a snob. What's worse, I can't even pronounce correctly the English terms that are used at work because no one does that.
The good news is that my boyfriend is also bilingual. He grew up attending an american school and being taught in English. Poor R, he refuses to copy the incorrect pronunciation of those English work terms and people make fun of him all the time for it! I'm proud of him for not crumbling under the pressure to fit in. But at the same time I do think it's easier to be understood the first time I say something.
I'm at least glad that with R I can talk freely. If I can only say exactly what I want in English, then that's what I'll do, if it's in Portuguese, so be it.
Yes, it's great to be able to communicate in more than one language... it does open up some doors... but it does cause some difficulty.