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August 24, 2005
the one about self-isolation
i'm speaking more and more dutch these days. oh, it's far from perfect, and i'm sure robert cringes behind my back as i slaughter the dutch language, splitting the plural verbs, confusing the tenses and making direct conversions from english sentences into less-comprehensible dutch ones.
my brain's processes for speaking dutch:
- thinks in english
- makes sentence in english
- find and replace all english words with dutch
- if dutch word is unknown, keep the english word
- send command to mouth
in a way, i don't want to be fluent in dutch. i like the self-isolation i make for myself in public spaces. i still need a certain degree of concentration to understand other-than-basic dutch and i like that. lose the concentration and the rest of the world disappears for me.
being back in london or in indonesia bothers me a lot, because i can understand everything. that's just an overload for my senses.
here, i can read peacefully on the train without getting involved in other's conversations. i can listen better to other more interesting sounds: sitting outside sipping a cold Hoegaarden in amsterdam's negen straatjes, i can hear the neighborhood sounds of people cooking in their kitchen, a baby crying somewhere, children playing together, children singing, someone playing the piano, the sax.
why was the baby crying? what are the people cooking? are they having friends over? is someone going to have a performance soon? how long have they been playing the sax? all these thoughts fly into my head and i'm off in my own cloud of stories of how these people came to be.
i wonder how long until i understand dutch and it starts to drive me crazy. i wonder if this will spark me to continue moving until all languages are exhausted.
Posted by Yasmina at August 24, 2005 10:35 AM
Comments
this is the first time i heard that being able to speak many languages sometimes does have the disadvantage. i can only relate to it whenever i go back to jakarta. i can understand EVERYTHING because bhs indonesia is my first language. here in the US, i have the on and off button. if i turn it on, then i listen, when it's off, i'm somewhat self-isolated. it's kinda nice, isn't it? it's like sitting in a lounge with music playing in the background.
yas, i thought your first language was french?
Posted by: novs at August 24, 2005 07:00 PM
When I've had too much information, my brain will automatically isolate myself from my surroundings by turning all the voices into meaningless drones. And then I'll get a headache and eventually get all cranky and irritable. Fun! :)
Posted by: Firda at August 24, 2005 08:26 PM
I do basically the same here when I'm roaming the streets of Wiesbaden or sitting at a café. There's already too many languages, I think, fumbling around in my head (whether I'm fluent in them or not).
It's nice to be able to tune out, it's hard to do with some things. ;)
Posted by: Kathya at August 24, 2005 09:51 PM
@novs: my first language was french, yes. skrg sih kebanyakan pasif ya, although i can watch french movies without subtitles and i can converse with parisian cab drivers, LOL :)
@firda: then you should come to a non-english speaking place. you don't need to listen to anything you don't want to hear, and you don't have to talk to anyone if you don't feel like talking. disini gue ya begitu :)
@kathya: iya lah, gue + elo similar that way, me with my indo-english-dutch, you with your indo-english-spanish. + our french + your german. kayanya kalo kita travelling bareng di EU, engga masalah berkomunikasi ya? ;)
Posted by: yasmina at August 24, 2005 10:47 PM
love reading your blog and seeing your pictures on flickr. visiting your site is like taking a vacation. i read the english and tune out (so to speak)the indo, but i'm glad the text is there.
Posted by: Paris at August 25, 2005 05:44 AM
hahaha yas, you are right... sometimes it's good to isolated yourself. kayak gw pas kerusuhan di sini, krn ga terlalu ngerti bhs prancis jadi nonton berita juga cuma dikit ngertinya... but it made me feel comfortable... soalnya jadi ga terlalu khawatir hehehe...
anyway... bhs belanda ngga gampang kan pronounciationnya? once I tried to say something in dutch... rasanya I spit too much huehuehue...
Posted by: ninit at August 25, 2005 06:30 PM
@Paris: thanks! nice meeting you! :)
@Ninit: iya, bhs belanda emang spitting language deh, especially on the letter G... LOL...
Posted by: yasmina at August 26, 2005 12:02 AM
hiya, that was a really interesting post.. i never thought about it that way, but you're absolutely right.
eventhough i can listen to both english and indonesian equally well and there's a sizeable indo population here in sydney, my ears still manage to inadvertently perk up when i overhear other people speaking in indonesian. hehe..
Posted by: maureen at August 26, 2005 07:21 AM
