Language & Identity | The struggle is real…and so are the achievements!
When you think about living abroad, one of the first things that come to your mind is the linguistic aspect. In most cases, moving abroad means moving to a place where they speak a different language. Of course, communicating is vital for human beings, so the ability to understand and make oneself understood in a foreign country becomes a matter of survival.
It’s a journey made of satisfaction and epic fails
Developing your linguistic skills is similar to climbing a mountain. It’s uphill, you’ll encounter some obstacles, you’ll fall and get up again trying not to repeat that. What I mean by this metaphor is that learning a language is a challenge. You’ll make ridiculous mistakes and probably misunderstandings will become your best friends. However, you are improving without realizing it. When you get on top of the mountain, though, the view is just wonderful!
At this point, you are mastering the language enough to feel confident in almost every context. I’ll give you a couple of examples. In the past weeks, I’ve had some technical issues at home — the oven stopped working. Well, I managed to explain the problem to the engineer who understood what was going on. I understood what he was saying too. In another flat I used to live in, I had issues with the toilet’s electric pump — weird, it was the first time I had seen such a system! Again, I successfully explained to the plumber what was wrong and he could easily fix it.
It may seem obvious, but how satisfied I was! Such a nice feeling, like I had achieved something. I could handle those “technical” conversations quite well, even if they were not in my mother tongue. [Bonus point for me: the plumber had a very strong Scottish accent!]
From the opposite point of view, who knows how many customers I’ve let down because they came into the shop where I work and I couldn’t understand what they were looking for.
In other words, when you speak a foreign language you have small successes and small failures.
Do not take things for granted!
Another interesting aspect is that the language you speak — more generally, your culture — shapes the way you see the world and describe the reality around you. I would add that when you deal with more languages, your mindset and mental attitudes change accordingly. I’m an Italian living in an English-speaking country and it’s like having two versions of myself because I carry the two cultures within me. A double identity which can lead to mixed up results. Indeed, some things make sense in an Italian context while in English they don’t — hand gestures will likely come to your mind here. [All five fingers touch pointing upwards, wrist moves slightly back and forward]
For instance, I often take for granted some words thinking that they have the same meaning in English. One of these is “boh” which is not really a word, it’s more like an expression. In Italian, it is used to indicate doubt, disenchantment, indifference. It is informal — of course. The appropriate form would be “non so”, “I don’t know”. Boh translates into “dunno” and I thought it expressed the same feelings in English too. Until I realized people weren’t reacting nor answering back to me when hearing that word.
It clearly doesn’t exist for them.
The key to success
Being in a foreign environment and being continuously exposed to the local language, that is what makes you a better speaker. I know that because I had studied languages in a classroom and I can tell you it’s not the same as learning from your daily life and experiences. My English at school was just ok, nothing remarkable— especially when it came to conversation. Now, it’s way better: I feel confident enough to speak and write about many topics that back then seemed unthinkable.
By “living” a new language you learn about many cultural aspects too. Somebody once told me that “taking the piss” comes from an old way of treating the wool, which was trampled in barrels full of urine. Now it means to mock somebody in a pretty bad way…there ye go!
Finally, there’s the fun part: you learn so many local swearwords…though I’m not really sure I can tell you about these!
