LANGUAGE
How I View the World as a Trilingual
Each language represents, and expresses, a different facet of myself
I used to think everyone thought in English, like me. I had awesome conversations with Harry Potter in a “British accent,” or just had long, detailed discussions with “Anne of Green Gables.” Little did I know that many people actually did not think in English or, for that matter, even “talk” in English. I had a conversation with my friend here in Pakistan and it went something like this:
“Man, your English is fantastic! What did you do to ‘cultivate’ it?”
I just gaped at her, surprised, as she told me she talked and thought in her mother tongue, Punjabi. I was so surprised because I guess I was the only one who didn’t even speak her mother tongue. Yeah, you guessed it; my mother tongue is Punjabi too. ¹ But I spoke Urdu at home and mostly “thought” in English.² What a fantastic combination, huh? Not. It was the most infuriating thing ever for me.
Because there were times when I just couldn’t find any words in my native languages (Urdu or Punjabi) the words would be floating in my mind—but they were all in English. I would stutter, mid-conversation, just asking for the “English” translation of some word. I still don’t know the full count in Urdu. Being trilingual, bilingual, or any type of “lingual,” honestly, is tough work. Especially in this age and world, where everything is going so fast, your mind just blanks out during conversations.
Quite honestly, I view the world of “linguals” ( if that even is a word) with so much respect now. This is because learning a language is hard; learning another language is harder. Balancing between two or three languages is just pure art. You are a master of languages if you can juggle between them like a pro.
I’m still learning the art of languages and holding conversations, but I do know one thing. They are just plain mind-blowing when you sit down to understand. A word in Urdu is so deep and meaningful. That same term in English has another pronunciation, another beautiful insight. So to sum it all up, languages are a gift from God — a beautiful amalgamation of words.
Takeaways
- Being a trilingual isn’t easy. But rest assured, there are so many people in this world who juggle between languages.
- Languages are a gift. Don’t put yourself down if your English or mother tongue isn’t fluent. Look at me! I don’t even speak my mother tongue! ( I know, I’m trying to learn it.)
- There is beauty and a different kind of charm in every language in the world. You just need to find it.
(1) Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world with approximately 113 million native speakers. Source: Wikipedia.
(2) Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language and the national language of Pakistan, and is closely related to and mutually intelligible with Hindi, though a lot of Urdu vocabulary comes from Persian and Arabic, while Hindi contains more vocabulary from Sanskrit. Source: Unesco.
