Language intersections

Today, I wake up in English, discuss household items in Russian, muse about life and love in French and go to bed in Italian.

As I lay in bed reading my nighttime book, Un altro giro di giostra (Another ride on the Merry-go-round), by Tiziano Terzani, I was thinking about how funny it is to have certain subjects of my life delineated by language. As I hardly practice my Italian, my nighttime reading is my daily dose of the Roman tongue. Even though I rarely look up unknown words in the dictionary, I do enjoy reading Terzani’s insightful observations on the various medical systems he encounters to help him live longer with his cancer. I am now learning about the origins of Indian ayurvedic medicine in Italian. In fact, there are some words in his descriptions which I understand but can’t think of their English equivalents.

It’s great to have this instinctive comprehension of the language that doesn’t require translation. However, this “feeling” I have for languages doesn’t work when I do have to interpret for someone and can’t think of the right word on the spot.

Tonight, I am going to a French speakers’ event in Santana Row, in San Jose and look forward to practicing my French. The last time I was around a group of French speakers was in January on my eventful New Years voyage to France. I went for love and came back sad. Well, the amour á la parisienne didn’t pan out for me in the stripes and colors we see emblazoned in American movies about love Paris. Actually, my trip was much more like a French movie, loaded with melancholy, misunderstandings, and conflict. I hope that this evening’s French soirée will be an cultural and linguistic intersection to enjoy and that I won’t have flashbacks to walking alone my last night in Paris by myself in the winter cold.