From Haris's assignment:
Task 2
The New Language Invented by Italian Immigrants in America
The
main thesis of the author was describing the formation of a new Italian
American language that was an odd mixture of both Italian and English and how
that 'interlingua' eventually disappeared. This new ‘interlingua’ did not have
the same depth and richness as Italian.
I must say I understood this concept quite well and knew exactly what the author was talking about for I have seen it happen firsthand to my native language. The formation of such a language is only because of the necessity of communication. And the people who speak this language are often looked down upon by natives who take pride in their language because they consider it their main representation as a nation. I think that immigrants should always try to preserve their language while learning the new one. The forming of new words that never were is great but original words and their meanings shouldn’t be changed or lost. Immigrants should teach their mother tongue to their children and never let it die. Our native language is a part of our heritage and who we are and we should keep that part from fading away. Also, the more languages one knows the better, you can communicate with more people around the world.
The part where the author mentioned translating an idiom or phrase literally was quite interesting I've often heard a lot of strange phrases in English from immigrants from different countries and when I've said I've never heard them before I've often been told it's a saying in their native language. My mother also uses the phrase 'Stop eating my brain' which has been translated literally from our native language, Pushto, though the correct phrase for it in English would be 'You're getting on my nerves'.
All languages change from how they initially were, years ago but mass migrations to other countries can cause them to change drastically and lose their beauty and essence. Luckily for Italians the new 'interlingua' faded away eventually and the beautiful, original Italian came back.
I must say I understood this concept quite well and knew exactly what the author was talking about for I have seen it happen firsthand to my native language. The formation of such a language is only because of the necessity of communication. And the people who speak this language are often looked down upon by natives who take pride in their language because they consider it their main representation as a nation. I think that immigrants should always try to preserve their language while learning the new one. The forming of new words that never were is great but original words and their meanings shouldn’t be changed or lost. Immigrants should teach their mother tongue to their children and never let it die. Our native language is a part of our heritage and who we are and we should keep that part from fading away. Also, the more languages one knows the better, you can communicate with more people around the world.
The part where the author mentioned translating an idiom or phrase literally was quite interesting I've often heard a lot of strange phrases in English from immigrants from different countries and when I've said I've never heard them before I've often been told it's a saying in their native language. My mother also uses the phrase 'Stop eating my brain' which has been translated literally from our native language, Pushto, though the correct phrase for it in English would be 'You're getting on my nerves'.
All languages change from how they initially were, years ago but mass migrations to other countries can cause them to change drastically and lose their beauty and essence. Luckily for Italians the new 'interlingua' faded away eventually and the beautiful, original Italian came back.
As someone of Jamaican heritage, the language most spoken of those from Jamaica is Jamaican Patois or some may say Jamaican Creole. This language was developed overtime by the West African slaves as a way to communicate with their englishspeaking slave owners as this was a part of the process of them being forced to lose their cultural identity by no longer speaking their mother tongue. For me it is a bit difficult to say because the language that they once would have spoken is no longer spoken at all. However, in reference to evidence of the certain west african words being used within the Jamaican Patois therecertain is evidence of certain words or phrases. For example, there are words like "juk" which means poke or there are sayings like, "de,deh" which originates from igbo langauge which means to be or to be here. or "unu" which also comes from the igbo language meaning, "you" or "you guys." The Jamaican patois is still spoken in my home from time to time especially when around other non-immediate family members.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who speaks Chinese at home as their main language whenever traveling to China almost every city has their own dialect of Chinese. If someone isn't speaking Cantonese to me I would not understand what they are saying even if it's Chinese because they sound totally different. Sometimes Cantonese would have a stronger dialect and it would take some time to process what they are saying. Also relating to Amanda's comment for the word "juk" in Cantonese it means congee.
ReplyDeleteYes, there are. We use a lot of English words while talking in our native language 'Pushto' at home. We also use alot of Pushto words while talking to one another in English. Sometimes we don't even notice that we're hardly talking in English when we say entire sentences using only pushto nouns. Some Pushtoons I know also use idioms of Pushto translated literally into English, for example, (as mentioned above)"Stop eating my brain".
ReplyDeleteMy house is a bilingual household; we speak both English and Hebrew constantly, often speaking both languages in a single sentence. Since English is a combination of multiple languages and doesn’t really connect to a certain heritage, the Hebrew that we speak in my house shows remnants of the Jewish heritage. As it so happens, my neighborhood is predominantly bilingual in these languages also, which continues to remind us of the heritage that our ancestors came from. In Hebrew, we have a saying that literally translates to ‘living in a movie’ – or “CHai b’ seret”. This weird expression means that the person is saying/doing so much nonsense it is as if they are living on cloud 9, as one would imagine an actor feels when they are in a movie.
ReplyDeleteMy household only speaks English. I can say moving to New York for school has expanded my knowledge and diversity. It is common to hear a mix of languages on campus, the trains, and just in everyday life.
ReplyDeleteI can say I have my own dialect of English and this varies in different areas. I think I speak "proper" English, whereas I hear all sorts of other lingo in New York. One example of this is, "man it's brick out." This means it is cold, but I never knew this or heard of this before moving to NYC.
My Dominican heritage often makes translating what I want to say from English to Spanish difficult. For instance, if I have a funny story to say about something that occurred, using direct names affects the understanding my parents will have over saying the usual "el" or "ella" to describe people. Also, the evidence of an accent shows more often through my speaking than my parents, where some Dominicans often do not pronounce the s in various words, such as "ustedes" being butchered down to "utede" as it is easier and quicker to say. Avoiding this issue forces me to put more effort into what I'm saying, to the point where I feel that I am talking in a rehearsed way rather than naturally.
ReplyDeleteIn my household, we speak English and Arabic. The two languages definitely intertwine. One sentence can be one word English and the next Arabic. We even change the ending of an Arabic verb, and add “ing” or “ed” or “s”. We mix the Arabic word with English suffixes. English is my first language, as I had learned that one first in school. However, sometimes I am able to explain myself better using Arabic words. Also, sometimes at work, I accidentally mix Arabic words in my English sentences to English Speakers, but they never catch onto my mistakes.
ReplyDeleteIn my household English and Jamaican Patois are spoken. My father is the only person in my house who speaks patois but the rest of us understand it. A lot of times I find that my thoughts are in patois. Sometimes patois just more clearly articulates what I'm trying to say. I think of the word "putseya" which doesn't translate easily or accurately into english. It means something along the lines of "how foolish" but that also fails to correctly display the tonal meaning.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live in Brooklyn there's a lot of Caribbean people and I find that people from other islands have similar words in their languages too.
In my household we speak both English and Arabic, on my parents end it is mostly Arabic and I would say its predominantly english for my brothers and I. In reference to things being translated differently, my mother always used to tell me bed time stories in arabic and would begin with the same phrase "kan ya makan" which meant "There was a time..." In enlgish however, it would translate to "a place over there," which I always found pretty interesting. It is also apparent in my family's everyday conversations that we mesh the two languages together at times because it comes out easier that way. In reference to my neighborhood, I would say arab americans are the majority and this definitely has an influence in the lingo that is used by everyone in the neighborhood. The prime example that I think many people in the neighborhood would agree with is the use of the word "wallah" after almost anything you're talking about seriously. "Wallah" is the arabic word for "I swear" but because of how many arabs have used it around people of non arabic descent, it has spread like a virus in the neighborhoods everyday dialogue.
ReplyDeleteIn my house, we speak English. There are some slang words that we use around the community. Words in Arabic although many of us cannot really speak Arabic. These types of words were passed down from our grandparents and great-grandparents that help us stay connected to our roots and community.
ReplyDelete