Maori Radio in Sydney

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A Song of Loss

If you read my blog, you know that I am a songwriter. Out of my passion for language preservation came the idea to put all the names of Australia’s lost indigenous languages into a song. This would be a way of remembering, valuing the linguistic heritage of Australia and bringing awareness to what is happening right under out nose, the languages that are dying ‘on our watch’ so to speak.

Then I came across this song (spoken text to music) by Bruce Watson and was surprised to find it does exactly that: listing the languages that collectively we have lost. For me it is a call to treasure what we do have and strengthen the languages that remain.

On my YouTube profile I have created a playlist with interesting videos on Indigenous Language Preservation from around the world. They are interesting videos, because the stories from around the world tell us that we are not alone on our journey of restoration.

Help! I can’t read these Chinese Music Websites!

音乐网= yīn yuè wǎng = music website

• 歌手= gē shǒu = singer

• 歌曲名称= gē qǔ míng chēng = song title

• 歌词= gē cí = lyrics

• 单曲= dān qǔ = single

• 专辑= zhuān jí = album

• 最新单曲= zuì xīn dān qǔ = newest/latest single

• 最新专辑= zuì xīn zhuān jí = newest/latest album

• 唱片公司= chàng piàn gōng sī = record company

• 发行日期 = fā xíng rì qī = release date

• 下载 = xià zǎi = to download

• 铃声 = líng shēng = ring-tone

• 帐号 = zhàng hào = account number

• 风格 = fēng gé = style

• 流行 = liú xíng = Pop

• 摇滚 = yáo gǔn = Rock

• 爵士 = jué shì = Jazz

What’s the most difficult Language in the World?

If you have ever learned a foreign language you have probably at some point wondered, ‘What would be the hardest language to learn?’. You may have even had discussions about it with friends and fellow students. What did you tell them? Did you say Chinese would be the most difficult? Well, here’s a surprise for you… Chinese is not the most difficult language in the world!

The truth is that there is not one language that is ‘the most difficult’ to learn at all. Why not? Because how difficult or easy it is to learn a language all depends on which language(s) you already speak. If you are French and speak French, you’ll find it pretty easy to learn Spanish. But if you’re Korean trying to learn Spanish you’ll find it a bit harder. If your mother tongue is German, you’ll find it pretty easy to learn Dutch. But learning Arabic will be more difficult for you. If you are Hong Kong Chinese and you can read and write Cantonese, guess what? You wont have too much trouble learning Mandarin!

Now why is that? Well, it’s because languages are related. Languages come in families, just like human beings. So French and Spanish are twin-sisters in the family of Italo-Western languages. This family belongs to the clan of Romance Languages. So who else is in that clan? Languages like Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian. The great Pater Familias of this clan is of course Latin!

The Germanic Languages form another massive language clan. German and Dutch are like brothers in this clan. The English language is like their first cousin. So does English have any siblings? Well it does! It has a sister called Frisian (which happens to be my Mother’s native language). German, Dutch and English have a number of second cousins: Norwegian & Icelandic (brothers) and their half-sisters Swedish & Danish…

So where does Mandarin fit in? Well, Mandarin has siblings, cousins and distant cousins that also form a clan, just like the languages I just mentioned above. Only, the clan that Mandarin is a part of is in an entirely different tribe!! The Germanic and Romance Language clans are part of a separate tribe called the Indo-European languages.

Wow! So that’s why Mandarin is so difficult for people who grow up speaking a European language like French or English!!

Have I confused you yet? Well, the main thing to remember is this: it’s going to be easier getting to know a sibling or a cousin or even a distant cousin than it will be to get to know someone from another tribe. Don’t let that put you off exploring ‘distant friendships’ though, you might be surprised to find you get along splendidly with a member of another language tribe.

This happened to me when my parents migrated from Holland to New Zealand when I was little. At home we had only ever spoken Dutch and suddenly I had to go to primary school and learn English (which is actually a language cousin…phew!). My primary school teacher in Auckland happened to be Maori and she was very keen to teach us some of her language. Now Maori is from a completely different language tribe than Dutch and English, so you would think it would pretty hard to lean. Funnily enough I found it pretty easyI I noticed that the Maori vowels (a,e,i,o,u) sounded very similar to some of the Dutch ones. So I didn’t find it too hard to get the Maori pronunciation right. That was a surprising friendship with a language from a completely different ‘tribe’.

So, are you learning a foreign language? You might want to have a think about how the language(s) you already know (are) to the language you are learning now. How close or distant are they?

If they are close, they will most likely be a lot more similar (and easier to learn) than if they are distant languages. There are actually many different ways in which languages can differ and it would take a bit of an introduction to Linguistics to explain all that. For now I just wanted to add a few little bits of information that may help you with your language learning:

• Your motivation matters. The more motivated you are the more success you will have. Why do you want to learn another language? Think about the purpose – is it just to be able to say “good morning’ in Hindi when you’re traveling in India or are you moving overseas permanently and is that the reason? Is it because you have to or because you want to learn another language? What are your goals? What do you want to achieve? You might want to take a moment to think about this and jot down your thoughts.

• Your attitude matters. How do you feel about the language? Do you like it? How do you feel about the people that speak this language? Do you like their culture? When I first heard Chinese people speak Mandarin I thought it sounded like they were arguing all the time. It just sounded a bit unfriendly. At first that really put me off. Over time I got used to the unfamiliar sounds of Chinese and I could tell that most conversations were actually just friendly ones. It didn’t sound unpleasant anymore. It was just because my ears weren’t used to what I was hearing. Now I love the sound of Chinese!!

• Age can matter too. While it’s never too late to start learning a foreign language, it’s still best to start while you’re young. You’ll most likely find it easier and you’ll probably become more fluent in the language. There are exceptions, so there is hope for all of us over the age of 12!! (btw, linguists are baffled by the exceptions and have spent years and years trying to figure out if kids really learn foreign languages better and faster than adults. If it is true then how does that work and why is it like that?).

• Know your style! Everybody learns differently. Some people can’t remember or understand things unless they see them written down, other people are just not into books and prefer to just listen to someone explain stuff. What about you? It helps to know how you work best. Do you find it easier to concentrate on your language studies when you’re by yourself, or are you much more motivated to learn a language when there are other people to study and speak the language with? Find what works for you and then adjust your study habits to match your style. You’ll get the best results that way.

Finally, if you already keep a diary, consider writing about your language learning as well. You can write about what you’ve done, tried, liked, hated, found easy or hard… you’ll be surprised to find that just writing about it will help you be more productive and get better results!

Remember to have loads of fun! Learning another language is a great to connect with other people and explore the world around you!

Legeloren

Achteloos verloog hij
nam licht de dwaalte
en vond verloed

Achterbeten was het
als zoete dwoest
eerst voorzichtig
en versparend
toen zonder achting
en versloren

Zo vond zij hem
verkringeld
in zijn ongedogen

Zij kwaamde
zijn verlaat

Trienend

niet om de teelde
niet om het verdwang

maar om het legeloren
zo ontastbaar
in haar handen

© by Renate B. Nguyen 2006