“Poetry is what gets lost in translation.”
― Robert Frost
Let me ask you some questions. Are you bilingual? Are you trilingual? If you speak more than two languages, think about a situation where you meet a distant relative whom you haven’t met for more than decades. He’s monolingual and never had any linguistic interactions with foreigners. Since he only spent his entire life speaking in his native language, he never understands what it feels like to communicate in a foreign language with someone from different background.
On the other hand, you have a rich history of communicating with those who speak your second language as well as breathing the foreign yet fascinating cultures and ideas. Ever since the moment you became fluent in your second or third language, your life has never been the same.
At this point, think about this. In the situation where you meet your distant relative who only speaks his native language for the first time in ages, do you think you could enjoy a meaningful conversation with him? I personally believe, that just because they speak your native language doesn’t necessarily mean they speak the same language.
Personally, my bilingual fluency enriched my life, but also it complicated my relationship with my native language. And here is my story.
It’s been more than a decade since I became fluent in English as my second language. Now, it is more than my second language which I can’t live without because of its deep integration in my life.
Despite the fact that I’m 100% Japanese and speak Japanese as my native language, English has more to do with my overall life activities than my native language, especially when it comes to my digital life where I often associate with English speakers regardless of their fluency.
Not only does English allows me to share my thoughts and experiences with world citizens, but it also enables me to verbalize my ideas into the logical and linguistic formula, thanks to its rich vocabulary of subtle differences and depth. I can’t articulate what is, but there is something fundamental is missing in my native language that prevents us to verbalize our thoughts in linguistic structures just like I do in English.
And that linguistic superiority probably contributed to the birth of the technological innovations that never happened elsewhere, including the Internet, NASA, Google, Apple, Web3 and you name it, in the English-speaking world.
Here, let me articulate today’s main topic: Just because they speak my native language doesn’t necessarily mean they understand me.
To address my points, let me share my own experiences with you. Last year, I lost my dad, and that experience was not only devastating but also changed me forever. My dad was the one who understood me more than anybody else in the world and he was my best friend whom I could share every bit of my experiences and thoughts with. In spite of the fact that he was born and grew up in Japan, he was heavily influenced by western liberalism, feminism, and progressivism. And his ideas and thoughts shaped who I am today.
When he passed away last year, I met my uncle, who is my dad’s older brother, for the first time in ages. And I encountered reverse culture shock when I interacted with him. At the funeral, he gave me a book about how to be successful in Japanese society.
“You need this.” He said.
Do I need it? Really? I received it but never turned even a page and never will. I didn’t need it not because it was written in Japanese, rather the ideas and thoughts were outdated and irrelevant in the modern society where innovative things and ideas are shaping our lives instead of something traditional. And those innovations always originated from the US, not in Japan.
He doesn’t understand how fascinating it is to exchange ideas and thoughts with someone from another country who somewhat understands you despite differences of nationality. He never understands how incredible it is to touch and experience the latest technologies through programming an application from scratch and learning it in your second language. And through those crucial experiences, you touch, feel, and breathe the civilizations.
Especially for non-native English speakers like myself, the ability to communicate in the global language is unmistakeably a life-changing experience and benefits my entire life.
At the same time, as I mentioned a while ago, my bilingual fluency complicated my relationship with my native community, and that’s just fine. But I just want to address the fact that I desperately need a translator when I’m speaking with those who are monolingual in my native language. They speak in Japanese, and I speak in Japanese. We’re communicating in the same language, and I still need a translator. Because we don’t speak the same language.
So, what do you think about it? Do you agree with me? And have you ever had similar experiences to mine? If you do, let me know, and feel free to share your thoughts with me.
Thanks.
