The other day, my neighbor (who follows my blog, hi Frederika!) said to me that she noticed that I write my blogposts in ‘American English.’ We talked about languages and why it is that I seem to write in (American) English so natural and easy – let me tell you, it is not always simple to find the words for what I want to say in another language. And yes, although it seems to come easy, English is a strange language to me. I don’t have a grade in languages, nor am I a professional translator.
Like most people of my age (over fifty…) I picked English words up first from song texts and TV-series. When I was around seven years of age, I became aware of ‘other languages’ – of course I’d heard people talk in another language (mostly German, as I lived in a touristic area where a lot of Germans stayed for a holiday) but at some point, it ‘got to me’ that they actually SAID something, and that other people UNDERSTOOD what they said. From that moment on, I wanted to know more…
… and how easy it was! (American) TV-series had underscores (I remember Alias Smith and Jones and Baretta) The lyrics of pop songs were published in music magazines and I looked up the words in a dictionary. Hearing songs and watching series and movies in English made me familiar with the sounds and words of the language and since I had a linguistic talent, most of that language stuck to my brain.
When I was eleven, my friends and I became fans of the Scottish ‘teenybopper group’ The Bay City Rollers and learning ‘English’ took a flight… we wanted to know everything they sung and said in interviews and we sang the songs and repeated their texts out loud.
By the time I went to high school I’d developed a Scottish accent! Back in the days it was in high school that children had lessons in English for the first time (nowadays, kids learn English in primary school already.) How proud I was when the English teacher, Mrs. Porowitz, was highly surprised by the way I spoke English with a Scottish accent (with that rolling rrrrr…) OhMy… Mrs. Porowitz. She was the ultimate British lady, kinda like ‘Mrs. Bouquet’ (Keeping Up Appearances – do you have that series on TV in the USA?) She even looked like her (but my mind may play a trick on that…)
So, we learned the ultimate British in class. We had to pronounce the A like aaahhh (and Mrs. Porowitz got real angry when we dared to pronounce words the American way!)
***Oops, this is turning into a long blogpost… are you still with me?***
Anyway, I learned about grammar and spelling, irregular verbs, plural forms and a lot more. I had lessons in English (a few hours a week) for approximately four years. And that was it.
???
Yep, that was it!
All the rest comes from listening to the radio, watching movies, reading English books, writing letters to foreign pen pals and looking up words in the dictionary. And of course, when I started reading blogs on the Internet and blogging myself, my English writing improved fast. And since most movies and series on TV are from the USA, most blogs I read are American and most popsongs are from bands from the United States, the American way of writing creeped into my blog writing also.
In the beginning (2008) it took me all morning to write a blogpost but now a long blogpost like this one takes me about two hours. I write my blogposts with an open translator website on another tab/screen so when in doubt, I can check (or look up) words and sentences. Writing in English still takes more time than when I would write my posts in Dutch but I would not be able to reach all my foreign fellow crafters and bloggers then. And I love this worldwide bunch of artists that I ‘met’ through the Internet! Some of you became real dear to me so, although I may make mistakes in grammar or spelling (sorry Mrs. Porowitz) and have to look up words on a regular base, I keep on blogging in English. The translator is a good friend of mine, hence the page I created for The Documented Life Project
March 14
March Theme: Making Your Mark (Doodles & Mark Making)
Art Challenge: Borders
Journal Prompt: “Borderline feels like I’m going to lose my mind.”
I started this page with a yellow painted background and a collage with cut out images. I glued strips of paper around the page to create borders the ‘Teesha Moore way.’ I stamped with hand carved stamps and finally did a bit of doodling and hand lettering with black and white sharpies.
Thanks for stopping by dear ones.
In ‘good American’ 😉 : luv ya!
Interesting to read your thoughts in languages, Thanks for sharing! My posts takes a lot of time too!
wow, I am so impressed with this blog post and your DLP page is so awesome.! So happy that you are so good at writing in English or I would not have been able to read it. What is your original language?
Thanks for the compliment Paula, I’m happy too that you can read (and appreciate) my blogpost. My original language is Dutch (I live in the Netherlands) Besides English, I also learned German and French in highschool but since I hardly ever use that, it faded. I can understand German (if I really focus on it) and speak it a bit. French is even worse – I remember single words from that language but cannot speak or understand it much…
Wow! Marit, I never thought about all the work you go to to write your blogposts in english! I appreciate that so much! I am also amazed at how you taught yourself english – that is sooo cool! Thank you for all that effort – it has allowed us to be friends! Yeayyy! Also, I love your journal page! What a great take on the borders challenge! Hugs!
Marit, You do have a wider audience by writing in English {and selfishly, we never would have “met” if you wrote only in Dutch}. I learned French in school but then added Spanish after college. Learning how different languages “work” is fascinating; I even read books about the concept of language, such a geek!