To Gain Another Soul

Today is the first day of a much-needed break --which means time to get some more work done! I'll meet my friend G later today for coffee. I haven't seen G for a minute, he's a half-American, half-Danish illustrator. I've been cultivating a creative camaraderie with him over the many years of being here--he's always happy to answer whatever questions regarding Danish life I may have.

Later today is all about organizing and continuing on a translation job I am currently working on. I've probably mentioned it before, but it's written by an Iranian writer here, in Danish, about 3 generations growing up in Iran before, during and after the Iranian Revolution. What I love about it is that it gives me a much better understanding of what has occurred there, in much the same way Satrapi's Persepolis does.

I love translating. I find it to be like putting together a puzzle, of some sorts. I love words, and it is no accident that I have fallen in love with some Danish words as well. Translating has helped me embrace Danish in a way that I was not ready to, when I first arrived.

When I first decided to move to Denmark, I have to admit I was a bit put-off by the language. To the untrained-ear, Danish can sound akin to an unintelligible hacking of the throat, but luckily, the more familiar one becomes with it, the more one can appreciate the subtleties and variations that having access to another language, can bring.

I learned Danish hesitantly. I have always wanted to learn French, so when I studied Danish, I was a bit  sad that it was not the first language of my choice. But thankfully, the learning of any new language can never be a waste for in learning Danish I learned even more about the mechanics of language, in general. Learning Danish actually improved my English.

I can be fluent. But most of the time, I'm not. When I'm relaxed, the Danish comes out easily. If I'm tired, or distracted, I trip over my words, switching between the languages, in what could only be described as some sort of verbal double-dutch.

I also have experienced how my background also assisted me in learning Danish, as well. For instance, I suppose one can argue that I grew up bilingually, since my family, hailing from Trinidad, has a speech pattern, a vocabulary and cultural heritage all their own. Although the official language of Trinidad and Tobago is English, most of the everyday English is far from the so-called Queen's.

When you grow up in a Trinidadian home, you probably hear words like: licks, wotless (worthless), vex, cuff, schupid, maco, and schweups--which although not officially a word, but the sucking of the teeth--can certainly convey a meaning much faster and more precisely than any other word could.

Even the way we use certain words. My father loved using the verb to do in this way: He does eat bread every day.   This use of the word gave me many sleepless nights as I would say the phrase over and over again, hearing that there was something awry, that alas, I could not grasp, nor was in the position to--the only grammatician in my family was my grandfather, who at that time, still lived in Trinidad. I was on my own.

To learn another language is to gain another soul, goes to the saying. I say it's true. Just speaking Danish puts me into another realm, another persona...

& now it is certainly time to explore this persona more.

farvel,
the lab