Language

After being in the language business for...well, forever, I’ve noticed from lurking in the forums that everyone has their own writing style and their way of expressing themselves. I think I personally come across as friendly and open. Others come across as egocentric and condescending. Still others seem hyper-sensitive as if every generic disparaging remark made is directed at them personally. There are others who write i what I assume they perceive as an esoteric and insightful manner that is in reality convoluted and annoying.

Sometimes it’s amusing, sometimes it’s annoying, but it’s always interesting.

I was thinking recently about the subtleties in a language that are the last thing a foreign speaker learns and may never grasp completely. I’ve studied Spanish for many years and speak fluently so I have a good idea what “machismo” and “gracia” (as opposed to “gracias”, meaning “thanks”) really mean, but there are subtleties buried in there that, as a non-native, I may never grasp. It’s kind of like when someone dismissively says “Whatever!” in the middle of an argument in English. As native speakers, we know to be dismissive and insulting, it has to be said in a particular way.

Years ago, I worked with a woman who grew up speaking both Polish and English so she was a native speaker of both, but what amused me (and I wish I had written these down) was she was like the “Ziva” character on NCIS - always mixing her metaphors in English. The one I remember was a mixture of “That really grinds me” and “That drives me up a tree” to express annoyance, which in her case came out as “That really grinds me up a tree”. Ok - close enough - at least she got her point across.

I was also thinking the other day about some of the sayings we, as English speakers hold near and dear that we have gleaned from popular media - mostly the movies. Anyone that says “I’ll be back” with a slight Austrian accent knows exactly where it came from.

I sometimes notice lines from moves or tv shows that make me stop and think “what was the writer thinking when he/she wrote that?” My personal favorite is a line from the original Star Trek series where Kirk and Spock beam covertly over to a Romulan vessel to try and steal the cloaking device. Spock gets caught, and he asks the Romulan commander “What is your current form of execution?” The Romulan commander’s response is “Our current form of execution is both painful (pause here) and unpleasant.” Think about that one for a minute....

I recently joined an Italian company and my boss emailed me about something the other day (his English is pretty good), and the last thing in the email was “...then you can ride your own horse”. I sent him back an “LOL” and “That must be translated from an Italian expression”. I’m still not quite sure what he meant. We have also discussed similar expressions - they have one that I can’t recall but it’s clearly parallel to our “closing the barn door after the horses have escaped” referring to some preventative measure taken after the disaster has already occurred.

Then there is George Bush. He even makes fun of himself. I bought a book of “Bushisms” once. I was sitting on my bed reading it and my husband came into the bedroom to see if I was laughing or crying. Tears were streaming down my face and I couldn’t speak. I will leave you with a quote to ponder: “Security is the essential roadblock to achieving the roadmap to peace.” - George W. Bush, Washington D.C. July 25, 2003.