One of my favorite things we discussed in this class came early on in the semester when we discussed etymology. Etymology is defined as, “the study of the origin of words and the way in which their meanings have changed throughout history” when you Google search it.
I didn’t realize at the time why I was so interested in the concept until today when I was talking to a friend about why I loved languages so much. I realized that my favorite thing about both French and Spanish was not the literature, in fact I hated the literature, it was the grammar, and the vocabulary.
The reason for this is because I find it interesting when we take words from other languages and make them ours and vice versa. For example, in french, the word pizza, is still pizza. It means the same thing. Or take the phrase déjà vu, we use that phrase when something feels familiar, in french, it literally means “already seen”. One of my personal favorites is the way the french say you’re welcome. They say, “de rien”, which literally means, “of nothing”. Similar to how we say “no problem”.
An example we talked about in class was double entendre. A double entendre is a word or phrase that has two meanings and usually one of them is relatively inappropriate. The phrase is french as well, meaning “two understandings”.
I think that having this bilingual background gives me an advantage when it comes to reading and comprehending difficult phrases or compositions. I realized this my junior year of high school when my french teacher said to me, “Lyndsey, when I tell stories, I see your face comprehending them without thinking.” and I remember replying, “I don’t hear them in French and have to translate them really, I just hear them.” She told me that this was the beginning of fluency. Now, when I see a word that has a french background, sometimes with Spanish as well but I’ve always preferred French, I barely have to think without knowing the definition.
My mother’s favorite quote is, “To have a second language is to possess a second soul”. It’s a Charlamagne quote, one that really speaks to me because it truly encapsulates the importance of being multilingual. I think that no matter how old you are, whether you are a child, a young adult, or an old person, it is always beneficial to learn a new language. It opens so many doors.
