I do not recall exactly how I learned to speak English or Chinese. It seems to me that I just always spoke both languages. The effort to dually excel in both languages academically failed miserably and I am literate in English only. I remember receiving Chinese lessons on how to write what I thought and heard, copying text I read in Chinese but I always wrote on the side of the page my own English sounding translation so I could remember the characters. I didn’t know it then, but I was using what is now referred to as Chinese pingyun, which is the phonetic sound of a Chinese character written in Roman characters. This translating of Chinese words into English so I could remember better leads me to think that perhaps English is my first language and, although I spoke mainly Chinese with my parents (who also gave me lessons in Chinese) I thought and dreamt in English. Like many kids I grew up translating all correspondence and at PTA meetings, it was not fun.
There was no transitional bilingual education in public schools or private schools when I was growing up, at least not that I am aware of, and if you wanted lessons your parents had to pay tuition. Knowing my parents paid hard earned money for me to go to Saturday Chinese school really stressed the need to do well so as not to disappoint. But I begged them to let me quit by the sixth grade, they wanted me to write an essay in Chinese and I just didn’t know enough sentences. In high school, I chose French because my parents and siblings are fluent (they emigrated from Madagascar, a French colony) and I wanted to be like everyone else. My parents accepted that I was not going to “get it” with Chinese so, in hopes that I would learn French they sent me to France to live with relatives for a couple of months to learn the language. What happened was that I mostly communicated the important stuff in Chinese to the parents, my cousins spoke to me in French and I responded in English, and I translated in Chinese for them English records so they could understand it in French. They are also from Madagascar, so along with my family peppering the conversations with bits of French, Chinese, Malagasy, and English they did it too, and it all seemed so normal.
Ultimately I’ve got the reins only on English, barely. It’s my prime form of communication, and I have found over the years that I am improving on my communication skills with the use of English. And for the most part, so far, in my travels, I have always found someone who could speak some English. I almost feel like I don’t need to learn another language, other than math, is that a language too???
Wow! Camille’s story was a challenging one. I can’t believe she grew up learning so many languages to what seemed to be all at once. I can relate to translating one language to another then back to another language to different people. My aunt knows Spanish well since she spent time in Spain while in the military. My parents don’t know a lick of Spanish, only English. My siblings know a few words in Spanish but my little sister knows more French than any of us. We would watch cartoons and I remember when the cartoon skunk Pepe La Pew came on and she would tell me what he was saying. And in return when Speedy Gonzales came on I would translate what him and his relatives said. I would call my aunt on the phone and try to speak to her in Spanish but she would always throw me a curve ball and say a bunch of words I was not familiar with and I couldn’t converse with her anymore. That drove me to study hard so I could catch her off guard one day and shove it in her face that I knew exactly what she said!
ReplyDeleteFrom what I’ve been told by a class mate, Chinese children tend to take about five years to learn the written language. Those who speak English as a first language realized it only took about a year to get the hang of writing in English. I couldn’t imagine the obstacles Camille went thru trying to not only conquer one but two tricky languages then transitioning to another completely different language. I thought of taking up a language that uses symbols instead of alphabets, but I think I’m struggling enough learning to speak better Spanish as I write better English while I do good writing Spanish and speaking English.
-Tina
Camille! Wow. I loved this story, even if it hurt thinking about your struggles as a child translating for your parents at PTA meetings and with correspondence. And then feeling the burden to do well in Chinese because they were making such a sacrifice for you. (Where did you grow up, by the way? Here in New York?)
ReplyDeleteYour experience in France (where did you go?!) sounds like such a contrast with the four languages (Chinese, French, English, and Malagasy) being used for purposes of communicating what you all wanted to say and know. Was it a good experience?
It's true that English is EVERYWHERE (practically), but you are able to speak Chinese. That's no small feat!! And I bet you've got a good working knowledge of French. Perfect.
Math, they say, is the language of nature! And they also say (or I've learned) that we have a natural kind of "numeracy." But I think they taught it all out of me--I'm not good with academic math!
Great post!! Thanks.
Sara. Marina. Gabi:
ReplyDeleteyes, we loved your story, we couldn't belive , some people can learn so many languages. we are very happy for people who speak enflish language and tried to used different kind of languages to learn english. we are thinking we are struggling enough learning to write better english essays in our class.