A Second Language
I have never been good at learning languages. It was not something I enjoyed at school or with family and so never gave it as much energy as I did to other subjects. However, I have made a promise to my girlfriend to try and learn some Mandarin, much to her surprise and delight, and I plan to try my hardest to do so.
We are I are fast approaching our 1 year anniversary, having met last January whilst both studying in Canterbury. She is a Singaporean National with Chinese ancestry and with English being the main language of Singapore, she is fluent in both English and Mandarin.
We met last year when I returned back to University to finish my final module in my B(A), while she was only about to start her second term in her first year of Forensic Science. We got to know each other as she was close friends with two of my housemates and we saw each other almost every day. We began dating not long after and have become very close during that time.
I made a passing comment over the Christmas break (which she spent with me and my family) to try and learn some Mandarin, which later turned into a promise after my parents bought me some DIY Mandarin CD’s, textbooks and workbooks for Christmas! I have started to install the CD’s on my laptop over the last week and yet to listen to my first lesson but thought it would be a great topic to think about in a blog post.
Language is anything but a Barrier
I have a lot of family from Belgium who are native Flemish speakers (a language very similar to Dutch) as my Dad’s parents met during WWII when he was posted in her family home as a lodger when her was a young soldier. When they met initially, she couldn’t speak a word of English. However despite this, they began dating after the War, fell in love and married in London, where my Dad was born as the youngest of three.
Both of Dad’s parents passed away before I was born so I never met either of them but we do have Grandad’s Soldier briefcase, letters and postcards from his time as a soldier. We have letters he wrote to his future wife in English from his time in England both during and after the War. I do not know if she was able to read these letters, all beautifully written in ink, or not. I do not know if these letters were her first introduction to English, or whether she learnt on her own just to be together with my Grandad. I know she learnt English much more when she moved to London and spoke to her children in English mainly. My Dad or Uncle do not know much Flemish, though I believe my Aunt is able to read some written Flemish.
One of my Grandfathers War Chests, showing his personal collection of letters and postcards.
What I do know is that the language barrier did not stop them falling in love, and that being from different places did not stop them being apart or wanting to be with each other. Though they didn’t initially speak each other’s language, they had to choose which way they were going to talk to each other, as a relationship without talking is much more difficult. The level of communication that a language offers in unparalleled, regardless of which language it is. Languages all over the world should be celebrated for their individuality, for what they communicate, and for how they allow people to communicate in a more detailed way who may have never met before.
My Language Experiences
As a young person, I disregarded the ability another language gives you. I thought that because I spoke English, a language most of the rest of the world knows then I would be alright and had no need to try and learn anything else. I didn’t appreciate then that learning a language is so much more than just words, grammar and pronunciation.
I know see it as communication of the highest order. Like any art form, or genre of music. It associates itself with a place, culture, era and community like few other things do and learning languages gives someone the ability to immerse themselves in these places much more than just visiting alone. I wish I’d felt like this 10 years ago when I was sat in a classroom.
French was the first language I learnt in school, from about ages 9 – 13. I learnt enough to communicate with some of my Belgian cousins when we saw each other, as I didn’t know any Flemish and they didn’t know any English. As a young child that didn’t matter as we played together even though we all had no idea what each other was saying. But as we got a bit older, we found a common ground talking in a language we both had some understanding of. Nowadays they have all learnt English almost to being fluent if not for the accents and I always staggered by it whenever I visit them. I remember a conversation I had with one of my cousins at a family wedding a few years ago about who was in the current Chelsea team and her thoughts on it, despite her being just 12 at the time. The level of ability she showed to talk about the skill and characteristics of each player was remarkable and if I’m honest, was the first time I’d properly regretted not trying harder with languages at school. Though I remember some very basic words and phrases in French, I wish I’d retained more.
I also learnt bits of Latin and probably found this the easiest of the languages I learnt. Though the difficult grammar didn’t seem to put me off, because it wasn’t something you could test yourself on by visiting a country and try to order a pizza in it, I found that to too much of a ‘waste of time’ to really consider it a useful skill to have and so didn’t consider it for GCSE, though I probably would have enjoyed it more.
In the end I chose German for GCSE and actually didn’t do too badly. Though I didn’t enjoy it at all I persevered with it and was reasonably proud of finishing it without complete failure. Of what I remember from any of my language education is mostly from German, though I still wouldn’t be able to say anything useful. I still have my notes and a German dictionary somewhere in the loft but I haven’t used for a very long time and don’t have any intention to do so soon.
For all three of these languages I do genuinely wish I’d tried harder to retain some of the information, if only to have the confidence to use those skills when I visit France or Germany, or read some interesting crest of quote in the case of Latin. I have made a promise to try my absolute best with my Mandarin, although admittedly I do have more of a cause give it my best than previous languages.
I have also travelled a lot more since finishing school and have been to lots of places where I obviously don’t speak the native language. The ability to not be able to speak to native people in their own language is always awkward and I feel like in recent years I have missed out on finding out more about different cultures and the way people live.
What do this mean for my Architecture?
Aside from me being able to communicate with other Mandarin speakers and possible future family members, it does also mean I could consider projects in China or even consider moving should I get good/ confident enough to do so, should I ever have the chance to do so in my career.
Source: Asian Absolute: How Many Languages are Spoken in China?
It also opens the door for me to explore areas of Oriental Eastern Culture that I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I have been watching videos on YouTube of a vlogger who visits China Town restaurants in New York, having studied both Mandarin and Cantonese as a student in China. Initially he is treated like a westerner and he gradually starts to use one or other or even both forms of Chinese throughout the video. The other diners and waiters become much more receptive of him instantly and he is able to experience the restaurant in much more depth and it becomes a much more enriched experience. I would love to be able to do that and I am using these as motivation.
Link to Xiaomannyc YouTube Channel:
I would love to be able visit places in the eastern hemisphere in this level of detail and be able to speak to people, to soak up the place as much as possible. Being able to understand how different people and cultures operate accesses different avenues of awareness, creativity and inspiration in my architecture and I feel it would 100% make me a better designer. The ability to throw in ‘Easter Egg’ references to cultures, or a religion, pattern or tradition could be the difference between a good building and a great one and I want to learn as much as possible.
Mandarin is just my starting point for now, but it that goes well who knows, I might try learning another language in the future.
Until next time,
RK
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