Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts

Monday, May 3, 2010

The Commencement

Kolik jazyku znas, tolikrat jsi clovekem.

"This Czech proverb, impossible to translate, proclaims that you live a new life for every new language you speak. If you know only one language, you live only once (Words without Borders)."

I have quoted this proverb many times, and yet I find myself compelled to use it once again. If true, this would mean that I have lived about two and a half lives; one life lived in the United States, one in Spanish-speaking countries, and a half in my brief time in Brazil. These lives have made me the person I am today.

If you know me at all, you would know that I live and breath language and culture. My discussions tend to revolve around these topics, and I generally make friends that are passionate about them.

Being a teacher, I cannot bear to keep my knowledge and experience bottled up inside. I must tell others. The purpose of this blog is just that: to share. What I have to say may not be proven or accurate. It will, however, contain my perspective on what I have learned in the lives I have lived.

Feel free to comment or contradict anything I say as long as it is done in a respectful manner. I love to learn, so I am open to hearing new ideas.