I wasn’t sure what to write about this week so I went through the list on the main page and decided to write about languages since we were talking about them during class. English is not my first language, before English I learn Pahari, Urdu and learned to read Arabic. When I was younger I grew up in Kashmir so the first language I learned was Pahari(pahar means mountain so people who speak Pahari are from the mountains which makes sense because Kashmir is in the Himalayan Mountains) which is just spoken so when I went to school they taught us Urdu (official language). When I came to America I picked up English quickly since I was young.
My Urdu is a little rough since we don’t speak it at home but I can have a conversion and fully understand what the other person is saying. At home I grew up speaking Pahari because my parents didn’t speak that much English. My parents didn’t like when we spoke English at home because they thought we were going to forget our language. Now that I’m away from home, I really miss speaking Pahari and the only time I speak is when I talk to my parents or family. Even within Pahari, there are variations in how you speak. I definitely mix English words when I’m speaking it because Pahari just doesn’t have words for certain things.
When I speak with my parents, I use different words than if I were to talk to my sister because there are words that have two versions, one for adults and one for friends and people your age. For example, if I’m talking to my friend I would day, “tu teek ze” but if I talk to an elder I would say “tus teek zao. ” Both translate to, are you well implying how are you. Both mean the same thing but there is a different way to say to different people. This is very representative of the culture where respecting you elders is seen as a very important component of society so I switch my words when I talk to different people.
Finally, I don’t know what language I dream in because I always forget but I know I always have dreams about running down a mountain near my house in Kashmir but somehow I end up in America.
16 years ago
Interesting, Korean has that too. We have like a formal way to say words, and an informal way. Obviously we use the formal words for the adults and elders.
ReplyDeleteThat's really interesting. I wish I had learned another language when I was younger. My mother was from the Philippines and spoke tagalog a lot, but I never picked it up. That skill will definitely come in handy. I'm sort of jealous. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing -- I'm pretty fascinated with other languages and I've actually never heard Pahari. I love how grammar shows us things about a culture. I think a lot of languages have different ways of saying "you" -- more and less formal/respectful -- as in Korean, as Jimmy said -- and in Turkish you have the same thing -- I know there is a polite and informal "you" form in Italian as well. I'm beginning to wonder if English is actually an EXCEPTION for not having such distinctions -- if so, that shows us a lot about English-speaking cultures... I'm curious about what "language family" Pahari is in -- what other languages it is related to -- and what kind of words from English are used...
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