The mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew then that ‘W-A-T-E-R’ meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, joy, set it free.
Helen Keller
The fact that you are reading this or listening to it ensures one thing… You understand language. And… as #PossibilityMe has challenged before… I ask you to question that.
If you’ve never attempted to speak or learn a foreign language then I hope this story will give you pause. Perhaps an opportunity to assess and re-assess just how fluent you really are….
My first language was Spanish.
Although born in the United States, I grew up in Spanish speaking areas like Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Spain. By the time I had arrived in Crosby-Ironton, Minnesota at 8 years old for my first “real” stay in the United States, I was already blind to the impact that language had… I was bi-lingual and yet had little idea the impact language had on my life. It was just the “Water I Swam in”.
There are these two young fish swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”
Jenna Krajeski is a reporter with the Fuller Project and the co-author, with Nadia Murad, of “The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State.”
I soon discovered that, not only did I NOT speak “other,” I was seen as Other. And Being seen as Other was not just because of the language that I spoke (Spanish or English), the speech difference that I had (even when using English words because of contextual cues that I missed because I was NOT from Minnesota), or my accent (my “American” “accent” often masked my second language learner status). What was the true indicator of OTHER was “All of it!” That perception of what I’ve said was some mix of all the little pieces, both real and imperceptible, of my Being that were compounded by my hair color, eye color, and skin tone difference.
When I discovered the “false” separation that was created by that perceived “Other,” I became committed to speak only English and Blend in (aka “passing”) wherever I could. By the time I graduated high school and entered the United States Naval Academy, I had succeeded! I was mostly “accepted” as a bi-racial “success” story… First Generation Mexican-American off to college!
On my first duty station after the Naval Academy my ship was deployed from San Diego and assigned to watch over the waters of the Pacific ocean and southern Caribbean in the openly declared “War on Drugs” operating off of Central & South America. Because of the way I looked and that my last name being Cabrera, I had been “invited” to be our Spanish translator & radio operator (When we had difficulty interacting with local vessels on the high-seas or in port in English). After several months of operations I began to feel quite confident in my ability… even though it was limited to rudimentary communication within a tight parameter of ship-to-ship communication topics.
And then it happened… “All Ashore!!”
On an incredibly beautiful evening off the waters of the Caribbean, I have the privilege of taking a group of male Junior officers out on the town in Cartagena, Colombia. Being able to speak in Spanish with the cab drivers, I arranged for restaurant recommendations, ordered a fabulous dinner for the guys and of course… set us up to be at a ‘hot’ Latin night club for the evening. I certainly increased my credibility in the eyes of my fellow junior officers! What really did it though, was when I walked across the dance floor at the club and asked a beautiful Cartageñan to salsa dance… I was quickly elevated to HERO status! Even I was surprised as the evening progressed and this beautiful, olive-skinned, salsa dancing maniac invited me outside for a walk… it was “so loud in the club” we had hardly spoken. Let’s just say that the walk didn’t begin with a lot of talking… though there was a lot of “communication” going on. The Moon in the sky being gorgeous and knowing there was a waterway nearby, I kicked my romance engine into high gear only to find that a conversation with this twenty-one-year-old beauty was going to be difficult… she spoke no English.
Again, if you’ve ever learned another language, and used it in it’s cultural context, being able to tell a joke and earn “abundant laughter” is a clear indication you have a grasp of a new language. However, I was pretty sure I hadn’t been trying to be funny as this beautiful girl began to giggle while I spoke. Wanted to make sure I was understanding her correctly and I asked …”what was so funny?” Suddenly, my “dream girl” began to laugh uncontrollably and could hardly catch her breath to apologize for being so rude. Holding me close and attempting to assuage my ego with kisses, she explained, through continued giggles, that “it was just so funny to see this grown man, speaking with the vocabulary of a 6 year old!”
So… here’s the challenge.
The Language you “think” you know (your version of “spanish”) has about the same level of fluency… It’s just that you don’t realize it. Even English between two people gets confused by different interpretations and cultural meanings of words. Your linguistic challenge might be in communicating with your workmates, your children, your spouse. It might be with yourself. You believe you speak “you” very well, but there are still issues where you stop you.. KNOWN issues you can’t break free of… And I’m asking you to dig in to these areas. To explore your fluency.
Why?
Because the Journey we will take next will require you to understand those “terms” and tools of traveling together with another… Perhaps with a TEAM of Others. For that is what #PossibilityMe is all about in the end… Journeying With all the MEs You are… Overcoming the Challenges in Language and Speaking Freedom!
‘At last we have freedom, for Christ has set us free! We must always cherish this truth and firmly refuse to go back into the bondage of our past.’ ~