Why is my blog in English, when my mother tongue is Portuguese? After 21+ years in Canada, 14 of those alone with an English-speaking son, and working in English, it just comes more naturally to convey thoughts in my second language.
No, I didn’t forget Portuguese, but I do know certain things better in English, because that’s the language I learned them in. So, for those things, I never developed the vocabulary in Portuguese.
For example, I learned to ski in English, for obvious reasons — we don’t ski in Brazil! And a word like “carve” doesn’t come naturally to me in Portuguese.
Language is fluid and alive, and it changes with time and generations. I actually wrote before about the best words in Brazilian Portuguese, because, interestingly enough, many of them come from Africa or native languages.
And after so many years away from the source, my Portuguese is dated, while my English is not. I do listen to a lot of Brazilian podcasts, read books, and follow profiles on social media, keeping myself fairly current.
My favorite is Gregorio Duvivier, who writes about our poetry, words, and language in a play called O Céu da Língua: “The play celebrates the Portuguese language and transforms linguistic studies — such as etymology, phonetics, and semantics — into an entertaining spectacle about the presence of poetry in everyday life,” as Google explains it in a brief search.
Recently, I discussed learning a second language with a new friend — they’re learning Italian, a language I learned in 1997 during an Italian expedition to Cho Oyu, the sixth highest mountain on Earth, in the Himalayas.
On my way back to Brazil, I stopped for two days in Rome and wandered that marvelous city speaking the local language. It made a difference. I forgot it a few years later, from sheer lack of use. What a shame!
I also speak Spanish, and my walks around the world let me pick up a word here and there of other languages, like Catalan.
Studies show we sound different in different languages, and even the way we present ourselves changes: “The way we carry ourselves often shifts alongside the language we speak. Because each language has unspoken rules for emotional display and expressiveness, you might subconsciously adopt a more outgoing or reserved demeanor, which directly changes your vocal projection.”
I may not sound like the Brazilian Helena when speaking in English, but after so many years, my culture has shifted enough that I am still representing a huge part of who I am.
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