Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Lateral blogging

I came upon this blog randomly. The writer is working on her English, and the results are more poetic than she can know:

"...I will think them repeatedly to avoid forgetting them and I can't do the next thinking."

I love this blogger for bringing me new combinations of words, for sidling up to the language I've been speaking all my life. I used to toy with the idea of moving someplace where I didn't speak the language (like Stephen Vizinczey), learning to write in an unfamiliar tongue, stumbling on new ways of putting things together, free of clichés, expectations, trod and re-trod paths.

As it is, I'll have to make do in English for now, and bless Jennia for a glimpse through the murk.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was in this class once and the teacher asked if for people to name a difficult language to learn. Students yelled out Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, etc.

I raised my hand and said "English." Being a non-native speaker, I meant what I said. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. And the teacher refused to write my suggestion on the board, even when I reiterated my opinion a second and third time.

Possible my answer would have done better than in the class I was attending: teaching people to read and write English for Project Literacy.

- monkey#5

Chemical Billy said...

Ha! But it's true, the logic of English is pretty convoluted, & so many exceptions to its own rules...