My parents taught me to respect my mother tongue. My studies taught me that language we speak, and mother tongue especially, influence the way we see the world, the way we think, act. My attempts in translating my own poems taught me, once again, how precious the ability to express yourself is.
There are many differences between English and my mother tongue. For me, the most difficult things when learning English were irregular verbs (I mean… really? Really?!?), spelling (Again, really? Logic much?), and in some cases the proper use of tenses. I would never say I speak it excellent, but I think I’m ok at it. After all, all those years must pay off, right?
It is not the first time that I noticed the major differences between those two languages, my mother tongue and English, but now I see them from another perspective. I’m not a translator. My degree is neither my mother tongue’s nor English literature. I’m just someone who wants to translate her own poetry. And one of the things I miss the most in English?
The beauty of “two”. Of “us” that is not 3, or 5, or 10, no. When I say “us”, it can be so many people. When I use our word for it, it’s clear that we are alone, no-one but you and me. And it’s so beautiful that you know it, that there is only one word that tells you we are a pair. (Grammatically, it’s duel, the addition to singular and plural.) Even more, you can tell it just from the form of the verb I use. I don’t even have to write “us”, because “we” are already a part of verb. And it shows.
The beauty of two… You and me. Midva.
I’m sure every language has many many treasures. No, actually, every language is a treasure. The duel is one of the gems of my language. They say learning foreign languages makes you rich. It certainly does. But we should never forget the treasures of mother tongues.
Alenka H., 2021