By Rady Taing
Have you ever considered what it would be like to be able to speak two or more different languages fluently? All the time, right? I thought so. Well, I’m here to tell you what it’s like.
First of all, if you didn’t know, I’m part Cambodian and part Chinese. I know how to speak Cambodian, and I’m in French at school, but at home I speak English. My parents know how to speak English, but at home they speak Cambodian. Pretty weird, I know. I live there.
When my friends come over to my house, they find our conversations strange. One party would speak Cambodian and the other party would speak in English. Although strange, people find it very interesting. Just listening holds their attention. It makes you wonder how we can understand each other. To us, the thought doesn’t even cross our minds.
As I was growing up, my parents spoke Cambodian to me as I was learning English in school at the same time. You might think it would be hard and confusing for a young child, but it wasn’t. As a matter of fact, that’s the best and most simplistic time to learn a second language. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Just think how hard it is to learn a second language at your age now. It’s ten times easier when you’re a small child just starting to learn how to talk. Well, that’s how I was taught to speak two languages.
Sometimes when my parents are speaking to me or to each other, I try to imagine myself not knowing how to speak Cambodian just to hear what the language itself sounds like. It’s practically impossible, but I can do it if I really try hard enough. I have to laugh when I listen to how it sounds. It just amazes me when I realize that I understand the weird noises that come out of my parents’ mouths. I can just imagine how someone who doesn’t understand it must feel.
There are still lots of words that I don’t know yet, but I hope to learn them eventually. I must admit that I’m not a master at it, but I know enough to be able to communicate with somebody. I feel lucky to be able to know how to speak a different language. Especially when you’re with someone else who knows how to speak the same language as you do. You’d be able to say anything you wanted without anyone else understanding. It’s quite an advantage.
There are disadvantages, also. When you speak a different language around other people, they always assume that you are speaking about them. This really angers them and causes an uncomfortable situation. They want to know what you’ve said if you say that you weren’t talking about them. You can’t do this, because you really were talking about them in the first place. So, you have to make up a story about what you were talking about and it all ends up in a big mess.
I think that that’s the only disadvantage of knowing how to speak a second language. At least the only one that I can think of right now. I’m proud to have that ability and I hope to learn many other different tongues to speak in the future. I’ve come to learn how to respect other languages and request the same of others. It might sound weird to you, but English might sound just as weird to them.
Communicating is more than just knowing how to speak the same language. It’s body language, eye contact, and most important, mutual respect.
Au revoir! Zia jian! Adios! Good-bye!