languages in Europe and how to overcome

Joelle Lyons Everett JLEShelton at aol.com
Mon Jul 14 12:05:40 PDT 2003


Artur--

Good for your son, and his American "brother."  My son who speaks Japanese
invited a young (age 14) cousin to be his guest for a few days--she is studying
Japanese after school, and shares his interest in Japanese anime films
(art-film quality animated films).  He let her watch his film collection, and took
her to a Japanese market and a Japanese book store (where she bought two grammar
books and a stack of comic books), in addition to some time spent kayaking
and going to the aquarium.  He commented to me that if someone her age wanted to
speak another language, he thought he should encourage her!

I know that many languages are spoken in the Netherlands.  Everyone speaks
the official version of Dutch, and often a regional dialect.  In Maastrich, many
adults speak a distinct language quite different from standard Dutch, which
is spoken only in Maastrich, from the time it was a walled city.  Most know one
or two other European languages, and many speak English.

Here is a question about language and culture that maybe you can answer.  A
number of years ago, at a conference, I worked with a group of Brazilians for
an afternoon (with the interpreter they used for the whole trip and
conference).  We did an exercise which begins with each participant listing ten roles
which are important in their life.  Typically a group of Americans will list some
combination of professional roles, family and relationship roles, and things
related to personal interests, such as "painter" or "skier."

I was quite interested to observe that the Brazilians listed only roles of
family and relationships.  I suspect, that this is because family and
interpersonal relationships are far more important in Latin cultures.  But I also wonder
if the word which was used to translate "roles,"  (I think something like
"rolas," ) might have a more-specific meaning in Portugese, so the response might
have been shaped by the word that was used.  What do you think?

Take care,

Joelle

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