My
new neighbor, Joel, owns a construction business. He has a wife and three girls. They are Hispanic. All of his workers speak Spanish, with half being
bilingual in English. I am bilingual,
and I speak Hoosier. At the end of the
workday, they huddle at his house to talk about the day and shoot the
breeze. I like to venture over to tell
them a story or a joke. They listen to
me because I often give them some mint candy.
The great part is the punch line. At that point, the bilingual guys
laugh. That’s the first wave. Then they
tell the others in Spanish. That is the
second wave. Not every comedian gets a two-wave laugh.
In
college, I had a choice of taking Greek or Spanish. I felt Spanish would be more practical. What a year that was! It was a struggle for me and at times it made
me frustrated. Do you know how far a
Spanish-language book flies across a room?
It would have gone further if it hadn’t hit the wall. It was probably at that time that I learned
to cuss in Spanish! I shouldn’t
complain. Most people say English is the
most difficult to learn. English doesn’t
make sense. They have different rules
that contradict each other. One word
means many things and we have idioms.
Language
is a gift. Without it, our stories could
not be shared unless we used stick figures. That would leave much to be
desired. Kind of like a Rorschach ink psychological test. That’s the test where they show what looks
like ink spilled on paper, then ask you what comes to your mind. People have different
ideas as to its meaning. Have you seen
the movie, “What About Bob?,” starring Bill Murray. He is in a mental hospital,
sitting on a cafeteria table with several patients and staff around him.
“I
saw a doctor who showed me an ink spot and asked me, “What comes to your mind?”
I
said, “sex.”
He
showed me another. “Sex.”
A
third time, “sex.”
The
Doc announced, “It seems you have a problem with sex?”
I
told him, “You’re the one with the dirty pictures.”
Some
may think that God didn’t do any favors when he destroyed the tower of Babel
and caused people to speak different languages, yet the nuance of the language
brings such wonder and beauty to a story.
You
can tell a story in a different language, but it doesn’t seem to have the same effect.
My
wife and I are from different galaxies. We communicate differently. I’ve often
thought we should try out Google Translate to get our ideas across, but I don’t
think it works. “No comprenda.”
Language
is important to storytelling. I have
gained an appreciation for stories through the ones that communicate, and
translate them.
