27. Foreign [100 poems challenge]

27.          Foreign

Ich spreche wenig Deutsch
Et mon français est pire;
Mi español es insignificante
Mit dansk er ikke-eksisterende
Nem tudok beszélni a magyar
Nevím, žádné české
Latine est unice cantatum
I am — sadly — monolingual.

16 May 2013

Comments: This one is “Google Translate does poetry … badly”. I thought about including some lines with non-Latin-script characters (e.g., some Russian or Korean or Chinese), but I wanted people to have some chance of reading it aloud. I have been in countries where one or another of those languages would have been profoundly useful — with the exception of the language of the second last line which is the language I have actually used most, and in Australia (of all places). I love language and learning about how other languages work—and my travel to each of the countries represented here provoked an interest in the languages used above—but unfortunately English is my sole tongue (apart from being able to say “Thank you”, which I can do in about 10 languages). I remember being surprised that Korean is actually a phonetic language and so it is possible to teach yourself to read it (and if you are in Seoul you can practise using the street signs which usually have an English translation as well). While I would love to learn a language properly, I am somewhat time poor at the moment, and I don’t know which one would be good to pick.

Themes to come: 28. Sorrow; 29. Happiness; 30. Under the Rain; 31. Flowers; 32. Night

Explanation about the 100 poems challenge here.