The Comfort of Language

So of course, I was thinking about language again last night as I finished my Korean class and was a bit brain-dead from having to tell the difference in sound betweenᄇᄑᄈ. Yeah, pretty difficult when you’re beginning. There’s a point in language learning when it becomes painful, but like anything you want to be successful at, you keep pushing even when the going gets tough.

So I thought about the emotional aspect of language. I was thinking about how Spanish songs, at least old rancheritas and Selena, have the ability to draw such strong emotions from me and bring feelings of comfort and peace.

On Monday, during my crash intro to Chinese (I joined the second level course because the entry course is not offered now), our teacher played a song for us. It’s called月亮代表我的心 and it’s a really pretty song. I’m sure it’s popular, and she mainly used it cuz the lyrics are easy to learn/read. But then I listened to it today and had those feelings of comfort come rushing back to me.

It reminded me of when my long ago Japanese teacher sang a small tune about a bird’s color and eating seeds that color and that’s why they were that color. But at that time, all I heard was her voice and her caring. She was singing to us, her children at the moment, and I remember singing that song in my head for days after learning it. In fact, when I feel down, I sing this song to myself out loud and it brings those memories of comfort and safety and love back to me.

And that is why I love to learn languages. I love to learn languages to learn how to express love and beauty using different tongues. So, when it comes to (Mandarin) Chinese, the song I heard is now sealed in my mind. It’ll be there as a form of beauty, a happy memory I can relate to, where we all sang the song out loud and felt the words. For a moment, we made the language our own. Our pronunciations, our semi-incomplete grasp of the whole meanings of each lyric, and our novice understanding of Chinese didn’t matter then. Because what mattered is that we were expressing ourselves, we were following a really nice song together. We were on an equal playing field. And when we think learning this language may be tough, we have a nice song to help push us through and keep going.

And like the many songs I keep in my mind that put me at peace, I’m glad to add a Chinese one to my list. It’ll ensure that not only do I stay true to wanting to learn Chinese and be really motivated about it, but it’ll also help me remember why it is I want to learn so many languages and why I find them so beautiful. Because I think when you can express yourself fully and have learned how to love, you then speak every language that ever existed, and communication becomes less about words and details, and is more driven by expressions, emotions, and love. Well, at least that’s what language does for me. You can copy and paste this title into Youtube if you’re interested in listening to the song, cheers: 月亮代表我的心