Or,
a Change to the Blog
If you’ve read this blog a few times,
you’ll know by now that I am bilingual. Most South Africans speak at least two
languages (we don’t have 11 official languages just to show off). I’m not referring to “I can say ‘hello’,
‘please’, and ‘goodbye’”, but “I’m fluent in both”. It’s normal for me to
switch between Afrikaans (my mother tongue) and English (my second language)
throughout the day, as these two are the only ones in which I am completely
fluent. This type of switching isn’t strange in South Africa and it’s not
strange in many countries. But I have found that those who speak only English,
for example, (because it’s the only language they need in everyday life) don’t
always understand how life as a bilingual generally works.
A Typical Day
For example, when I get to work, I’ll switch between English and Afrikaans to greet everyone. Most emails are in English, except when I know the person is Afrikaans and they are the only one who will read it (otherwise, English). Because I translate between English and Afrikaans, I’ll switch between them when speaking to clients. If it’s a new client, I’ll speak English. If I know the client and I know they’re Afrikaans, I’ll switch to Afrikaans. If I do not speak their first language, English is mostly the default. Some of my colleagues may ask me to speak to them in Afrikaans in order to practice understanding it (it’s a lot easier to read a language than understand someone when they speak at a normal tempo) or to explain any differences between translated texts (especially where idioms are used). Some of the research I do during the day may also require me to read Dutch. Most of the time you don’t really think about which language you need to use because you do it every day.
A
Merge – the New Hersenskim
To make a very long story short, I’ve decided to make a change to this blog by merging Hersenskim and my Afrikaans blog. The reason for this is that, in many instances, the posts for both are the same, especially when I post flash fiction or videos. It will therefore be easier to post once and just translate the necessary parts of the post. While there will still be posts in Afrikaans (for instance book reviews or podcasts), these can just be skipped by readers who do not understand the language.
To make a very long story short, I’ve decided to make a change to this blog by merging Hersenskim and my Afrikaans blog. The reason for this is that, in many instances, the posts for both are the same, especially when I post flash fiction or videos. It will therefore be easier to post once and just translate the necessary parts of the post. While there will still be posts in Afrikaans (for instance book reviews or podcasts), these can just be skipped by readers who do not understand the language.
Why
am I doing this?
Except for making my job easier and giving me more time to work on a variety of posts, it is simply a good way to feel that I don’t have to separate what I could call my life in one language to that in another language because some readers will have to skip some of the posts. There are more than 7 000 languages in the world and to use only a dominant language does not contribute to multilingualism or teaching others about different peoples and cultures. This is as true in SA as it is in most countries and, as a language practitioner, I feel that I want to promote the use of all languages. This is one way in which I can do it.
Except for making my job easier and giving me more time to work on a variety of posts, it is simply a good way to feel that I don’t have to separate what I could call my life in one language to that in another language because some readers will have to skip some of the posts. There are more than 7 000 languages in the world and to use only a dominant language does not contribute to multilingualism or teaching others about different peoples and cultures. This is as true in SA as it is in most countries and, as a language practitioner, I feel that I want to promote the use of all languages. This is one way in which I can do it.
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