Does speaking in a second language make you think more or feel less, or Head languages vs. heart language

Nora McNamara

"…several different groups of bilinguals were more immune to common cognitive biases when making decisions in their second languages than in their native tongues."

I just read this blurb on one of my favorite languagenerdblogs, nerdily titled Language Log.   There's more to it, which you can read here and here. 

This certainly is my experience-I am much less likely to fly off the handle when I'm living in one of my other languages.  I blogged about that a while back here.  The time lag between brain and mouth in my other languages helps me self edit (and has made me think more than once that I should just give up speaking English and stick with Spanish or mmmbellymay or something.)  More than that, though, words just don't get to my gut the same way if they're not in English.

Pieces

Nora McNamara

Andrea DoriaAbout a week after Mom died last August, we got this picture in the mail.  It's Mom and two of her friends on the Andrea Doria.  Not the trip where it sank.  Mom's on the left. 

A story I heard on NPR really resonated, especially this part:

"With the death, I'd become accustomed to seeing pieces of my father being taken away. But now, with a doorknob and a hand on my dad's shoulder, I had what I never thought I'd have again: a new piece of my father being given to me. …

Those pieces are precious. Especially when you don't see them coming."

You can click the gray bar to hear the whole story.

A Bolt Out Of The Blue:  Mourning A Man And A Myth   

In completely unrelated news, can someone tell me if the rules have changed for capitalizing letters in a title?  I copied the above caps straight from the NPR website.

I have no words

Nora McNamara

SilkMary had a whole cabinet full of silk blouses that she'd bought at the market.  She used to cut them up and use the cloth to make really beautiful things.  She lived near mmmBELLYmay land, and was a friend.

Blogging about nothing and dogs and stuff is easy.  The hard stuff, however, is not. 

The end of this part of Mary's story is below.

 

Jerusalem bomb victim was British bible translator studying Hebrew

    Mary Gardner

    Mary Gardner, the British woman killed in the Jerusalem bus bombing, was an evangelical Christian who had been living in Togo, west Africa, translating the New Testament into the local Ifé language.

    She was on a six-month course in Jerusalem studying ancient and modern Hebrew at the Hebrew University prior to returning to Togo to begin work on a translation of the Old Testament.

    The 55-year-old had been staying in a dormitory in Yad Hasmona village, about six miles from Jerusalem, but had gone into the city on Wednesday to meet her oldest friend. She was fatally injured. Thirty others were wounded when a device weighing up to 2kg exploded near the busy central bus station.

    The eldest of five children, Gardner was born in Nairobi, Kenya, but moved to Aberdeenshire when she was 15. Her parents Jean, 81 and Tony, 82, who live there, said they were "devastated by the sudden loss of our daughter in this tragic and unexpected way".

    In a statement they said: "Mary was a very special person and we thought the world of her. She was devoted to her work and was well liked wherever she went. We are proud of her and all that she has achieved in her life and feel truly blessed to have had her in our lives."

    She had been working for Wycliffe Bible Translators in Togo, living among the Ifé people for the past 20 years, learning the language, translating the bible …

    you can read the rest of the article here. 

 

#5 C’est ça !

Nora McNamara

Cca I love knowing exactly where I stand in mmmBELLYmay land-when I goof it up, when I get it right.  That's the great thing about my mmmBELLY-friends, like Leon in the picture.  He's so patient while I try and try again, and then when I finally get it, he doesn't leave me guessing.  He gives me a big smile, and tells me "That's it!"  It's great to have honest, instant feedback.  I have a thing or two or a thousand to learn from my friends in Africa.