Foreign Tongue

Bieni finds very amusing the phlegmy-sound that is audible in Yael Naim's French in her ditty, Paris. I don't get a single word in that song but I just love listening to it over and over again. I actually find the phlegmy sound huskily sexy. I wonder if this is what earned for French the Sexiest Language in the World tag. Though if you think about phlegm the slimy green potion that at bad times of the year clogs our lungs and throats, you don't think sexy, but repulsive.

If I choose to learn French, do I have to master that phlegmy sound? Is it a requirement? I think it's too fragile a thing to master. It seems it would have to grow on you. Wouldn't forcing it in my everyday speak make it sound like I'm about to spit?

Anyhow, as we are talking about languages, I would like to profess my desire to add to my list of 3 that I already know: English, Tagalog, Bisaya. I remember thinking about it after reading that Natalie Portman can speak French, German, Japanese, Arabic. What will she has! I want to learn Spanish, then French.

I actually have come across Spanish 2x already.

First was the 3 units with the regal-looking Madame Bacierra. More than her fluency with the language, I was amused by the tragic love story that was relayed one batch after another for how many years, that explains why, at her 50s, she remains unmarried. According to this tale, the love of her life died in a fire accident when they were still young. She was with him but for a detail that the tale no longer included, she was able to escape. Maybe not physically as you can see burn scars on her pink arms; not emotionally, as well, as she has chosen to stay single. How much truth there is in this story, we'll never know. It's like a local myth at the UP Cebu Campus. One main character continues to thread on the same ground, but nobody wants to confirm, out of respect most definitely. Madame Bacierra was a very pleasant teacher.

The second time I tried to learn Spanish was with a Spanish guy named Ludo. He said he comes from a border region of Spain, and in effect, he also learned to speak French and German. He is based in Cebu now and used to be married to a Bisaya. He referred to his former wife and kids several times throughout our meetings and I wonder what really happened. Ludo would tell me and Daisy, my officemate who was learning with me, that we have the face of the women in the Spanish region he hails from. He said the Filipinos have a wrong notion of a mestiza features and that we actually possessed them. Haha.

Work got busy and we had to say goodbye to Ludo after a few months. I was a bit relieved because learning Spanish or maybe any language for that matter can be draining what with all the things that needed to be remembered.

As with all the things you give up, you only regret much much later.

Like now.

But I believe it's never too late to learn anything... again.