The linguistic patchwork of you “At home, I feel free to speak Arabic peppered with words in French and English, and everyone understands me. When I am in Spain, I can only speak Spanish so that people would understand me.” This statement and its many variants share a common sentiment […]
Archivos diarios: marzo 16, 2025
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“I don’t remember the time when speaking didn’t make me anxious”, she mumbled, still trying to smile but unable to look me in the eye. “I feel you, sister”, I wanted to say, to help share her painful load and to show her that I’m proof of living with that […]
Identity is not fixed. It’s more a multifaceted, fluid, ever-changing looking glass through which we view the world. Yet one of the most profound filters we use to interpret reality remains unchanged throughout our lives. As a migrant who left her native country 20 years ago, I have spent as […]
I originally wrote this article on 17th September 2011. Back then, I believed that the main purpose of language was communication. Now, ten years later, after ten years of teaching and exploring languages, my vision has changed a lot. In fact, I disagree with what I wrote back then. So, […]