August 06, 2006
Learning to Express Emotion
In the Spanish language some things are difficult and some not. To those of us with an Anglo-Saxon vocabulary, the toughest thing to learn are those parts of Spanish that simply don’t exist in our Germanic mother tongue.
Ever wondered why?
By the time the Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded Britannia about 80 generations ago, the subjunctive had all but ceased to be used. Used to express emotion and doubt, the subjunctive is still in daily use in the contemporary Latin world.
As a Latin language, Spanish comes from a different family to that of its Germanic neighbors. In level four of the UBA’s "Spanish for Foreigners" I’m surrounded by Brazilians (which is not a bad thing), battling together to cope with the Spanish language's Spanish Subjunctive Mood. My Portuguese-speaking colleagues are having fewer problems. In much the same way as the Inuit or the Lap languages are rich in their snow vocabulary, French, Spanish and Portuguese are big on expressing doubt and emotion. I be a little confused, would that it were different.
I cannot but imagine the hairy old Saxon lords getting grimy slaughtering, raping and pillaging in the thick all on the frozen fens of eastern Brittania, while the Roman lords slouched back in their latifundias getting fat on wine and exotic foods, puking in buckets after meals and bathing with fine maidens, while waxing poetic on their yearnings.
Who were the smart ones I doth questioneth myself?
The dearth of emotional maturity of these Germanic scribes has carried forward to the paucity of English speakers in the twenty first century waxing poetic about their feelings and uncertainties. If we Anglosaxons are uncertain, (as an Irishman I know I am a special case but stick with me on this one), or find ourselves deeply emotional, we simply have nervous breakdowns. In Latin America, in contrast, this is simply the natural state of being.
Time for me to catch up on 100 generations or more of emotive retardedness and learn to express my emotions.
Maybe I had better locate them first ☺ ?
Posted by Tony Phillips at August 6, 2006 05:09 PMBe that it as it may, that Spanish might be so full of the subjunctive as to be, say, more a matter of what could than what can, English is still a rich languange and I fear that, with such deep regard for the subjunctive, you may forget that the world is ocasionally without hypothetical--that the reality of the situation could never be less certain or more so.
Come what may and lest we forget, God help you perish the thought; for this is the land of the subjective, as it were, though far be it from me.
Posted by: Mitch at August 6, 2006 08:05 PMYou have hit on a huge problem that hits the young and the very old in Ireland to a disproportionate degree.
Young people especially men are committing suicide here and the effect of these unexpected and unheralded deaths can be very widespread not only in his/her immediate family but also among his friendship circle where related suicides can often occur starting the vicious circle.
Females do suffer and end their lives also. However girls WILL open up to friends and certainly the suicide statistics are much lower here. But as you said our Germanic based language with its paucity of suitable words can let them down too.
The easy way out is to turn to alcohol. Alcohol is a depressive and has its consequences.
Go to it son. Become simpatico. You never even listened very well in the past. Its never TOO LATE.
(Thanks Mum) ... (TONES) :)
Posted by: mum at August 9, 2006 05:49 AMI don't know... I vote for the booze.... :)
Posted by: Elena at August 9, 2006 08:09 PMNever mind the subjunctive, just be subjective.
Works for me ;-)
Posted by: Brendan at August 17, 2006 12:12 PM