Languages Come in Many Forms

I am studying Spanish and Intercultural studies in college, but I so wish that I had time to study more languages. Someday…

I haven’t even seen this movie, but I’ve heard it’s great. I do know this song sequence is incredible though. Seamless transition between 25 languages, of which only parts of about 3 are understood by me. This reinforces my desire to learn more languages, even if only in part.

I have watched several movies recently with different languages in them (Kon-Tiki, The Way Back, and Into the White, The Great Escape), and have found myself extremely interested. I want to understand them, to know exactly what the characters are saying, not an approximation translation. But having studied Spanish for about 5 years now, I still can’t even understand all of the Spanish in movies. It will be a long process, but I hope that I will be able to do some study.

I highly recommend learning another language. The United States has a fairly strong tradition of being mono-lingual. Other countries often learn English and other languages, but we rarely teach other languages to our kids or learn them as adults. Learning a language as a child is considerably easier, but it is good for the adult brain as well.

Learning a second (or third) language changes the way you think, and opens up so many opportunities. I definitely recommend doing so, or having your children do so. It’s something that will only get more useful in the coming years, as the world becomes increasingly connected and globalized.

Study Abroad-

Today marks 1 year since i returned from my 24-day study abroad in San José. It’s hard to believe that it has been a year, and that I have changed as much as I have since then. I feel like i talk about my study abroad all the time, sometimes too often. I think I wrote about it for at least 4 different assignments last semester. I don’t want it to be something that I’m annoying about, or bragging about. I definitely suffered a serious case of culture shock during my time there.

God taught me so much during those 3 and a half weeks. I learned I had to just trust God and not demand to be in control of my life for myself. I met some great people on the trip, and made a couple friends. I relied on some of my friends from home to keep me grounded during the stay in San José. My Spanish improved immensely. I ended up changing my major status by adding a double major, Intercultural Studies.

In about 1 year I will be returning to the same place to study abroad again, for an entire semester this time. I have some great friends going with me this time, and I will know a great deal more about what I am getting myself into. I am excited about going back this time. I know that I will learn a lot. My goal is to come back able to confidently say that I am fluent in (Tican) Spanish. We’ll see. It will be exciting.

Intercultural Music-Dan Tyminski

Stumbled on this today. This is about as intercultural as music goes. I’m not even sure how to categorize it. Blues/bluegrass/celtic/folk? I’m not sure. But I like it. All of these guys represent some serious musical talent.

Ethnomusicology?

I recently was searching for a cultural topic to do a research report on. I also recently bought, and began to learn to play, a Mandolin. It’s been fun to play Irish and folk tunes.

So thinking about this, I wondered about doing some research about folk music and how it relates to culture. In doing so, I stumbled upon the study of Ethnomusicology. From the internet site of “The Society for Ethnomusicology”:

“Ethnomusicology is the study of music in its cultural context. Ethnomusicologists approach music as a social process in order to understand not only what music is but why it is: what music means to its practitioners and audiences, and how those meanings are conveyed.”

This might be an interesting way to combine my love for world music, cultures, and language. I’m kind of excited to begin my search. I didn’t even know this science existed.

“Ethnomusicologists are active in a variety of spheres. As researchers, they study music from any part of the world and investigate its connections to all elements of social life. As educators, they teach courses in musics of the world, popular music, the cultural study of music, and a range of more specialized classes (e.g., sacred music traditions, music and politics, disciplinary approaches and methods).”

“Kon-Tiki”

This is a movie I watched today. It’s about the first expedition attempt to sail a raft from Peru to Polynesia. The journey was inspired by the leader, Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian man who had a theory that Polynesia was first settled by people from South America who sailed east.
An interesting aspect of the expedition is the crew:
From the Wikipedia site:

“Kon-Tiki had a six-man crew, all of whom were Norwegian except for Bengt Danielsson, a Swede.[6]

Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002) was the expedition leader. He was also the author of the book of the expedition and the narrator of the story. Heyerdahl had studied the ancient people of South America and Polynesia and believed that there was a link between the two.

Erik Hesselberg (1914–1972) was the navigator and artist. He painted the large Kon-Tiki figure on the raft’s sail. His children’s book Kon-Tiki and I appeared in Norwegian in 1949 and has since been published in more than 15 languages.

Bengt Danielsson (1921–1997) took on the role of steward, in charge of supplies and daily rations. Danielsson was a Swedish sociologist interested in human migration theory. He also served as translator, as he was the only member of the crew who spoke Spanish. He was also a voracious reader; his box aboard the raft contained many books.

Knut Haugland (1917–2009) was a radio expert, decorated by the British in World War II for actions in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage that stalled what were believed to be Germany’s plans to develop an atomic bomb. Haugland was the last surviving crew member; he died on Christmas Day, 2009 at the age of 92.[7]

Torstein Raaby (1918–1964) was also in charge of radio transmissions. He gained radio experience while hiding behind German lines during WWII, spying on the German battleship Tirpitz. His secret radio transmissions eventually helped guide in Allied bombers to sink the ship.

Herman Watzinger (1910–1986) was an engineer whose area of expertise was in technical measurements. He was the first to join Heyerdahl for the trip. He collected and recorded all sorts of data on the voyage. Much of what he recorded, such as weather data, was sent back to various people, since this area of the ocean was largely unstudied.”

All of these elements are of enormous importance to the world of culture study, and humanity itself.
Five Norwegians and a Swede sail a traditional raft from Peru to Polynesia, while using American army supplies. That’s a fair amount of culture in itself.

This is an excellent film, and I highly recommend it.

The lesson here…

The lesson here is that becoming incarnate in another culture will be a trial by fire, a test of inner strength, of personal faith, and most of all a test of the veracity of one’s love. An individual who is not ready to give up being an American for a time and to begin learning as a child is not ready for the challenge of cross-cultural ministry.”

Sherwood G. Lingenfelter
From “Ministering Cross-Culturally”

 

 

Experience Gaelic-With Julie Fowlis and others

If you’ve seen Disney Pixar’s “Brave” you might recognize Julie Fowlis as the singer of some of the songs in that film. I have had a love for Irish music since I was young, and this song is no different.

One of the things I love about learning more about the world is the diversity. We, especially in the U.S. are able to live easily without thinking about the other worlds in other countries. Yet, diversity is even to be found in our own culture.

I love music. And cultural music combines two of the things that I enjoy. I don’t speak of word of Gaelic, so I can’t understand this song at all. But I don’t think we even need to understand it to get its beauty.

“Victory” by Trampled by Turtles

This is a song by a folk/bluegrass band a friend introduced me to. I get tired of popular music dominating the world…I love music that is very different from the norm. This band’s sound is one that I really like. I like getting my acoustic guitar and playing along to great songs like this.

I think this song is about a lost love, but deeper than that about wanting to improve and to overcome struggles. Following God in the faith is not always easy, but God will be with us through our struggles to the ultimate victory in the resurrection.