atticous,
Literary: The Future Polyglot
When I was a child, I marveled at people who could speak different languages. I once saw this thick book majestically displayed at the shop window of our local bookstore. I looked at it carefully and quietly read the words shown on the cover - The Future Polyglot. Ciao, ola, bonjour, namaste, hallo. Those words stuck to me as if they wanted to say something, even if I did not know what they really meant.
The next day, I urged my father to buy the book. I nagged on him, "Oh tata, I love that book, go the bookstore, and buy it pretty please... you see, I wanna see what's inside, there might be a new friend who I could talk to!" But with an air of adultlike cynicism, he scowled at me and even said that I was so foolish to yearn for something like that. He even barked, "It's gonna be useless for you, mijo, you won't be able to use that when you get old. I think you should stop dreaming of getting a stupid book that doesn't even make sense... ¡caray! Do something useful! Be a lawyer for the higher courts of our county! Grow up!"
I was crushed by his hurtful words. Just like a child whose dreams were shattered because of a single-minded parent who forced him to rot in this mundane, parochial reality. I stopped wishing for that book for the next years and pretended that it was just a whim.
When I was in fourth grade, I wasted my chance to be part of a special Interlingua course, which was given only to a few gifted students. When I was at middle and high school, I feigned distaste after my teacher suggested I take foreign language classes. The day before my college graduation from legal management, I declined an invitation from my professor. He invited me to come with him in a trip around Latin America so that we could refine my Spanish and learn unknown languages such as Quechua, Taino, Guaraní, and more. Instead, I put on a timorous face and said no, as if I was really scared of exploring new places and learning those languages.
But as I was walking home from law school yesterday, I came across the same local bookstore where I would go every weekend. And at an instant, flashbacks played through my head all at once. Hey, that was where I used to go as a child! Hey, that was where my favorite book was! I instantly forgot my responsibilities – the written-in-English-only tone about various constitutions, affidavits I need to review, tomorrow's mock trial about an immigrant Chicano versus a native New Yorker, and I stepped inside.
I was surprised that everything seemed different – It was not a bookstore anymore! Once again, I was a child, curious of everything he saw. I approached the owner and asked what happened to the bookstore. She said she decided to convert it to a library so that everyone, despite of social class, of nationality, of race, can read. She hopes everyone can realize that open-mindedness, not money, is the key to relishing books. After hearing her story, I was determined to look for the book.
I saw the book in an antique rack on top of a bookshelf, perhaps for the books on linguistics. This is your chance, come, and get the book! So I followed my inner voice and hugged it as if it was the mestizo-like doll I played with when I was young. I blew on the cover (literally) to remove the dust. Still the same title – The Future Polyglot. Ciao, ola, bonjour, namaste, hallo – still, looking as if they wanted to talk to me.
I started reading its introductory parts – its table of contents, preface, and other important stuff I should know. I found out that this book actually presented a spectrum of languages, from the widely-used ones in the world today to those almost extinct. This was exactly what I have yearned since childhood, and I felt like achieving a lifetime wish! I wanted to learn different languages because I wanted to gain awareness of the people around me, as well as their varying cultures. I wanted to learn different languages because I wanted to appreciate the world outside me and to tell my dad to stop thinking so rigidly in life – that everyone should not be of the same scope, that diversity does not lead to chaos but further understanding. And this book is going to turn my dreams into reality! Without a moment to lose, I began scanning the first part – the most popular languages.
Bienvenue. Oui, it's French. The language of romance, chic life, arts, the food I would usually eat at fine-dining restaurants, the immigrant Canadian classmate I met in seventh grade ... it makes me feel entitled!
Willkommen. Ja, it's German. The language of assertiveness, social gatherings, music, of those buoyant, hole-like symbols put in vowels, my athlete-friend from Munich since second grade... it makes me feel energized!
Huanying. Shi, it's Chinese. The language of commerce, divine horoscopes, Eastern philosophy, my businessman-professor from torts law class... it makes me feel astonished!
There are even languages for which one does not need to use his or her mouth to speak. With just simply playing with one's fingers, can use sign language and hear the voice of the disabled in no time.
On the next chapter were cognates – words which are common in various languages. Common, sí, but their rare meanings made me rue my mistakes in the past.
Hand. This word is used in Dutch, German, and Norwegian to refer to the organ one uses to do tasks which may seem commonplace but have a special purpose. Conveying gestures so that everyone, including the disabled, would understand one's efforts in expressing his or her beliefs. Writing sentences in different tongues so that one could be united in understanding ideas despite of language barriers. All those I could have done had I stayed true to my dreams and seized the opportunities gratuitously handed to me before.
Kanan. One can say he or she is taking the right path in life in the tongues of Indonesian, Malay, and Filipino. I felt I had lost my sense of direction when my father told me not to follow what my heart said. When I shied away from those opportunities that could have built my potential, I felt my course of action was wrong. My caprices of being the barrister of my barrio misguided me from what I really wanted.
Triste. In French, Italian, and Portuguese, it conveys the unhappiness as a result of one's failures and setbacks. My sorrow when my father dissuaded me from studying linguistics and becoming an international diplomat. The melancholy I had felt for years when I was ordered by my dad to pursue a legal-related career, just because it was a lot more practical than language.
I felt worst when I turned to the next page. It talked about unknown languages. Learning about them felt like the death of a friend who could have achieved a lot more in life.
"Eyak is a language native to Alaska that just became extinct. Mary Smith Jones was its last speaker. She decided to print a book that discussed the language; too bad, no one read it, and she did not succeed in preserving it."
"Andalusi Arabic was a language unique to Spain and Portugal. It was spoken by the Moors who were expelled from Granada in the late fifteenth-century. Too bad the Spaniards, after recovering their land, branded it as 'taboo', thus leading to its extinction."
"Livonian was a language spoken in Latvia. It is somehow related to Estonian. It was used as early as the post-medieval era. Too bad that its last native speaker met his demise a few years ago, and with him, his language."
My tears were probably enough to refill the lost waters of a river. I was devastated to find out that these languages had so much potential, yet they were taken for granted. Like a cadaver given an unceremonious burial, it became dead without being passed on to the next generations, without being publicly recognized by humanity. Maybe they could have been one of the most popular languages if people did not reject and treat them as gibberish.
But maybe, I thought, feeling my childlike imagination playing in my head once again, maybe we can revive them and prove the whole world that they deserve another chance. Maybe we can tell each person to cherish not just his or her language but also those spoken by the people around him or her. Maybe we can encourage everyone to develop a sense of love for all languages, whether Eyak, Mandarin, German, or even ASL!
All of a sudden, I received a text from my father. Where on earth have you been again? ¡Apúrate! Go home this instant! You have a mock trial a la mañana, remember?
Okay, tata, okay, I replied, trying to imitate his curt talking style. But I could not keep this book in the library – I need to borrow it and continue my research! Our current languages are at stake if I do not take action! So without hesitation, I asked the owner if I could take it home for a day or two. Then I marched off the building and thought of a plan.
When I get home, I shall show the book to my father. I shall announce that tomorrow l shall leave law school and become a polyglot. The polyglot who will find a way to revive those dead languages and bring them back to the lingual spectrum. The polyglot who will convince the people around the world to take care of their languages today. The polyglot who will tell his rigid father that one ought to break the walls surrounding him or her and embrace the beliefs of others.
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