Bi/Multilingual Stories

…When I came back first, I never had a bank account, I never had an insurance, it's so important in Germany to have so many insurances; and I came back … and I came back and, I was trying to do some things and people sort of look at me, and they had the feeling that … I was German, but I didn't understand things. And to me, that made me feel really foreign. … I felt so misunderstood. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I love the way this distance made me love my roots again and they really kept me connected. I want to take this rich history, this ancient culture in order to move forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

... I recorded myself sometimes when ... speaking different languages in different settings. And I was surprised to see that you can really tell when the switch happens because the intonation is different. My voice is different, my gesticulation changes - everything. ... After a while I can feel really that my whole kind of thinking also changes. It shifts and it focuses on other things. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We use so many words that are so specific to our work ... This is something we [at UNHCR] work very hard in doing so .... We not only give workshops, but we are also trying to approach so we simplify our language, but we also try to explain many of our terms. It's a matter of working on it, acknowledging it and building bridges. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"One of my first memories was ... I was wrapped up in a giant snow suit for the first time in my life feeling really uncomfortable, this little child enveloped in layers of snow pants and giant boots and coming from Italy I was like 'What is this?' ... It was a shock ... and the switch from speaking Italian to speaking English happened within a few days". Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I think the last thing you learn on a very high level, is to do humor and to joke. ... I found that very hard when I moved to Sweden when I was 19, that people would think that I'm stupid. When I was joking, but also when it was about emotional things, when you wanted to be very very precise with something and couldn't really be so precise, that was very frustrating to me. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are always these external forces ... that send a message to you that you are not Armenian enough, or you're not American. I think you don't truly feel like you belong because there is always others who send you these very strong messages that you don't belong. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Switzerland has four official languages … the reward of learning a language was so clear fro the beginning… you learn that you can communicate with people if you learn to speak their language. It is more fun if you speak other people's languages."Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I can't be 100% Mexican and I can't be 100% Americana, and that's OK. Maybe I'm also a mix of other cultures that I admire and that's OK as well. I'm a blend of things".Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“…The first one or two years when I was back in Korea they said … ‘your Korean sounds so interesting, because it is Korean but it sounds like a translated English novel.'”. Some people make fun of it … like mimicing or something. That was embarrassing but at the same time it was like OK, people laughed and we had a fun time together.”Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"... I was in Spain ... and neither of them could communicate in the same language and both parties were getting really angry. I think I was only a child  then and I went over and asked 'do you want me to help? do you want me to translate?  and I think it really helped and it kind of came to a solution because I was there to help. ... That's when I felt it's so cool that I can speak both, English and Spanish because I just helped the situation."Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'At a French table conversation happens in a very lively manner, led by constant interruptions and vivid exchange. In the US there is much more respect and space to express yourself. English is a very fluid language with a great rhythm and pulsation and as a musician you want to immediately translate it into music.'Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"If I spoke in Nigerian English in Canada, people won't understand me. When I'm more comfortable with people, or I'm having fun, I use Nigerian English. In these situations I don't have to curate myself or feel embarrassed because someone corrects me. As time passes I get more and more comfortable in both spaces, the Nigerian, as well as the Canadian English.Being a migrant has taught me to question things and understand that there are many ways to live your life and these ways can be equally valuable."Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“When we immigrated to the US I was very afraid to speak because I knew that a lot of people can be cruel and make fun of you if you have an accent. So I  started participating in choir or theater so I took on different personas and acted things out and that helped me a lot to come out of my shell. I learned how to control my speech so that my accent wouldn't come out. …  At school I would participate in theater and the choir and that helped me to take on different personas and act things out.”Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I never found Dutch a beautiful language in a way. I feel Dutch people are super modest to the sense they don't value themselves as much as they should; I can't relate to people who feel a strong bond to their country. What does it really mean to culturally belong? I'm in the visual box but I don't think you need that much language to feel culture. Without knowing the language there are ways to understand culture.Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There is a difference between languages in a sense that, from an emotional point of view, one language can be more self centered, while another references inward and outward directed emotions. One language is more administrative, the other one is the soul language. Translanguaging  is an advantage of multilingual people as it enables them to express themselves in a variety of ways switching between languages, adding words that fit best the meaning and purpose of the conversation. The more languages we speak the better we understand the world; knowing languages is a door to the world, it is like knowing how to read and write. Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sometimes the body and soul feel disconnected when speaking in a language rather foreign to us. At other times we want to hide that we know a special language at the level of a native speaker. Location impacts the feeling of belonging paired with memories that come and go  between two different worlds, different languages. As you switch between languages you switch between different personas.Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How does dreaming in English for the first time feel? Or having inner dialogs in different languages and working with them? How does a foreign language interfere with one's mind in relation to the mother tongue?The interview took place during our joint residency at the Vermont Studio Center in Vermont. Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Bi/Multilingual Stories we dive into the different notions of migration, about the difficulties of having many homes  and the emotional impact of leaving. There is beauty hidden in the depths of each language, yet the idea of having a unified one goes back many decades.Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second episode of Bi/Multilingual Stories my guest and I talk about the rhythm of language, the change of of moods when switching to another language, lost languages, music as the language of all languages, the shared sadness and joy of the latin community.Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first episode of Bi/Multilingual Stories I'm joined by Ingrid Koenig, artist and associate professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. What does it feel to plunge into a world where you don't understand the language? We further talk about cultural sensitivities, the importance of community and German-Canadian cats.Support the showIf you want to tell your story email me at elisabethajtay.at.gmail.com!Sound by Hernán GiorcelliThank you for listening, sharing and supporting Bi/Multilingual Stories Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.