Actual Fluency interview: Positive impact of learning pt. 2

The Danish polyglot and host of “Actual Fluency”

In part 2 of my interview, I tell some more stories of learning my languages and my experiences at the Polyglot Conference in NYC. (See part 1 of the interview here.) Since the next Polyglot Conference will take place in Thessaloniki, Greece, I float the idea that fellow-polyglots delve into not just Greek, but into Arabic and Kurdish. Let’s use our language-learning to show solidarity with Greece’s newest populations.

A couple months ago, I was invited to an interview with Kris Broholm of the Actual Fluency podcast. I enjoy Kris’s work, as he fell in love with languages during a difficult period in his life. When I met him at the Polyglot Conference, we got to talk about how languages helped him with his depression.

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Tarzan Shakespeare or the pain caused by my Greek deficit

How do I connect when I’m bad at Greek?

“Me want now go yon church?”

“What name belongeth yon market?”

This is how I imagine what my Modern Greek sounds like: a combination of Shakespeare and Tarzan. You see, I’m bad at Greek. (It’s not all Greek to me, but a good portion of it is.) I can read some Biblical Greek (a simpler version of Ancient Greek a la Homer), but I know only a little Modern Greek—and it’s words with very little grammar. A foreigner from the 10th century.

Last weekend I got back from a trip to Greece.

Entering dangerous territory: Ecolinguism off the beaten path

How do you learn about their story?

The salesperson just spoke to those people in English, I realized.

“Do you speak English?” I asked the dark-haired young man across the aisle from me. His face showed sun, wrinkles, and fatigue, making it hard to guess his age—somewhere between 25 and 45.

“No,” he shook his head and smiled as he pointed to the young woman sitting next to him. I had noticed her enormous, beautiful brown eyes, which, though tired, never closed during this long train ride.

“What language do you speak with them?” I continued, indicating the older man and younger women he was traveling with.

“Kurdish,” he answered.

I had him: “Bitdhaki al-arabi?” “Do you speak Arabic?”

His face lit up, “Yes, I speak Arabic.”

“Where are you from?”

“Syria.”

“Are you fleeing the war?”

“Yes.”