Ever since I moved from Mexico to the United States I began to struggle to juggle two languages. Now that I am in the process of learning a third, these struggles are adding up everyday. I could go ahead and write a full blog post about all my feelings and frustrations, buuuut we all know memes are always the best idea.
I feel like anyone who speaks more than one language will relate to these and will understand where I am coming from!
When you need to say a word but you can only think of it in another languageĀ
Anyone who knows me knows itās a daily game of charades.. Which usually ends in ānevermind..ā
When you have an awesome comeback when arguing with someone but itās in another language and doesnāt translate
Basically things just donāt translateā¦
Especially idioms, but I don’t really use those in either language so we can move on to feelings for example, āte quieroā goes far beyond āI care for youā. It’s that romantic state right before you say “te amo” but it can also be used to express genuine feelings for a friend. You know?
Always being made fun of your accentā¦ No matter what language you speak
Always confusing other people when your brain and mouth do not cooperate and only you know what you are trying to say
It always makes sense in my head.
When you forget to change the language on your keyboard and autocorrect takes over
Typing āWhat are you doing today?ā but sending āWhat Ć”rea you domingo today?ā
Getting asked questions like āIn what language do you dream/ think?ā
Needing a minute to switch languages when someone starts speaking to you in another one
But also switching languages mid-sentence without noticing when talking to someone who knows your same languages
Thinking something through in one language and having to say it in another
At work I have to talk to tourists all day (usually Brazilian) and explain everything about Projeto Tamar to them. However, I learned everything in Portuguese and whenever there is a spanish/ english speaker, I always have to think a little more in order to speak to them.
Trying to translate a joke and stopping halfway through because you know the humor will get lost in translation
āItās really funny I swear!ā
Youāre always the stranger or the āgringaā
At work I have sooo many nicknames the main ones are gringa, chica, Juanita, or Mexicana.. I think about half of my co-workers know my actual name.
..but in the end, being the gringa with the accent will always be worth it because letās face it so far I speak 3 languages.
(but really 2 and a quarter š
