Sunday 24 August 2008

Living in a Bilingual World (Andante)


You can read the first part of this post here.

Monday 4th August, noon, Swanage Beach.

Wife and I are lying down on the sand whilst Son and Daughter are playing with the other children in the water. Nearby there’s a British woman reading. The woman is reading a book. The book is in Spanish. The title of the book is ‘Tiempo de Silencio’ (‘Time for Silence’), a novel by the Spanish writer Luis Martín Santos. The woman searches for something in her bag. She fishes out a dictionary. The dictionary is both in Spanish and English. She looks up a word in the dictionary (apparently) and goes back to reading. This same operation she repeats a few times, at regular intervals, like a dancer performing a well-known piece, which never fails to trigger her passion off. She reads. She stops. She looks up a word in the dictionary. She continues to read. I watch. Little Englander watches from a distance. I watch Little Englander watching the woman reading the book. Little Englander watches me watching him watching the woman. Little Englander wipes the sand of his feet. He puts his socks and sandals on and off he walks.

Living in a Bilingual World 1 – Little Englander 1. Game on!

(to be continued)

Copyright 2008

12 comments:

  1. I just commented on the first part, and here is the second part only seconds later…

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  2. Good riddance to Little Englander!

    I'm envious of your visit to the beach, BTW.

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  3. I liked that post. It was revealing and most aptly written.

    Thanks.

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  4. Hilarious! I had to go back to ur first post to get the full picture. I can see it all now! Is there an american equivolent for little englander? I sense some in law school.

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  5. Bravo por ella (la lectora) y por este mundo global, donde cada dia la gente de mente estrecha tiene menos espacio.

    saludos, t.

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  6. This series is wonderful. Congratulations! And greetings from one of the most multicultural (yet bland) cities of the world, Toronto.

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  7. Thanks to all. There are still a two more parts to come and the only clue I will give you is that there'll be a happy ending.

    Greetings from London.

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  8. Shine, the American equivalent is the Redneck I would suppose?

    Cubano, tenemos que ser ejemplo de tolerancia parece no?

    Por cierto, el libro no me convencio mucho, quizas pruebe de leer otro de la misma escritora. Gracias!

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  9. Gracias, lena, yes, the redneck is a close relative of the Little Englander.

    lena, me apena que no te haya gustado Zadie, pero igual, no le des de lado. Ella es muy buena escritora.

    Saludos desde Londres.

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  10. Excellente! Evolution rocks!
    It's why I love it so much when my fellow Southerners tell me how much they wish their own children spoke a second language...

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  11. Thanks, carrie and diva.

    Greetings from London.

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