Reading the discussion about the appeal of foreign languages, I came up with this list, comparing the languages in my life to different girls. ;-)

Swedish - my sister. I will always love her, but never as anything else than a sister. There’s nothing exciting about her. I trust her and know that she’ll always be there for me, though. With any other girl I might break up one day, but she’ll always be there as part of the family.

Finnish - my step-sister. I didn't like her at all when she moved in. Over the years, I've come to see her as a family member. Not as beloved as my sister Swedish, and she never will be, but I'll always stand up for her. I quite like having her around and it’s fun to watch all the foreign guys trying to capture her, but never succeeding.

English - the loud girl who moved into in the neighbourhood. As a kid she always wanted to be the leader and all the kids thought she was cool, but we grew tired of her loud and bullish behaviour quite soon. Now when we're in our 20s she's very easy. All the guys know her, all have been with her, but no-one really loves her. At times, she can be quite a bitch towards all the other girls.

German – my childhood love. Then I thought she was exciting and refreshing, and I spent a lot of time with her as a teen. She had this friend called French, but none of the guys really liked French at that time. She was a bit too posh and exotic for us; we were all in love with German. As I entered my early 20s, the charm of German had already begun to fade. I found her to be quite plain. We’re still good friends and keep in touch, but there’s no passion left. Besides, she has married one of my best friends.

Welsh – a summer flirt. Met her when I was an exchange student in England and found her to be much more charming and fun than that bitchy girl English who always seemed to follow me around. As with most summer flirts, I thought it would last and it didn’t. Once I got back, I forgot about her. I went back to visit her for a month two years afterwards, but it wasn’t the same. Not after I had met her cousin Irish,

Irish – my first real love. I fell head over heels in love with her and for a few years she was my only one; the only time in my life I’ve stuck to just one. I really loved everything about her and wanted to be with her as often as I could, and I wanted to know everything about her. How she felt, what she dreamed of, what her future would be. These days, and for the past years, our relationship has been a bit confused. I still find her one of the cutest of them all. She’ll never be able to compete with the rich beauty of French, but there’s something soft and cute with her that I still adore. She isn’t my only love anymore, though, as she was some years ago.

French – the beauty queen. While I didn’t care much for French when we grew up, after a few years many of us suddenly discovered what a gorgeous girl she had turned out to be. French is the girl that arouses passion. All my friends either love her or hate her; she leaves no-one indifferent. To most of us, she’s the most exquisite girl there is. While everybody admires her beauty, we disagree about her personality. Some friends find her snobby and arrogant. I try to explain to them that once you get to know her, she’s a really sweet and romantic girl. As most girls with good looks, she has learned to keep at distance at first, but that’s really just because she’s a bit shy at heart. While my father, mother and all my grandparents have been passionate about her constant rival German, I’m all out for French. These days, she’s the girl that has it all in my eyes. I guess Lughaidh won’t agree, but that’s just because she’s part of his family. ;-)

Russian – the strange girl. She moved into the neighbourhood when I was in my late teens, and these days she’s one of those girls I meet every day. I’ve never been in love with her, but during the last years I’ve got to know her quite well. While many friends complain that she’s incomprehensible, I think it’s easy to understand her. However, despite our common interest in culture and the fact that we almost live together, she’s not just the one.

Spanish – the very plain girl. It will never be me and Spanish. The reason is that I like her sister Catalan much more. The problem is that I see Spanish a lot more often and Catalan very seldom indeed, so I haven’t spent much time with Catalan but I can’t commit to Spanish because she’ll always remind me of her cuter sister. Come to think of it, I also find her other sister, Portuguese, much sexier. I’ve never met a girl I found as plain as I find Spanish.

Croatian – dating at the moment. I’ve been seeing a lot of her in recent time. I’ve visited her quite often, got to her family and her background. We have surprisingly much in common. I don’t find her particularly beautiful, but she’s fun, nice and very friendly. All the same, I once again feel myself more drawn to French these days. There’s just something about that girl that’s irresistible.

That certainly puts an interesting perspective on your "relationships" with other languages. Well written, Jonas!

Me, I'm forever connected at the hip with that "loud girl" you mentioned. :-) She's served me well over the years.

Irish and German are the girls I'm trying to get to know better, and Lakota is like a wise, spiritual uncle. Spanish is the girl I feel like I should pursue a relationship with for practical reasons, but there's really no love there.

Regards,

Searlas

Jonas -- that was wonderful.

My brother and I have been fighting over Latin for years. She's predictable, reliable, old-fashioned, but she's just so wise. As far as we're concerned, she's as perfect as they come. (But don't tell my husband or his fiancée...they might get jealous...)

Brilliant post, Jonas! Comhghairdeachas, bhain mé sult iontach as a bheith á léamh sin!

French: I wonder if I could say it is a sister, because I don't like her at all! (It's my mothertongue, but I always prefer to speak another language when I can.) Many other people think she's beautiful and sexy, but I don't think so at all.

Irish: my first love. I first saw her when I was 7 and she already appealed to me. And when I was a teenager, I've fallen in love with her and although I know her very well now, I'm still madly in love with her, and I think I'll be for the rest of my life! I talk to her mostly on the web and I write letters to her every night. I've been living with her during one year, and it was the most pleasant year of my life.

Breton: second love... Let's say, a far cousin (so that I'm allowed to be in love with her! -- Breton was my great-grandmother's language). I love her quite as much as Irish, although she may not be exactly as pretty as her. I'm going to marry her, but Irish will be my mistress! ;-)

(Message edited by lughaidh on December 09, 2005)

There’s just something about that girl that’s irresistible.

What do you like in her? :-)

I'm longing to read Dennis' answer ! :-) I'm afraid he loves grannies! (Old Irish...) ;-)

Is maith an t-alt, a chara

Enjoyable reading a dhaoine,
I've tinkered with French before but at some point I'll take the plunge. After Irish of course.. :)

Jonas. Absolutely superb article.

And it drew such great responses from all the other contributors.

By the way, whenever anyone asks me which language I prefer, I usually say -

"When I'm not with the girl I love, I love the girl I'm with".

N.B. Bully girl is not included in the above statement. She's too jealous. And possessive too! She doesn't want me to look at the other girls.

I liked this post myself especially because I tend to describe my feelings about different languages in relationship terms. For instance, I had a brief, torrid love affair with Italian in college, but now he's the guy I think I'd like to see again but never find the time to call.

Irish is that guy that I am finding really difficult to really get to know, but that just makes him all the more attractive.

Well... a language can't really follow you. You have to keep up with it or it goes away. So, to phrase this within the context of this weird metaphor, you are staying with a woman you dislike, presumably for financial/proffesional reasons (which only makes it that much worse!)

Brilliant idea! Some might think that your way of comparing language to women is a bit … strange, but most people here understand you! ;)

Since I am also Swedish, I have pretty much the same relationship to the Swedish language, though I have discovered more and more hidden qualitites of hers through the years.

Danish is the long-lost sister, I like her, I understand her better than most of my compatriots, and one day we might hook up, who knows. But for now, I'm just observing her from a distance – studying her every move.

My relationship to English is pretty much the same as yours, Jonas.

Irish: I first fell in love with her handwriting. It was so tantalizing, a maze. Slowly, I began to understand that she had some hard-and-fast principles in her life: broad and slender. Once this was passed, I began to go beyond the surface, and even though it seems just like a new, even more difficult maze, I like it so far.

Turkish: Her handwriting and her voice are just wonderful, not to mention her inner qualities. But her manners … Maybe I should go visit her for a while to find out what she's really like, and not just go by what others tell me.

I've had a stable relationship with French for six years. I've gotten to know many aspects of her quite good. She makes great comic books ;) But as I have gotten to know her more and more these last years, she has become … forbidding. Maybe I'm looking for her worst sides whenever I get the opportunity.

It seems that I'm not patient enough to establish any new relationship with a language. I tend to make short, intense visits, then forget about it for a while. I need some kind of motivation, something to strive for. It could be a school grade, or trying to speak the language of some hot girl (real girls this time, not languages ;-)

Hmm, is this some new kind of therapy? :)

English - English is like the mother. She's always there for you whenever you need someone to rely on and while the relationship is not always smooth, I often think that I'd be much better off without her, I concede that it's for the best that I know English and that I can always rely on her in the end and when dealing with most foreigners.

Irish - Irish is like the girl I've grown up with and fallen in love. It took a long time to really get to know her properly but I've grown up with her and grown into her and now I know her really well, but I'm still looking forward to finding out more. The relationship was very tentative, neither of us wanted to take the final step, but now I feel I can finally leave English behind(though not desert it) and spend the rest of my life with Irish, if only we had a place to stay. The only places I can go with her are in fairly remote places and even there, English(the mother) comes and bothers us.


French - French is a very exotic girl, we had a fling a long, long time ago when I was alot younger. Now, she's come back into my life and I realise that she's actually very knowledgable, beautiful girl. I'ld like to get to know her alot more, but not in the same capacity as Irish. I want to be able to visit French every so often and see how she's doing, but she could never replace Irish.

Spanish - My relationship with Spanish is still very new, I'm only just getting to know her. Although, she's very similar to French, she has a completely different view on the world and a completely different way of talking which makes me think it'll be worth while getting to know her. Plus, I can access a whole new part of the world thanks to her, so it's definitely worth getting to know her better.

German - I don't know German at all yet, but I know I'll have to in the future so right now I'm just scouting her out, seeing how she feels and what she's like. I'll take the plunge soon, I just hope we hit it off.

Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Welsh - Very beautiful and exotic looking girls. They look so appealing but I haven't quite got up the courage to talk to any of them, besides, I'm way to busy with the other girls. When I have the others placated and I know them really well, I'll start talking to these other girls and we'll see how it goes from there.

English - Ó my mother...She who was with me before I ever knew that others even existed. Perhaps she will be the last in my thoughts at my end. I can always go back and express my deepest intricacies with her. No matter whom I find passion with, she'll always be there.

Spanish - A little girl I met in elementary school. She was plain and foreign, the new kid in class, who the teacher urged us to get to know. And we did, even if it was only to get out of doing the regular classwork for a short while. Alas, she is all but a distant faded memory of my early youth.

German - As a teen, I had the chance to meet again with Spanish, but chose German over her. She wasn't as plain as Spanish who others called "easy". German was nice and we hit it off fairly well early on, but didn't, at the time have the time to commit.
Later, in my twenties, I found her again and we had a torrid affair - until I found Irish. Now we are friends who still talk once in a while - and she's still fun to fool around with when I get the chance. ;-)

Irish - My newest. When I was younger I'd have taken her in a heartbeat over any of the others. But she was soooo unattainable. Like a supermodel in a magazine! "Does she really exist???" Many talked about her, but none had ever actually met her. A few bragged that they knew someone who knew someone........
I adore her and I'd like to think that we could be together always, but as I get older, time flies when you don't make the time. I try and I try. But, for now, she's merely a trophy date who allows me to take her into places, but keeps me on the other side of the table tongue-tied and starry-eyed. Ahhhh, the thrill of the chase my love......

Hi everybody,

I really liked reading how you compare the different languages in your life to different girls. I think it's a good option to explain the languages, all of them are different from the others and we need them as they are our treasures.

As my english is so poor I won't tell you about my languages. Just saying that, I am Catalan but I have been living in Dublin for the lasts 9 months. It's very nice hearing that you like, "her sister" (the Catalan language) more than the Spanish language. I hope you could spend more time with the Catalan language. If you want there are lots of websites to learn Catalan, or even if you go to Catalonia, there are lots of free courses for everybody. The best thing is if you ever speak Catalan, for us, you would be another Catalan more, anymore an immigrant.

I'm in love with all the languages in the world. Although I just speak four, for me each language is something absolutely important, a different way to see the world. Unfortunetly too many languages are in constant danger and almost every day, a language desapear.


Oíche mhaith!

"Although I just speak four,"

Well, that's more than any three Americans I know...combined.

You are absolutely right about knowledge of a langauge aiding your perception. Sadly, most of us over here speak only one...to speak two is to have done something prestigious, never mind four.

Although I speak just four … haha … ditto what Antaine said. A mere bilingual person is fairly rare here.

what a wonderful thread!

English is definitely my mother: we get along well and she's always been there for me. And although she sometimes annoys me, i also think she's fun and love that she can still surprise me.

Spanish is my ex. We were so tight in high school; it was definitely my first serious relationship. But after college we just drifted, and now we hardly ever talk. To be honest, I just find it hard to communicate with him anymore.

I think I'm engaged to Irish at this point. It was love at first sight, and everything I learn about him just makes me more in love. I've been in love with Irish from afar since I was a kid, and we've been seriously together about two years now. It just gets better every day.

Sometimes I feel a little slutty, though, because despite my deep love for Irish, I have an ongoing flirtation with Japanese and Hawaiian. Japanese is really smart and sexy. We talk a little every now and then, but it's nothing very serious. Hawaiian is jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and I've flirted with him for years, but nothing serious ever came of it. Every once in a while I'll call one of them up out of the blue and we'll have a great fling for a week.

And they're great fun, but my heart belongs to Irish.

French is a classy girl whose connections will get you farther than her more popular cousin, Spanish.I date her all through high school and some of college, but never learned from her all I could, or all she had to offer. Despite that, we’re still friends and talk every once in awhile. I’ve een meaning to give her a call so we can catch up, but I never seem to get around to it.

My relationship to English is like an arranged marriage to a whore. Everybody knows her and has left their mark on her. I didn’t choose her, but she was chosen for me before my parents were even born. Those who use her do so because she is politically or economically expedient, but there’s nothing special or alluring about her save the degree to which she “gets around.”

I went with Lithuanian for a very short time. She had an ancient flair to her, and I liked how old fashioned she was. Unfortunately I never felt a personal connection to her, and so the relationship never got very far.

I had a fling with Dutch due to a real girl (of sorts), but like Lithuanian it fizzled on account of isolation and lack of a personal connection.

My brother wants to introduce me to Russian. She’s someone I’d like to meet. She has a ‘flair’ to her as well, but I’ve got my hands full with Irish and French.

Latin, Greek and Hebrew are three sisters. They’re on my list, but so far I’ve had only the most cursory introduction to them. I like them for their ancient flair (even more than Lithuanian), but I have no idea when I’ll be able to get to know them any better.

Irish is the love of my life, my soul mate. It’s hard to remember a time when I didn’t know her, but I have no plans for my future that don’t include her being a big part. I find her elusive - she teases me, but I love her still. There is a ‘rightness’ about her...she is everything I’ve wanted in a language. My ancestors speak through her, and in her there is something great and mystical alive. She has touched the dawn of humanity - the lifeblood of civilization.

Nice thread! I'll give it a go too...

English - is my mother. She's a little overbearing. When I try to meet other people, they can usually tell that I'm English's child. English doesn't mind me meeting other people, but doesn't really think I need friends outside the home.

French - is the sort of mafia of the neighbourhood. If you want to get somewhere, you need to have a good relationship with French. Unfortunately, French is very illusive and hard to get to know. I've tried several times to find French and come to an understanding so that I can secure a better future for myself, but French always has something better to do then to spend time with me.

German - is my bestfriend since childhood. Whenever French evaded me, German was there to cheer me up. German would play with me when I was a child. German understood me even though I had a speech impediment. When I got older, German would come with me to pubs and tell me interesting stories. German comes with me on trips and helps me with travel arrangements. German introduces me to all sort of people.

Finnish and Swedish - are my loner uncles. They live by themselves. They like it when I come over, but it's always somewhat of a strained visit. They tell me that my mother was adopted, and their parents liked her best. My uncles left home early and they never visit. I barely know them, but it's a long hike to their place in the country and sometimes I don't have the patience for their eccentricities.

Irish - is my long-distance romance. We rarely get to see each other, but when we do we have a fantastic time. I'd love to see more of Irish, but German thinks I should find a relationship locally, and Irish is always distracting me from my attempts to find French. Sometimes I wonder if Irish and I will ever live in the same place, or if the relationship will always be one of longing to be together.