Dear Ricardo,
as a Dutch native speaker I fully agree with you, even when English
is probably closer to Dutch than to Portugees.
Expressing thoughts in English is fairly difficult, but reading also.
Analysing words and concepts in one's own language is often quite an
exercise (to grasp what they _realy_ mean in the context), in a foreign
language it is often impossible. I try to be content with the idea that
understanding a text in a foreign language can only be an approximation,
in which my own interpretation plays a large role.
Words are like doors to playgrounds: they open images, memories, you can
play with them, connect them, associate them with other words. It is this
emotional-playfull layer that one misses in a foreign language.
Add to the fact that certain words and concepts simply does not exist
in the foreign language one uses, translations are often limited and
sources of conceptual confusion.
You are probably right that thinking in one language is different from
thinking in an other, even when we seemingly are talking about the same
things. This gives me something to reflect upon. Thank you.
Anna.
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Anna Strumphler, orthopedagogue
Amsteldijk 28,
1074 HT Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 20 6719906
e-mail: W.deVries who-is-at net.HCC.nl
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