And a Few More that Aren’t About Language Learning
Although not about language learning in the traditional sense, another memoir that might interest you is Quiara Alegría Hudes’s My Broken Language. Hudes grew up the daughter of a Puerto Rican mother and a Jewish father. She writes beautifully about how she learned to see Spanish and English in different ways. I particularly recommend the audio for this as she reads it very well. He writes that while almost anyone can understand his speech now, “The crucial point is whether they’re interested in hearing me or not. Some people are embarrassed by the process. Others, it seems, don’t want to be bothered. This is a pity, because just as they might learn something about the rest of the world by speaking with a foreigner, they would also learn from ‘talking’ with a deaf person.” Given that his book has few reviews on Goodreads, I would wager that this is one of the best memoirs you’ve never heard of. Just keep in mind a content warning for suicide. In 2011, she decided to take her first “true departure” as she calls it, and moved to Italy. Not everyone can move to a new country in pursuit of a new language, but you can live vicariously through Lahiri if you read this book. If you’re still not sold on this short collection of essays, you might try reading Rioter Courtney Rodgers’s reaction to her reading of it for a deeply felt perspective. If the Italian part intrigues you, Lahiri included her original Italian in the book, so you can read both or only one version as suits your needs and interests. Many of the entries are also short so you could easily dip in and out if that appeals to you. There are a few places where she goes into some depth about Arabic as a language (and for someone with little background on the language these may be a bit mystifying), but there are also many memorable and funny moments during her travels. And while I have to admit I would have preferred if she had chosen one city and one main dialect to focus on, this is an engrossing read about the very different places she visits, learning from the various people she encounters and speaking as much Arabic as her brain will allow her. Rich’s writing and research are really fascinating, and I would wager that most adult learners would find something intriguing in this book, even if their particular language of choice is not Hindi. As she suggests in her original conception of the project, anyone can lose their way in French or Spanish, but choosing a language far from the Romance language family gives her an interesting perspective and journey as she learns it. Of the titles on this list, this is the one that focuses most on learning a language as a an adult with all its potential triumphs and pitfalls. Another fascinating memoir, E.J. Koh’s The Magical Language of Others, is made up of English translations of letters her mother wrote to her in Korean after her mother returned to South Korea when Koh was 15. Koh includes some notes at the beginning on the translations and even published the handwritten letters. Her mother wrote in simplified language and addressed her as a child, using what Koh calls “kiddie diction.” I cannot read the original letters, but I wish I could. The English translations are full of love, heartache and all the complicated emotions of someone far from the person they love. While this is not about language learning, there is much to consider in the language of the letters themselves (be aware that there is some mention of eating disorders and suicide). Give this one a read if the premise appeals to you. I do not think you will be disappointed. Those are my language learning memoirs (with a few extra titles thrown in for good measure). I hope some of these inspire you to read about learning another language. There are so many ways to do it, but as an adult, it can be intimidating. Hopefully some of these titles will interest you and help those of you who are on your own language learning journey.
