Notes from Maine - 2023/03/19

I’ve been studying Spanish for a while—it’s part of my ongoing effort to ensure that my brain remains active and unsettled. When something intrigues me, I dive in and see if I can develop an obsession. I assign myself bonus points if the obsession becomes overwhelming, makes me uncomfortable, and invades my sleep.

Through learning another language, I see things a little differently. In Spanish, there’s a different verb used for a property that’s intrinsic, and one that’s potentially temporary. I’m not describing this well—maybe I’m forgetting how to use English.

Here’s an example:

“I’m not too busy. I’m just lazy.”

“No estoy demasiado ocupado. Solo soy perezoso.”

This is something I said earlier today, when explaining to myself why certain things don’t get done. Note that the quality of “busy” (ocupado) is assigned with the verb “estoy,” which suggests that it’s a malleable quality. Estoy is used for a temporary state of something. In the second sentence, the quality of “lazy” (perezoso) is assigned with “soy,” which suggests it’s more a permanent attribute. English gives the two things (busy and lazy) the same weight. In Spanish, I’m a lazy person who happens to be “not too busy” at the moment. That seems way more accurate. 

I listen to a lot of interviews (on podcasts) of successful and famous people who are forever congratulating each other on how hard they worked for what they achieved. I don’t doubt it. Some people are just driven to accomplish things. From the moment they wake up, until they finally get to bed at the end of an endless day, they’re moving and working. But I know tons of people like that who are neither successful nor famous. Hard work and effort don’t guarantee success unless I drastically revise my understanding of the word. I was raised by TV. Success is money, and fame is being on TV.

Happiness, fulfillment, contentment, and intellectual stimulation aren’t measured on the same scale. They probably can’t be. If you’re content are you going to get up and toil in the same way? Isn’t a lack of contentment the thing that makes people work so hard? I remember being told to “follow my dreams,” but I don’t remember anything about achieving my dreams. The idea is to be focused on constant improvement and reaching higher and higher. If we’re approaching a finish line, it’s time to move that line out to the horizon again.

The word “again,” is used frequently in English. We can use it to mean “once more,” “another time,” or “afresh,” or “anew.” Most of the time, we just say, “again,” leaving it to the listener/reader to make the distinction. In Spanish (from what I understand), you are likely to either say, “de nuevo,” which is like anew or afresh, or, “otra vez,” which aligns with another time.

Example: “I’m trying to pick up new skill again.”

Do I mean, “Yet again, one more time, I’m taking a deep breath, bracing myself and trying to open up to some new skill.”

Perhaps I mean, “I’m looking at the world with fresh new eyes and embracing a new skill.”

Using English, I would have to work harder to build the context. It feels like Spanish (in this example) makes you choose the intent based on which phrase you use for “again.”

Speaking of “work,” English uses it a lot. 

“Before work I like to work out watching TV, but this remote doesn’t work.”

Translated to Spanish, work could mean, “to work,” “job,” “work of art,” and there are probably more. The last part of the sentence, “this remote doesn’t work,” always tripped me up when I was translating. We’re really saying that the remote control doesn’t function. I think it’s meaningful that working and functioning are synonyms in English. If it doesn’t work it doesn’t function. 

I’m not trying to sound deep and thoughtful here—I’m just describing where I tripped up when learning a new language. There were deep grooves carved in my brain over decades and I related them very strictly to the words I had for them. By learning a new language, I was pushed back a step and made to reconsider things that I thought were synonymous. 

I just started American Sign Language. It’s starting to give me more of a perspective on the kinetics of different ideas. If you see me at a party, come talk to me—I’m insufferable. Honestly though, if you see me at a party, you better tell me to wake up because one of us is having a nightmare. 

Back to my original point—it seems like I have a million things to do today, but I’m just sitting here. It’s not that I’m too busy. I’m just lazy.