I relate to the things you write about Not-NESs :) i'm from Germany and after school lessons endorsed myself into learning english for the sake of understanding episodes of TV shows that weren't translated yet - and I often find myself reading fics that I smile because I find german expressions translated by word, and/or expressions that I never heard before. I am enriched by the fact of so many languages meeting in thr middle for fandom, I wish more could overlook little hard edges
Ps I studied ancient greek + ancient hebrew on a theological seminary a year ago. I am aware that it is different from the currently spoken greek, but your posts remind me of that. And, sometimes your head gets stuck in one language? We also had a classmate from kasachstan, from time to time mixed in some english with her german, and one time she told us we need to βλÎπω, when she wanted to show us something :)
It happens to me a lot of the times, too, but mostly just between english and german because, though I learnd french, I barely use it. Mega-kudos to you for, on top of learning another language, also learning a new alphabet :)
Luckily (?) the attitude of many Greek people is actually helping children learn English faster. The fact that the road signs are both in Greek and in English, for example, or even from the beginning, some toys for babies and toddlers are not even translated, or some “educational” ones use some English words. Plus no foreign movies/shows are dubbed anymore here, so we’re exposed to a lot of English, whether it’s by reading or hearing it - I remember the first show I tried to watch without subtitles as a teenager was Charmed. So the Latin alphabet doesn’t feel that far from what I’m accustomed to.Â
On the other hand, we’re learning a Tchaikovsky song in my choir, and I look at the Russian letters and feel like I have to decrypt a code :P let alone Asian alphabets :P
But agreed, it is so beautiful when a fandom is multi-cultural! Especially for OUAT, which despite its problems had many chances for people from other countries to offer their two cents of lore knowledge. But it’s generally the best when people from the States or Canada (people who have way more chances to attend cons and watch the show being filmed) happily share those experiences with us. It’s amazing and I wish they knew what kind of positive influence this has to people like us who can’t afford to go there.
I know aaaaall about getting stuck on one language XD But I’m always astonished by people who are not native Greek speakers and manage to learn even a few Ancient Greek! As I said above, we’re easily accustomed to the Latin alphabet, but the Greek alphabet to someone who’s not accustomed to it? I asked a tourist from Poland once, and he replied that it reminded him of Russian and Bulgarian... while I consider the Latin alphabet closer to the Greek one than I do the Cyrillic one :P
I think we should exchange kudos, for managing to communicate in a language neither of us is a native speaker of. Sometimes I think we forget how awesome that is :)
