Speaking in Tongues (or, The inescapable importance of languages)

Bonjour, mon amis! I hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday and preparing for Lent by eating all the things you’re going to give up.

For instance, last weekend I went to a cheese factory!

AND a chocolate factory!!

For this blog post, I thought I would talk about one of my favorite things: languages and linguistics! It’s been on my mind since we started looking for interpreters for our upcoming side event. We’ve been calling everyone on these lists that we received from an agency, asking whether or not they would be available to volunteer to interpret our event. We’ve got some hard no’s, some maybe’s, and five yes’ so we’re doing okay right now. Interpreters want to get paid (duh), so it would have been nice if some of our sponsors could have provided financial assistance. Eh, c’est la vie.

Anyway, interpreting is a different kettle of fish than translating. Interpreting is when a person verbally translates the meaning from one language to another, while translating is generally written. Interpretation is also more challenging in my opinion, because the person must be able to translate the colloquialisms of one language to another in a way that delivers the same meaning. When you get into simultaneous interpretation, the person has to be able to translate what they have just heard while memorizing what the speaker is currently saying so as to translate that as well. This website offers a basic overview if you want to understand more.

So we’ve been trying to get people who can interpret from English to Spanish, English to French, English to Arabic, and vice versa for all of those pairings. And interpreters prefer to work in pairs because, as you might imagine, it is mentally exhausting to spend to hours constantly translating one language to another in your head and then having to say your interpretation for all the people wearing earphones. Heck, just speaking for two hours straight at all would be horrible, I can’t imagine having to interpret.

What I find very interesting about all this is the clear importance that language plays in diplomacy here at the UN (which obviously means it is important to other diplomatic interactions that occur around the world at any given time). This past Tuesday was International Mother Language Day. The UN website states that “languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue.”

And it’s true. The way we understand the world is filtered through our language. Even a word as simple as “y’all.” For people who grew up not in the south of the United States, y’all is kind of funny. It’s definitely a marker, something that identifies the speaker as being from the south, from a ‘country’ area (even if they grew up in a major metropolitan area, like myself). It is more than a contraction of ‘you all.’ Y’all carries cultural connotations, a history, a statement of identity. Saying y’all is something to be proud of if you use it and something to make fun of if you don’t.

So you can imagine the cultural differences that exist in a completely different language.

In diplomacy, words are chosen very precisely. Possible connotations are heavily considered, word order is scrutinized, and God forbid someone mention that one thing that happened two hundred years ago but that stills hacks that one country off. When a diplomat is writing, they have time to make sure that everything is perfect, and they can write their speeches down beforehand if that helps. However, when they are speaking to someone who uses a different language, they have to rely on interpreters to not only translate their words, but the underlying the meaning and the feelings they wish to convey. And that requires a lot of trust.

I read this article a long time ago, but it has always stayed with me because of how true it is. Being an interpreter is more than being a mouthpiece. It is being a diplomat yourself. It means persuading the President of Country X as if you are the President of Country Y. Which honestly, must be absolutely terrifying.

So today when you go out to do whatever, I encourage you to think like an interpreter. When you’re listening to someone, don’t only listen to their words, but try to understand their meaning and feelings. Translate what they said into your own language. And to do that, you have to practice understanding their language first. After all, we can’t translate a language we don’t understand.

I’ll leave you with this quote:

I'm a firm believer that language and how we use language determines how we act, and how we act then determines our lives and other people's lives.

- Ntozake Shange

Until next time!

CHILLON CASTLE!!! (or, Don't you think castles are super cool!!)

Bonjour, y’all! Guess who went to a castle???

It was me. I went to a castle. AND IT WAS LEGIT!

So Chillon Castle is in Montreux, Switzerland and was in fact the inspiration for the castle in the Little Mermaid. Look that stuff up, I ain’t lying. Anyway, We did that and then went to Lausanne and saw some stuff, but mostly I’m just going to post a ton of pictures because they are super beautiful and we had an awesome view. Enjoy!

That view though!

Seriously feeling like the queen of the world

Say thank you to Gabby for her awesome panorama shot

And this is the jerk machine that ate our money

CASTLE!!

CASTLE!!!!!!!!

Start in the courtyard, of course

They make their own wine here!

Dungeons were angsty poets (like Byron) can come and visit for inspiration

There were many interesting things here...

...Like a crazy number of chests

That had pretty decent decorations if we're honest

And FIREPLACES!!

BEDROOMS!!

SWEET VIEWS!!

AND BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!

I love books

So much

I just thought this sign was adorable

Of course, there must be a moat for the lakeside castle

And I took pictures of it all!!

(And Gabby took pictures of me. You're welcome, Mom.)

GAH, IT WAS SO PRETTY

Like, are you kidding me with this??

For your viewing pleasure, some awesome scenery

CHILEAN CASTLE, EVERYONE

So yeah, long story short, the castle was super cool. While we were still in Montreux, we stopped along the lake because there is a statue of Freddie Mercury there in memorial. Apparently, he lived in Montreux and really loved the town. He also owned a recording studio there. It is still in existence and proceeds go to maintaining his house (which was farther away, otherwise I totally would have gone). 

(I sang Bohemian Rhapsody because...because.)

Then we went on to Lausanne where we saw the amazing Notre Dame Cathedral (no, not that one) before heading home in the early evening.

Olympic train station awesomeness

MARIA RITA, GET AWAY FROM THE EVIL SWAN

Look at all the boats though!

THE CATHEDRAL

Quite lovely

Gorgeous stained glass

I love me some stained glass

I tripped over this jerk. Rude.

And the obligatory giant organ

So over all, I would say this weekend was a success. Work is going to kick into high gear soon and I'll probably have a lot more to tell you all about the UN things I'll be doing. We're also making good progress on our side event flyer. Maybe next time I'll be able to post a draft! Until then!

Let There Be Peace on Earth (or, Sometimes you just slip and fall into philosophy)

Hello all! I’m starting my fourth week in Geneva and time is moving fast! We’ve gone to the UN a few times for events, written some reports, sent some official looking emails, and we’re working on making a flyer for our Side Event in March. We also just had a visit from Sr. Maria Teresa, the Provincial of the Lombardi region, which is the one Geneva falls under. 

Aw yeah, meeting time.

Aw yeah, discussion time.

During the goodnight, she stated that for us to create peace externally, we must first find peace internally. So let’s talk about that.

The United Nations is about peace. Oh, there are politics and infighting and all that stuff that comes along with countries getting together to try and hash something out. But really, ultimately, most of the people that walk through the doors of the UN, no matter which doors they are, are in search of a way to end conflict and find peace.

Defining peace is difficult. One definition says that it is a state or period in which there is no war or war has ended. That’s a fairly specific definition that works pretty well when you are talking about the internal physical situation within a country; however, it doesn’t really show what peace looks like socially or emotionally. There is also the definition that says peace is being free from dissension, like if a union does not disagree with the heads of an industry or company. Again, this definition fails to describe a peace that exists on an emotional level, though it could be said that it works as a social definition. Yet another definition says that peace is being free from disturbance. That is broad enough that it could feasibly apply anywhere, yet still, I wonder what that kind of peace actually looks like in practice.

In the book A Brave New World, people have found ‘peace’ through basically destroying the ability of a person to feel emotion and through suppression of certain people through a caste system. It isn’t a perfect world as there are people who are living outside that ‘peaceful’ society that continue to live in a way that would be much more familiar to those of us living in this world, a society that has marriage, religion, and all the other parts of community that allow for individualistic tendencies. However, the main character views these people as barbaric and uncivilized. There are plenty of novels that touch on the same idea: a utopian society that reaches peace through the destruction of the population’s capacity to feel emotion, or other ways to suppress individual feelings that might cause a disconnect with the State.

There are some people today that might think the same thing. Not necessarily that destruction of emotion will cause peace, but that human feelings preclude true and lasting peace. The concept of psychological egoism is that people do the things they do for their own benefit or satisfaction, even if it seems altruistic. We’re not going to get into this too much because I’m not a philosopher. Plenty of philosophers and students of philosophy have expanded on this concept, but the idea can (for us non-philosophers) be simply boiled down to, ‘people are inherently selfish.’ And if people are inherently selfish, then they will try to put themselves above other people, whether through subjugation of the other or violence or what have you.

So is peace possible?

This is where I want to bring back in what Sr. Maria Teresa said. Peace externally can only happen when we have peace internally.

So first, let’s discuss what peace externally even looks like. For me, it will include the obvious. There won’t be any violence, whether that’s physical, verbal, or emotional violence. That means no discrimination as well. No war is a given. However, peace isn’t about conformity, but accepting and appreciating diversity. In my mind, peace does not necessitate constant agreement, but rather a way of interacting that always recognizing the dignity of the other. Peace means conversations and debates that are characterized by open discussion when there are disagreements rather than resorting to name-calling or mudslinging. I know that it doesn’t seem possible in today’s world, but if you look around, you’ll find plenty of people have learned how to do it.

There’s a lot more to external peace, but let’s just say that these are the basic things that we would want to achieve. Now, close your eyes and picture this world. Picture a place where this is all possible.

How do we get there? If the answer is internal peace, then what does that even look like?

Let’s imagine that at the center of each person is a diamond. The diamond is pretty much indestructible. As we go through life, we get scratched up. We fall down and skin our knees or get a papercut. Then there are the bigger hurts, like when you’re playing volleyball and you get a concussion, or you’re doing gymnastics and you fall and break your arm. There are times when someone purposefully hurts you, when you’re beaten by someone you love or a stranger violates you, just because they can. And these are just the physical. Imagine every emotional injury leaves a scar that is just as big, just as noticeable. The person who faces discrimination, the kid whose parents scream at him when they fail a test, the person whose partner is always putting them down. All those scars, all those bruises, loud on skin for everyone to see.

But still, there is the diamond. And no matter what is happening on the outside, the diamond is still there at the center of each person, indestructible.

I think that is what internal peace is like.

It’s not breakable once you finally get it, but sometimes it’s hard to reach because we get so caught up in the anger and frustration and sadness of living. Inner peace is the acceptance of the realization that I will make it through this and nothing can change me unless I let it. Many of the religious that I have met over this last year have found inner peace, but not all of them have. For those who have, it was the result of trust in God, the acceptance that things will happen around them and to them, but that ultimately they are held in the power of someone greater. Inner peace doesn’t mean getting rid of emotion, but rather accepting those emotions as part of life’s journey. Negative emotions are just as valid as positive ones, and can even be used to motivate us to create positive change, but letting negative emotions control us to the extent that we no longer respect the dignity of the other is when inner peace has either been deserted or lost.

And if we don’t work on maintaining that inner peace, we cannot expect the world around us to reach a peace that people do not feel.

People have a right to feel angry. We have the right to feel happy and sad and frustrated and all the spectrum of emotions. This is not A Brave New World. But we should work on finding our own peace as we work towards external peace as well.

And in the end, hopefully, we will have a world that mirrors the peace inside each of our own hearts.