The backstory behind bilingualism

Ngā mihi nui ki a tatou i tēnei tauhou, Greetings to all and a happy New Year.

To start off this year’s contributions, I would like to share with you some thoughts about the backstory behind bilingualism.

It is common to hear that gaining a second language gives insights into other ways of thinking, and that culture and language are inextricably linked. In New Zealand there is prevalent view that we can learn Māori culture without learning the language. It is probable that this is an idea shaped by the misconception that culture is only song and dance.

For the purpose of this discussion though I would like us to consider culture as the system of customs, beliefs and values held by a people.

Learning the haka Ka Mate Ka Mate implies more than just knowing the words. A full understanding of the haka requires knowledge of the literal meaning of the words and the message it intends to convey. To do this one would need to understand the value system and customs of the author and the significance to him of the circumstances which instigated the haka.

To demonstrate the vastly different ways in which people interpret the world, consider the concept of time. “…going forward” is a commonly heard phrase, as is, “don’t dwell on the past.”

A Martian visiting us would think that looking forward into the unknown (the future) is an important feature of Western thinking, and the past is less important and relegated to some place on the back shelf.

In Māori the word for past in time is “mua” which is also means in front of and “muri” means future and behind. Clearly Māori have a different perspective. You might say that figuratively one faces the past and the future is behind us where we can’t see it.

Interestingly in Māori, time seems to travel in a vertical direction. ‘Te ra kei te heke mai’ is a way of expressing “next day”, heke meaning descending. Yesterday is expressed as, “te ra kua taha ake”, ake indicates an upward movement away from the speaker. So in this view tomorrow drops in on us and when it becomes yesterday, it returns to the heavens. I feel as if English considers time as something which moves horizontally but I can’t presently put my finger on how I get that idea. Any ideas?

To finish this little discussion I will leave you with a brainteaser. In Māori numbers take the form of verbs. So the number rua can be preceded by any one of a number of tense markers, eg, “Ka tahi, ka rua, ka toru, ka wha.” So in Māori a number is a verb.

What would that look like in English or French?

Because the concept is so foreign to most of us it is almost impossible to conceive of numbers being verbs and how they would work.

Through learning another language one gains deep insights into the culture which is expressed by that language.

Noho ora mai ra,

Chris Lowman