the barrier of language
Hi there,
I think most of you will expect an article about the difficulty of foreign languages now. But it is not really… It’s about my thoughts about my mother tongue and the weird situation of living in a country that doesn’t speak your favorite language.
I’ve been living in Germany for all my life now, but since I was about six years old, I learned to talk in English, because my father thought it would be a good thing. And then, there was the moment, when my brain chose to think in English. It started thinking in English long before I was able to talk fluently. I can tell you, it’s an odd feeling to miss words for your own thoughts 
Okay, but as I still haven’t been to an English-speaking country and as I still live in Germany, I have to “translate” my every thought into my mother tongue before talking. When talking for a long time in German, this is no problem, but sometimes, I’m unable to find the right word in German – in my mother tongue… That’s weird!
A few years ago I started to take my nickname as my first name – okay, it is only an artist’s name by now, but I am able to write it down, when doing stuff, when filling in forms, when introducing myself to new people. This helps me a lot.
But, what is all this about? Why do I tell you this?
I write a German blog and try to write there at least 2 times a week – last year, I even wrote daily! The problem is, that I would rather write an English blog… Only problem: The people reading my blog are Germans and some of them wouldn’t understand… They wouldn’t read on… So I started an additional English blog some time last year, only to find me translating and translating… It was not what I wanted – I didn’t want to translate my German blog posts, I wanted to write an English blog. So I decided to stop this translation-nonsense and to take some time to think about it.
This blog post is the result. I want to start an English blog again and I want to write on a regular basis. I don’t really care, if there are some mistakes, I know there are (but I am thankful, if you correct me!), I just want to write.
There will be no translating of articles, this will be independent. I am sure, I’ll sometimes write about the same things in German and English, but I don’t have to and I will NOT translate!
The answer to my question is: I want to write in English, I want to write in the language of my brain and my heart and not in the language of my home. So there will be a time in the future (don’t panic, this will take a while), when there will be no German blog anymore and there will be only the English one. At least, I do hope, it will be this way.
What to expect?
What are you to expect from this blog? Hmm. To be honest, I can not quite tell… There will be articles about my thoughts, as this one is. There will be articles about my passion and job, photography, and there will be articles about the daily life. But when exactly, I will write about what – I can’t tell!
I hope, you will read on, when the next article is published and I would be glad to get some comments.
Yours,
Kate
My English is certainly not as perfect as yours, but I just love your idea and I am delighted with your enthusiasm. With all pleasure I read this article by me and I’m really fascinated .. I did not know that you grew up with two languages. Unfortunately, my English is not really good, and even though I read when I now and then some to take a dictionary .. I’m really excited about your idea.
Your poll seems to be really clear, so I am now looking forward even more to the English articles on your blog and I wish you love Kate a successful new week.
Many greetings from a big fan
Martin