miscellaneous

my gift

My tongue.
So different to yours,
unique in every way imaginable.

My mouth,
moulds my words in a way that makes total sense to me,
but is completely unintelligible to you.

My dialogue,
at times bland and forceful,
is not worthy to be compared to the calm cohesive tone of yours,
which never ceases to end with its signature exotic ring,
or its roll of the tongue when pronouncing a word containing the letter 'r'.

Our terms and phrases,
no matter its origin,
reflects the exact emotion wanting to be portrayed by an individual.
Therefore, it doesn't take a translator to understand what is truly meant.

Our words,
a gorgeous piece of art.
A great splendour.
Such a beauty.
Rich in creativity.
Something to take pride in.

Our voice.
Our speech.
Our tongue.
Our words.
They all make us people; not of the past,
not of our ancestors who haven't a damn clue of diversity, of liberation, of true freedom.
No. You see, they lived in a time when each word was to be articulated with such precision,
That they all ended up sounding exactly the same.
And being the same as everyone else was not the reason languages were created.

For languages were born,
to glorify and express ourselves as individuals.
To be recognised in a sea of billions.
To be known for who we are,
and who we want to be.
To be loved and desired.
Those were the reasons languages were made.

So be proud of your tongue!
Be free to speak out!
Because your language make you special.
Languages make you stand out like a bright light that keeps shining amongst the darkness.

And if all I said is not enough, remember that your language, your voice
is a gift.
And this gift of yours is one of the few things in life that no one can ever, EVER take away from you.

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this is giving me real Sophia Thakur vibes lol

I wrote this for a poetry competition based on languages and international cultures last year. I found it in my miscellaneous files on my google drive (how ironic) and was like, "why nOt".

I wrote this because i used to encounter people that were ashamed of speaking their home language (especially when I was in primary school). I was always so confused as to why someone would whisper reluctantly to their parents when they were in public, or when they pretended as if they were british when they were with their friends. As someone who never had the chance to learn her home language (and is struggling, but determined, to learn it), i think it's quite odd, and quite frankly, stupid to want to hide a valuable and fundamental part of your identity: i always thought it'll be fun to vibe with someone who can understand jokes or sly insults in your language when no one else could, or having the pride in saying that you are bilingual/polyglot. Personally, I think its fricken amazing (and kind of attractive) if you can speak more than one language.

I hoped that through this spoken words piece, people would see how beautiful languages are and how you should value your own, or even try to learn one.

<3