When I went to the old run down BIA compound and looked out on the tundra, I was moved to tears and this feeling that I couldn't describe. It was just so wonderful. And then the same thing happened when I went to the sewage lagoon, and looked out across fireweed to ducks happily swimming (in raw sewage?) and the water reflecting the sunset.
I remember reading a book by Julia Alvarez, and remember coming across a quote that said something like "only an idiot would choose to speak English on purpose". The more languages I learn, the more I think this is true.
There's no word to describe what I was feeling in that first paragraph in English completely, but in Yup'ik there is: nunanirnaqvaa.
It is used as an exclamation and means: My it's so beautiful, it fills me with joy!
...someone once said...English is just French...badly mis-pronounced.
ReplyDeleteU.M.