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Multilingualism Quotes

Browse 46 quotes about Multilingualism.

Multilingualism Quotes

“Vicdansaadet, The Sonnet I have many names, Sometimes I am Hometown Human, Sometimes I am Mucize Insan, Sometimes I am Ingan Impossible, Sometimes I am Mukemmel Musalman, Sometimes I am Dervish Advaitam, Sometimes I am Bulldozer on Duty, Sometimes I am Corazon Calamidad, Sometimes I am High Voltage Habib, Sometimes I am Himalayan Sonneteer, Sometimes I am The Gentalist, Sometimes I am Divane Dynamite, Sometimes I am Rowdy Scientist. These all look and sound so different, because you are distant in culture. Move past the circus of manmade caves, within every heart you'll find a Naskar. Call it Naskar, Shams or Adi Shankara, it is all but one spirit of oneness. Wherever the fire of integration takes hold, there emerges Vicdansaadet.”

“Spangskritlish (Sonnet for Tomorrow's Citizen) जाग्रत, उत्तिष्ठ, जगत् स्कन्धे गृहाण, आत्मानं विस्मरतु, संसारस्य अश्रुमार्जयतु। द्वेषं हिंसां च सर्वं परित्यज्य, जाग्रत, उत्तिष्ठ, सुमनुष्य भवतु। Eres Dios, eres diablo - Lo que decidas, ¡así será! Human destiny is human decision, Somos la iluminación en toda oscuridad. We are the illumination, We are the answer to our prayer. Karanlık bile korkacak bizden, When we rise as each other's keeper. Dolor del mundo es nuestro dolor. While the apes doze, human builds the road.”

“Eres Dios, eres diablo - Lo que decidas, ¡así será! Human destiny is human decision, Somos la iluminación en toda oscuridad. We are the illumination, We are the answer to our prayer. Karanlık bile korkacak bizden, When we rise as each other's keeper. Dolor del mundo es nuestro dolor. While the apes doze, human builds the road.”

“My most soulful words come from me as a sufi (muslim) poet, my most righteous words come from me as a humanitarian scientist, my most passionate words come from me as a latin lover, and my most humane words come from me as an advaitin (nondualist). The entire world is contained in my chest. Vilify a single culture, and you vilify me.”

“Plenticultural (Sonnet 1434) When I get mad, I revert to English, because English is my first language. When I feel romantic, I revert to Turkish, because Turkish is my love language. When I feel passionate, I revert to Spanish, because Spanish is my passion language. When I feel electric, I revert to Telugu, because Telugu is my power language. When nothing works, I revert to Korean, because Korean is my backup language. And you wonder why I never run empty, why the natural spring is ever abundant! Language is the gateway to culture, Culture is the gateway to life. I am no person who speaks many tongues, I am the proof of plenticultural life.”

“The biggest requirement of learning is to know your limits of the moment. Let me elaborate with an example. Alongside my mainstream works, I have wanted to create complete works in turkish and spanish for several years. And few years back, with my rather limited experiential understanding of both languages, I even took it upon myself to do so, but I got stuck on the very first page. Why? Because it is one thing to pen occasional gems in another language, and totally different to release an entire work in that language. I was ready at heart, but not at brain. So, instead of writing whole works in these languages, I simply made turkish and spanish a joyful addition to my mainstream work - however the original linguistic and cultural intention kept reflecting in the titles of works, such as Aşkanjali, The Gentalist, Gente Mente Adelante, Mucize Insan and so on. It was not until late 2023 that my brain finally caught up with my heart, and delivered the first complete original turkish and spanish Naskarean works to the world. Know your strongholds, they'll take you far. Know your shortfalls, they'll take you farther. Strongholds help you enhance your predominant capacities, whereas shortfalls help you unfold new possibilities - they help you unfold new vistas of human endeavor.”

“Would-be writers often ask me, do I ever get writer's block! I tell them, you get writer's block when you're imprisoned in one language and culture. Like the wind, I think, feel and live in numerous languages and cultures, which keeps me ever-ripe with more ideas than I could put down on pages. Whether you are a writer or not, learn a language - it not only expands your head, it expands your heart, and makes you more humane. Porque, un idioma es una autopista a una cultura. A language is a freeway to a culture. Thus, learning a language is one of the tangible endeavors to help eliminate hate from the world.”

“Language is Highway to A Culture (Diary of A Polyglot Neuroscientist, S.2392) Languages are not ornaments, languages are organs, channeling spirit from the heart. Language is highway to a culture, language requires a vessel, not translator. Soon earbuds will feature instant translation, which will render crosscultural conversation seamless, but at the same time, lifeless, hollow and cold. Until we develop the brain technology to communicate meaning telepathically without talking, no amount of translation can carry the warmth, nuances and sentiment of a lived language. As added perk, speaking more than one language delays age-related cognitive decline. Therefore no matter how you look at it, one broken second language is far more valuable than all the mass-produced subtitles.”

“I grew up speaking two languages, mother tongue and national tongue, then in my late teens I assimilated English from pirated dvds of American movies; soon after I absorbed another language, from the South of India, again from movies. Years later when I started writing and got WiFi, that's when an entire new horizon opened up. This time I found myself drawn to Turkish and Spanish, which became second languages in the canon, after my first English. I don't describe, I embody - I don't study a culture, I disappear into the culture.”

“Pilgrim of Language (Sonnet) How will you know if you can speak another language? If you can curse someone on impulse without memorizing, you got the language in your gut. If you can console someone in pain, the language nestles in your heart. No es necessario que hablar guapisimo, solamente necessario que hablar amable. All those pedestals of language levels, a, b, z, and what not, are elitist garbage. Chase after form, and you'll miss the soul - throw yourself into the soul, and neurons will regrow. Forget grammar, forget vocabulary, let the language seep into your bloodstream. In a world infested with medal-seeking mules, stand odd, stand ablaze, a drunken pilgrim.”

“The sun doesn't know how to shine over only one planet, I don't know how to illuminate only one culture. What this means is that, it's not that I don't write from the narrow prehistoric confines of one single culture or tribe - I don't know how to.”

“Hometown Human Sonnet Everybody loves Rumi, I learnt his tongue, So I could pick up where he left off. Better than basking in borrowed light, Is to be an original light to the world. Everybody yells, viva la libertad, I learnt el idioma, so I could humanize the paradigm of revolution. Everybody loves Indus valley diversity, Annitiki munde anni shaashtralu nerchkunnanu, So I'm never out of spice for my humanitarianism. Everybody loves boasting about their culture, I spent years making all the cultures my own. Thus my strength was amplified a thousand folds, My sight expanded beyond all norms of vision known. Polyglots have more fun - there is no question. When science, poetry and polyglottery come together, That's the beginning of a paradigm bending revolution.”

“The Whirling Linguist (Naskaristana 2670-2671) Language is a paradox, by ambition it is expansive, but by neurology it is restrictive, and language tied to ideology, is downright decrepit. I live in six languages, and occasionally dabble in a few more, and I learnt none inside classrooms, I just outgrew the jungle memberships. What makes a language native is not flawless syntax or grammar, but a shameless flow of passion. For example, yo soy humano, por que humano? cunku benim icin bi tek insanlik onemli - sesangi sarang, sarangi sesang - and to hell with armchair linguists and grammar nazis, who can't tell day from night without consulting textbooks - I'm the center that the dervish whirls around, I'm the flame that syllables dance around, I'm the immeasurable that your complex-obsessed psychology books patronize with analysis, and philosophy books desecrate with ivory-tower, lifeless logic disconnected from soil, most of whom are more interested in calculation and condescension than the elevation of human condition. You think Naskar writes me, Naskar is an idiot, I'm beyond Naskar, beyond every single puny mortal brain, I'm the original sentience that occasionally seeks out fitting vessels, with a dominant tendency of expansion and a tinge of naivety, and makes them whirl at my whim, so that your little toddler species doesn't crawl back into jungle slime.”

“The Good Conqueror (Sonnet) Born in the land of multiculturalism, I grew up speaking three languages, mother tongue, national tongue and English. Then in my late teens I acquired my fourth tongue Telugu on a whim, and later along the years, I acquired my fifth, Turkish, which became my dearest, and my sixth, yet to be perfected, Spanish. That's the only conquest I care about, for language is the highway to culture. Not real estate, gadgets or cash, give me languages, give me cultures. English is my work language, Turkish is my love language. Science is my brain language, Integration, my heart language.”

“Born in the land of multiculturalism, I grew up speaking three languages, mother tongue, national tongue and English. Then in my late teens I acquired my fourth tongue Telugu on a whim, and later along the years, I acquired my fifth, Turkish, which became my dearest, and my sixth, yet to be perfected, Spanish. That's the only conquest I care about, for language is the highway to culture. Not real estate, gadgets or cash, give me languages, give me cultures.”

“When I wanna pen something extremely personal, without actually revealing anything, I just write it in spanish or turkish. If you wanna study the mountain, study the mainstream work - but if you wanna learn about the person, study the turkish and spanish portion of my work. That's why most of the titles of my works are in turkish or spanish - because I can't write a single word unless I feel the title boiling in my blood - and although English is unofficially the first language of earth, because of its savage imperialist history, it is neither the profoundest nor the most beautiful language on earth. Does that mean, we should wipe out english from the world altogether? Of course not - that would be yet another boneheaded exercise in bigotry and intolerance. Instead, what's really needed is a genuine humane intention to create a truly magnificent multilingual society - towards a multicultural world. Learn to look beyond the puny confines of one petty language, because the world is too grand to be wasted in the gutter of one language and one culture. Every culture is my culture, every country is mine - defiant descendants of divided ancestors, hand in hand we shall fly.”