It was a Saturday morning and I was writing. I’m usually always writing in the morning. Especially on Saturdays. And when I’m inspired, I write poetry.  And, writing poetry, for me, is about finding my words in English. It’s about searching for words –  hunting for words and phrases.

 

And, thinking about this idea, I wrote this poem called:

 

It’s Saturday Morning

It´s Saturday morning  and
I´m poised (balanceado) over this page
like a hawk (halcón)
hovering (planeando) above her prey
ready to drop (caer)
upon an unsuspecting word –
a sumptuous phrase
that she can live off (alimentarse)
for days

(Jan, 2019)

Now, reading it over and over again, I realize how much I love finding my words in English. It’s my first language and still, I’m really searching for my words. I can’t imagine writing this poem in Spanish or Catalan. I would have chosen totally different words. Even the words I translated don’t sound exactly right.

 

So, this makes me think about finding my words in my other languages and about all the people I know, who are searching for their own words in English.

 

For example,…

Sergio needed to give a Webinar introducing a software program. He could already speak English, but, he told me, he wanted to find a better style and some new phrases and specific words in English. Over 2 months, we searched for and found new words and phrases – ways to transition into new ideas – and even a sense of humor.  And it changed his style completely. Really, there weren´t more than 20 phrases and a handful of new words in English. But they made a huge difference.

 

Let’s come back to the beginning – and ask:

How can you find your Words in English?

 

I composed a video about this. See what you think?

 

And there are always a million more questions to ask,
for example:

 

Do you have enough words in English?
For you, What IS “enough’’ words in English?
Can you use most of these words when you are speaking with an English speaker? Can you find them when you really need them?
How do you remember new words in English?
When will you start using these new words in new conversations?

And I wonder what your responses will be, and
what you wonder about as you are
searching for    and finding
your words in English.

That’s enough for now.

Feel free to send your words this way.

 

Rachel

 

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FULL TEXT to the video

Finding Ways to Find my Words

It seems I spend my days
finding ways to find MY words
just these words
the ones I need
just enough words in this
OTHER language

Remember, the other language is the language that you learned AFTER learning to write.

So how do we find these words – our words, YOUR words
in this OTHER language?
They are all right there really-
dancing over pages
through songs and movies
and all we need to do is
catch them,
slow them down,
filter them out from the rest and
even stop them in their tracks
and find just the words we need.
That´s why
It seems I spend my days
finding ways to find my words
just these words.