Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

You are here

A poem for the discussion of Multilingualism

sarak's picture

I recently found this poem by Gustavo Pérez Firmat (reading Junot Diaz's Drown), which I thought was an eloquent expression of what some multilingual individuals may experience; it is definitely what I have experienced as a primarily Russian speaker in my high school in DC.

 

"The fact that I 

am writing to you

in English

already falsifies what I

wanted to tell you.

My subject:

how to explain to you that I

don't belong to English

though I belong nowhere else"

 

~Gustavo Pérez Firmat

Comments

jccohen's picture

Thanks for sharing this - such a brief, powerful expression of language and belonging!