The immigrant’s language differs from the language they speak in their historic homeland. You might have noticed it before, or you might haven’t noticed it at all and have found out about it only now.

For us immigrants, the language hasn’t changed since we left. It remained the same as when we brought it from the motherland.

Some words transformed their meaning right before my eyes. For instance, at the time when I was leaving Russia, visitors were invited to sit by the word садиться. Now people are more likely to say присаживайтесь. The next example is about the word задний. For me, задний means someone standing at the back. Nowadays, in Russia, this word has acquired the meaning of последний. In my girlhood, the word касаемо apparently meant что касается. It sounds rough to me now as it referred to spoken language. I’m not criticizing; I’m just stating the fact that my language is becoming archaic. I simply can’t keep up with it.

Continue reading “What Language Do We Learn?” →