A phenomenon takes place in El Salvador every time I open my mouth. I turn into a different person each time I speak Spanish.
Eric as I have always known him disappears and I become your favorite, kind, old neighbor rocking a sweater - Mr. Rogers. I had always hoped my Spanish alter-ego would sound more like Antonio Banderas or Gael Garcia Bernal, sleek, mysterious, with sexy dripping off of each word. But no, I transform into the polar opposite of Antonio and Gael, Mr. Rogers. My voice undergoes certain changes when I speak Spanish; it deepens and adopts a warmly formal tone, one that suggests images of cardigans, checkers with your grandpa, and a warm fireplace.
I have always thought of speaking a foreign language as a performance. The mimicry, opportunity to become a new personality, the memorization of vocabulary like lines for a play, always made me feel like I was on the stage. For me, being Mr. Rogers does not really come as a surprise. I always knew I was someone else in Spanish. What is interesting is that now I spend more time in the “performance” than I do as myself. I am Señor Rogers more often than I am the English speaking Eric I have known the majority of my life. The one thing Mr. Rogers and Eric agree on is that language and identity are intimately connected and we recreate ourselves each time we learn a new language.
The real question is would you be mine, could you be mine, oh won’t you be…my neighbor?
Picture this...
ReplyDeleteAntonio Banderas's voice coming out of Mr. Rogers's body!
Did I just freak your freak?
Fun fact... did you know that Antonio Banderas wanted the lead role in Nine... but his accent kept him from getting the part? Like he could have beat out Daniel Day Lewis for the part. Has DDL ever not gotten a movie role he wanted? I don't think so.
I'm working on a new blog entry... so keep an eye out for it!
Oh my goodness. I LOVE this. I would happily be your neighbor. Although this Mr. Rogers thing is hard for me to picture because to me your spanish speaking alter ego is an arrogant asshole intellectual with shoes that click as you walk down hallways... maybe that is just your dream tango alter ego though... either way i love you sweater-wearing sugar muffin face!
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