Language/Idioma/Langue
I was a little too obsessed with telling people I was multilingual as a kid.....
After writing my bookstore list a few weeks ago, I was assigned a book, Dictée, for my Media Aesthetics class. This multifaceted text explored the autobiography in such a distinct way, it grasped me for my own struggle towards understanding myself. As seen in my Common App Essay, I see such an art in communication and storytelling, as it is a necessary art to our human development.
For starters, my nationality, ethnicity, and heritage are all different….which already throws people off. Let’s begin with ethnicity as that’s what I usually introduce myself considering besides being born and raised in New York City, I am 3/4 Colombian and 1/4 Hungarian.
My mom was born and raised in Bogotá to parents of Ashkenazi Jewish descent (from what is now Romania and Ukraine) who were also raised in Colombia and moved to the United States to attend university. Although she did not moving full time to the U.S. until she was eighteen, my mom already had significant American immersion, from attending the American School to going to Miami frequently (she in fact almost went to boarding school here as well), but she did not receive American citizenship until seventeen years living here. Honestly, she did a good job making us feel somewhat Colombian though (even though we were definitely New Yorkers as well), by immersing us in the culture everywhere, including spending plenty of time with relatives in Bogotá and Cartagena.
My dad was born and raised in New York (like my brothers and I) to a Hungarian (1/2 Jewish, 1/2 Catholic…hence Fodor) surgeon and Colombian (1/2 Ashkenazi Jewish of Ukrainian descent, 1/2 Sephardic Jewish of Uzbek descent) designer. His father’s family immigrated a little north of Chicago to Milwaukee, where my great grandfather was denied medical practice for his origin some point after World War II (he was a professor though)! and his mother after stints in French school system (where she knew my mom’s mother as well…they were classmates) in Bogotá, New York, and Switzerland, returned to New York to settle down. Their marriage was brief (the ‘70s baby) but thankfully, my grandmother eventually met and married a wonderful Argentine man (who I consider my grandfather and hence why I supported Argentina in 2022…Colombia did not qualify) and I adore him soooo much.
There’s my ethnicity and heritage (in the parenthesis). Basically, I am Colombian Jewish (the two together always despite how shocked people may be) and Hungarian (I cannot speak a word but have been to Budapest, which I loved, and have to always explain Fodor to other Latins) but I would love to say I am Argentine too. But what’s the fuss with my nationality? Well obviously I am American…I was born facing the East River and all (although my paternal grandmother and I agree that we are New Yorkers first jajaja) but I’m also Spanish through my mom’s family. Obviously not complaining! To further complicate things, although I am fully Colombian, I have relatives from all throughout Latin America (Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Peru) through marriage and upbringings, but since there are so few Latin Jews, I honestly see less of a difference.
Ok….now back to languages aka the original reason, I wrote this rant. I love languages so much! Although I was fully raised in New York, my first language was Spanish, which I am not going to lie got worse with age (totally normal) but I was very aware of my Latin identity from the beginning. My favorite characters growing up included Dora and Alex Russo, both of whom are Latina!
I began speaking English at three, which obviously took over fast, as I went to school always in English…and then at six, I began learning French. As I mentioned previously, my two grandmothers attended the French school together, so besides thirteen years (plus this spring quarter) of classes, they were my two closest French correspondents (my parents know French as well but they never could help me with grammar and tenses and stuff at a certain point despite both of them studying in Paris). French for me has always been a special language…I have studied their literature, history, and culture (as well as film and art…I’ve actually written an original screenplay in it) in school and plan on studying abroad there. It is a really special language for me as it connects me to the women in my life (my great grandmothers know quite a bit and my godmother is French) as well as I kept it for all thirteen years of schooling.
Besides these three consistent languages, I was always fascinated with learning more. In primary school, I was honestly obsessed with this YouTube video of this NY teenager (who I soon found out went to my school many years ago) who spoke like twenty plus languages. Around the age of ten, I self taught myself Japanese out of sheer interest and knew some (albeit biblical) Hebrew then too (thank you Bat Mitzvah)! Today, I still am fine with the pronunciation of one and know the alphabet of the other so I can probably relearn either if it ever interested me. When I was researching for my secondary school thesis, I was really into learning German and found a program in NYU and all but decided against it with the heft of senior year.
As mentioned in my post “I <3 Reading,” I feel pretty comfortable with most Romance languages as well and could become fluent if I tried harder (my grandmother speaks Italian and my grandfather speaks Portuguese…and I have friends who can help me with either as well). I have spent quite a bit of time in Italy and have been to both Brazil and Portugal and I actually plan on taking Italian for Romance language speakers at some point! In all irony, Nico, my nearly seventeen year old brother, had the opposite experience with me when deciding languages and chose Mandarin Chinese to be different than everyone else.
Regardless, it would be sick to casually know and understand every spoken language in the world. Communication is a fascination field and by immersing myself in various media and cultures, I feel I get a taste of the beauty the world offers. This is why I love travelling (especially to new places) as it really gives you a sampling of other distinct experiences. Despite that, I still have a special place in my heart for the cultures I have been immersing in for many years, whether it be from blood or from pure interest. I really appreciate all of your active love and support of this platform and I cannot wait to share more with all of you!
Thank you all as always,
Sophia x