Plumereine

This text was originally written in French and has been translated, in part, with the help of a translation service. (I'm already practising with one language, so I can't be juggling three at the same time!)

Introduction

Languages are very interesting because they represent the culture and ideology of a people and their way of thinking and transmitting messages. I think it's obvious that I love languages, given my passion for conlangs, which allows me to play with the different ways in which concepts and notions can be articulated in a language, as well as the different ways in which the grammar of a language can be formed.

But what I really enjoy is ‘learning’ languages.

Especially when they are close to something important to me.

Why am I telling you this? Because this text – and those that will follow, I hope - is a pure product of the social networking era and of our needless need to overshare ourselves: I'm going to write about my path towards mastering one language in particular, Wallon.

I'm not going to pull out information from Wikipedia (which, even in English, is very interesting by the way! : Walloon language).

But it's important for me to say that in the last century (1900 onwards), Walloon was virtually forbidden to be spoken in schools and other public places. The result: in less than a century, almost the entire population no longer knows how to speak Walloon.

My grandmother spoke Wallon, I can't.

I didn't like it.

So, instead of passively accepting the fact that the language of my ancestors was near to be no longer spoken, I decided to learn to write and speak it.

And to force myself to keep to this commitment, this learning, every week I'm going to make a summary of what I've done on the subject during that week (texts, words, grammar, etc...). I'm doing it on my own, not because I'm lazy, but because I'm unable, at the moment, to go to the few small evening classes available in Belgium (time constraints, geography...).

Anyway, that was the intro. For the next few, it won't be there. Welcome to my adventure! :D

Learning

Because I'm self-taught, I learn by writing different sentences. But I also use a very interesting website which is a goldmine for self-taught learners: Beljike.be

Well, so far I've really been concentrating on les noms

Exercises and case studies

I'm sure there are mistakes, as I'm just starting out, but you have to start somewhere. Compilation of what I've tried to do so far:

• Fanfic Title : Li song dau Koltira which mean “Koltira's blood”.

• A small texte in the above fanfic :

Èt vos m’ dimandez, m’ Madame dè l’ Mwârt, vos m’ dimandez qu’ dji frè po l’ rawè d’ novia à mès costés ? Dji vos dîrè « tortos ». Nin pace qu’ dj’ a nin tûsé èt dji sèprè nin dîre au jusse lès limites do c’qu’ dji so capâbe. Dji vos dît « tortos », pace qui v’s èstiz là, quand dji v’s a ôrdonè dins l’ timps do l’ rilachî èt ci maugré tot. Dji vos dît « tortos », pace qu’ sins li dji so rin, li qui èst m’-y âme, mi-y song, èt li rèstant d’ l’ umânité qui dj’a nin pus.

Which translate to :

And you ask me, My Deathlady, you ask me what I would do to have him back by my side ? I would tell you « everything ». Not because I haven't thought about it, and I wouldn't know the limits of what I'm capable of. I say « everything », because you were there when I ordered you to go and free him against all odds. I say « everything », because without him, I am nothing, he who is my soul, my blood, and the rest of humanity that I no longer have.

• A ficlet Fanfic : Lès biscwîts sont l' vîye : fanprompt do 4 awous' (Biscuit)

END

So there you have it, I hope to do more translating and writing next time because it's pretty empty right now...

Thanks for reading! :D