Can monolinguals forget their only language?

Can monolinguals forget their only language?

The L Word

Columnist Sarita Rao discovers that trying to learn Luxembourgish and French has had a serious impact on her grasp of English

Is it possible to lose grasp of your mother tongue, even when you aren’t remotely fluent in any other language?

This monolingual has discovered it is.

I’m not talking here about people who can speak six languages, and whose families code-switch into different ones at the dinner table. That, of course, is pretty much every Luxembourgish family, and true for the plenty of foreign Residents. They are entitled to forget the Odd word, or get a bit mixed up.

I am speaking here of someone who has tried, sometimes quite hard, to learn at least two other languages ​​- French and Luxembourgish – but speaks neither fluently enough to participate even in idle small-talk.

Somehow though, these languages ​​have invaded my brain, rooted out English words and replaced them. I find myself unable to remember the English for Everyday words.

It’s a “sortie” not an “exit”, and a “seche linge” not a “tumble dryer”. It’s a “grompere” not a “potato” and “dat ass richteg” not “that’s right”.

Even Worse, I’ve transposed words so they come out in English but remain in a foreign format. My children find it highly amusing when I ask for their “box of lunch”.

I’ve even started putting genders on articles in English, as in “give her to me to wash” referring to said lunchbox and hoping it isn’t non-binary.

Forgetting my mother tongue

Then there’s the point where I can’t remember a word in any language and just say “thing” as in “pass me that thing over there,” or “use the thing to do that.”

My family have decided this is partly old age, but I wonder if some monolinguals should never try to speak another language because the outcome is they forget their own.

I know we’re in Luxembourg, where everyone is tolerant of any language you attempt to speak, however badly. But it’s not good to forget your native language when your job is to write in it.

I find myself googling the word for an object in English, or typing in a sentence I know would contain a word I can’t remember just what the search engine will throw at me.

It works by the way. Just type in “the word for the thing you use to switch channels on the TV” and you’ll get the answer “remote control”. Of course you might also get a zapper, doodah, or doofer.

In fact when I type in “what do you call it when you can’t remember the word for something”, Google gives me the answer “ignorance and lack of knowledge”.

So a monolingual idiot then?

Back in the language-learning Saddle

The Pandemic gave me an excuse to legitimately give up on any language learning. Much to my relief, classes were canceled in 2020 and half of 2021 and Somehow I have never got back to enrolling again.

But the truth is, Mastery of language comes from using it. I need to practice my foreign languages ​​more, so that they stick. I need to revise verbs off by heart in all their conjugations and listen to Luxembourgish and French spoken on the radio and TV to improve my comprehension.

Knowing that the National Institute of Languages ​​will be launching free online courses in September has given me an incentive to open a few books now, revisit the Lupine series and be the last person in this country to finally get around to watching Capitani.

There are plenty of opportunities to get back in the language Saddle. Everyday shopping doesn’t have to involve starting in Luxembourgish, switching to French and then eventually resorting to English if I can make a little more effort to plan what I want to say and practice possible conversation outcomes.

Many people used to be housebound during lockdowns to learn languages, whilst I did my best to forget all of them. Now that we’ve come out the other side, I no longer have an excuse. I know it’s time to have another go.

And as for my mother tongue? I need to stop reading Facebook posts and start reading Booker-Prize winning novels – otherwise “doodah” and “thing” will be the only words left in my already limited vocabulary.

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