Bi/Multilingual Stories

Beyond Germanisms

…When I came back first, I never had a bank account, I never had an insurance, it’s so important in Germany to have so many insurances; and I came back … and I came back and, I was trying to do some things and people sort of look at me, and they had the feeling that … I was German, but I didn’t understand things. And to me, that made me feel really foreign. … I felt so misunderstood. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

I Love My Roots

I love the way this distance made me love my roots again and they really kept me connected. I want to take this rich history, this ancient culture in order to move forward. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

The Moment You Participate in Something, You Belong

... I recorded myself sometimes when ... speaking different languages in different settings. And I was surprised to see that you can really tell when the switch happens because the intonation is different. My voice is different, my gesticulation changes - everything. ... After a while I can feel really that my whole kind of thinking also changes. It shifts and it focuses on other things. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Everything is About Learning

We use so many words that are so specific to our work ... This is something we [at UNHCR] work very hard in doing so .... We not only give workshops, but we are also trying to approach so we simplify our language, but we also try to explain many of our terms. It's a matter of working on it, acknowledging it and building bridges.  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

A Very Brave Child

"One of my first memories was ... I was wrapped up in a giant snow suit for the first time in my life feeling really uncomfortable, this little child enveloped in layers of snow pants and giant boots and coming from Italy I was like 'What is this?' ... It was a shock ... and the switch from speaking Italian to speaking English happened within a few days". ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.