niji to the bug

When you master a language, you lose the ability to hear what it sounds like. The sounds of the language are replaced by the meaning of the words. You can't listen to the sound alone anymore. It's difficult, impossible to distance yourself so that you hear just the shapes and tones, patterns and cadences. Only when there's a background conversation, a murmur. But as soon as you focus, the sounds are lost and your brain is swamped by signals for semantics.

I practice hearing what is voiced instead of what is said when I listen to the radio. I try to focus obliquely, as one might a fuzzy star. I ask myself repeatedly, "What does English sound like?" or "What does Chinese sound like?" so that I won't hear — or try not to register — the words. A few times, I've come close to succeeding.

I guess that's where some of the magic of saying names lies: You say "Alfred", for instance, and (unless you've read the back of the dictionary like I did as a child and know that it means "elf friend") you don't think that it means red or green or hot or cold or crouch or leap. It is just a beautifully simple sound, two notes without assigned lyrics. It is just English.

( So I guess by ''4 months'', I really meant 10 days, huh? )

ETA. It is the second anniversary of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. 所有的牺牲者和幸存者，你们都是英雄。我们永远不会忘记！