Multilingualism Quotes

“...Orm always afterwards used to say that, after good luck, strength, and skill at arms, nothing was so useful to a man who found himself among foreigners as the ability to learn a language.”
― Frans G. Bengtsson, The Long Ships

“Languages are but echoes of each other, Based on the environment each feels unique. No language is superior, no language is inferior, All are born of human mind to meet at heart's peak.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“I don't do drugs, languages are my LSD.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Abigitano: El Divino Refugiado

“Language is Highway to A Culture
(Diary of A Polyglot Neuroscientist, S.2392)

Languages are not ornaments,
languages are organs,
channeling spirit from the heart.

Language is highway to a culture,
language requires a vessel, not translator.
Soon earbuds will feature instant translation,
which will render crosscultural conversation seamless,
but at the same time, lifeless, hollow and cold.

Until we develop the brain technology
to communicate meaning telepathically
without talking, no amount of translation
can carry the warmth, nuances and
sentiment of a lived language.

As added perk, speaking more than one language
delays age-related cognitive decline.
Therefore no matter how you look at it,
one broken second language is far more
valuable than all the mass-produced subtitles.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Language is magic,
I wield that magic in my breath.
My brain is a symphony of portals,
each transcending past exclusivity,
into distinct linguocultural awareness.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Visvavatan: 100 Demilitarization Sonnets

“Language is magic, culture is magic,
I wield that magic in my breath.
My brain is a symphony of portals,
Each transcending past exclusivity,
into distinct linguocultural awareness.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“Broken polyglots are potent polyglots.”
― Abhijit Naskar, World War Human: 100 New Earthling Sonnets

“Plenticultural (Sonnet 1434)

When I get mad, I revert to English,
because English is my first language.
When I feel romantic, I revert to Turkish,
because Turkish is my love language.

When I feel passionate, I revert to Spanish,
because Spanish is my passion language.
When I feel electric, I revert to Telugu,
because Telugu is my power language.

When nothing works, I revert to Korean,
because Korean is my backup language.
And you wonder why I never run empty,
why the natural spring is ever abundant!

Language is the gateway to culture,
Culture is the gateway to life.
I am no person who speaks many tongues,
I am the proof of plenticultural life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Language is the gateway to culture,
Culture is the gateway to life.
I am no person who speaks many tongues,
I am the proof of plenticultural life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“Language is the gateway to culture, culture is the gateway to life.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Dervis Vadisi: 100 Promissory Sonnets

“The Good Conqueror (Sonnet)

Born in the land of multiculturalism,
I grew up speaking three languages,
mother tongue, national tongue and English.

Then in my late teens I acquired
my fourth tongue Telugu on a whim,
and later along the years,
I acquired my fifth, Turkish, which
became my dearest, and my sixth,
yet to be perfected, Spanish.

That's the only conquest I care about,
for language is the highway to culture.
Not real estate, gadgets or cash,
give me languages, give me cultures.

English is my work language,
Turkish is my love language.
Science is my brain language,
Integration, my heart language.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“Born in the land of multiculturalism, I grew up speaking three languages, mother tongue, national tongue and English. Then in my late teens I acquired my fourth tongue Telugu on a whim, and later along the years, I acquired my fifth, Turkish, which became my dearest, and my sixth, yet to be perfected, Spanish. That's the only conquest I care about, for language is the highway to culture. Not real estate, gadgets or cash, give me languages, give me cultures.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“English is my work language,
Turkish is my love language.
Science is my brain language,
Integration, my heart language.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood

“I have no mother-language, every mother is my mother, every language, my language.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Neurosonnets: The Naskar Art of Neuroscience

“My brain is multilingual,
my heart is multicultural,
my life is multidimensional,
I exist for I dissolve in all.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Iftar-e Insaniyat: The First Supper

“One broken second language is far more valuable than all the mass-produced subtitles.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Speaking more than one language delays age-related cognitive decline.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“Until we develop the brain technology to communicate meaning telepathically without talking, no amount of translation can carry the warmth, nuances and sentiment of a lived language.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“I grew up speaking two languages,
mother tongue and national tongue,
then in my late teens I assimilated English
from pirated dvds of American movies;

soon after I absorbed another language,
from the South of India, again from movies.
Years later when I started writing and got WiFi,
that's when an entire new horizon opened up.

This time I found myself drawn to Turkish
and Spanish, which became second languages
in the canon, after my first English.

I don't describe, I embody -
I don't study a culture,
I disappear into the culture.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Kral Fakir: When Calls The Kainat

“How will you know if you can speak another language? If you can curse someone on impulse without memorizing, you got the language in your gut. If you can console someone in pain, the language nestles in your heart.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Chase after form, and you'll miss the soul - throw yourself into the soul, and neurons will regrow.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Forget grammar, forget vocabulary, let the language seep into your bloodstream. In a world infested with medal-seeking mules, stand odd, stand ablaze, a drunken pilgrim.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“Pilgrim of Language (Sonnet)

How will you know if you
can speak another language?

If you can curse someone
on impulse without memorizing,
you got the language in your gut.
If you can console someone in pain,
the language nestles in your heart.

No es necessario que hablar guapisimo,
solamente necessario que hablar amable.
All those pedestals of language levels,
a, b, z, and what not, are elitist garbage.

Chase after form,
and you'll miss the soul -
throw yourself into the soul,
and neurons will regrow.

Forget grammar, forget vocabulary,
let the language seep into your bloodstream.
In a world infested with medal-seeking mules,
stand odd, stand ablaze, a drunken pilgrim.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Hazrat-e Humanity: The Uncultured Polyglot

“I'm larger than genre, larger than grammar, I'm larger than primate dictionary.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“The Whirling Linguist
(Naskaristana 2670-2671)

Language is a paradox,
by ambition it is expansive,
but by neurology it is restrictive,
and language tied to ideology,
is downright decrepit.

I live in six languages,
and occasionally dabble in a few more,
and I learnt none inside classrooms,
I just outgrew the jungle memberships.

What makes a language native is
not flawless syntax or grammar,
but a shameless flow of passion.

For example, yo soy humano, por que humano?
cunku benim icin bi tek insanlik onemli -
sesangi sarang, sarangi sesang -
and to hell with armchair linguists
and grammar nazis, who can't tell
day from night without consulting textbooks -

I'm the center that the dervish whirls around,
I'm the flame that syllables dance around,
I'm the immeasurable that your complex-obsessed
psychology books patronize with analysis, and
philosophy books desecrate with ivory-tower,
lifeless logic disconnected from soil,
most of whom are more interested in calculation and
condescension than the elevation of human condition.

You think Naskar writes me, Naskar is an idiot, I'm beyond Naskar, beyond every single puny mortal brain, I'm the original sentience that occasionally seeks out fitting vessels, with a dominant tendency of expansion and a tinge of naivety, and makes them whirl at my whim, so that your little toddler species doesn't crawl back into jungle slime.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“What makes a language native is not flawless syntax or grammar, but a shameless flow of passion.”
― Abhijit Naskar, With Love From A Blue Rock

“En un contexto así, todo acto lingüístico se convierte en un acto político. Los dados verbales están cargados aun cuando no estemos conscientes de eso, cuando elegimos pedir un boleto en el metro o escribir la reseña de un libro. De esto podemos estar muy conscientes cuando interactuamos en lenguas que el Estado no ha elegido como legítimas. En ese caso, los actos de habla están envueltos en una red de significaciones que van siempre más allá de los significados lingüísticos.”
― Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, Lo lingüístico es político

“Cada vez que hablas una lengua indígena, resistes. Hablar una lengua indígena, en las circunstancias presentes, es habitar un territorio cognitivo que todavía no ha sido conquistado, al menos no del todo. Escapemos a esos territorios, habitémoslos. Recuerda todo esto al hablar: jamyats, ejtp.”
― Yásnaya Elena Aguilar Gil, Lo lingüístico es político

“My first language is English,
my second language is Turkish,
my third language is Spanish.

English is my slave,
Spanish is my friend and brother,
and Turkish, my lover.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Tierra Carta: Naskar Charter of Earth

“Don't read Naskar while hanging from trees
(UnSonnet 3117)

My fire didn't break out fully
until I started writing
in three languages at once,
turkish lit the fuse,
spanish fanned the flames,
and english reaped the harvest,
and that's just half my languages.

Dervish brought the pain,
Advaitin brought the brain,
Brain Scientist brought the filter,
and Poet just held the pen,
wearing the skin of Naskar.

When Nondualist Naskar met Dervish Naskar,
my head turned into a particle accelerator,
reality cracked open, and glued back with tears,
like all my blood was poured out into a jar,
then added rocket fuel, and pumped back in.

So don't read Naskar while hanging from trees;
you don't need to speak many languages,
or feel many cultures, although it helps,
you must at least be human enough
not to think your religion is the one
true religion, your country is the best,
your culture is the greatest.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Aşkoholic: Portrait of A Human