Second Language Me - text

This text will be spoken in German by Davina and i will speak it in English. I hope this text shows more of the complexity of the relationship between love and language and the way it is interrupted when things are misunderstood or re interpreted between two people.

Before you there was another. Simon. He loved my second language German. All of it’s mistakes and grammatical issues. I thought he was strong. Language strong. Saying things I’d never heard before. We’d been together for awhile. Never speaking English. He hated English. I wanted to better my German. It worked. He loved how some of the words came out wrong. How I accidently said goat instead of show and cleaning vacuum instead of vacuum cleaning.

He said that English speakers had forgotten what the word love meant. He didn’t understand how we could say we ‘loved’ objects. I thought it was romantic. The love he spoke of.

Then my friend came and stayed. She didn’t speak German so we all had to change our routine. He said he’d never heard someone say fuck so much. He said my voice went down 4 octaves when I spoke English. I lost my, femininity. I spoke in a prettier way in German. Mistakes and all. He said my English was crass, masculine. He loved second language me. First language me thought he was a cock.