Indigenous People Have Been Here Forever. Why Won't Archeologists Believe It?

[2naSalit]

20. Mine was a bit different.

I grew up, mostly, in New England, we had a little bit of every culture there so I was exposed to numerous languages, foods, dance, attire... the insides of their homes and the fact that half of these people also didn't necessarily speak English at home was normal for me. It was okay to retain some of the "old ways" but many learned English and refused to teach their young the first language of the parents as was the case in my family. They were Finnish, and used it at home except when they spoke directly to us. So I heard it, could not learn it along with English in parallel with no guidance. Since it was Maine, for much of my early years, we had French in school because there were a lot of Acadian French who stayed south of the river when the US formed. Still a large population there.

We had a few stints in other parts of the country, dad being in the military, but I was in that region until my late teens, then I went west and stayed there.

I encountered a lot of languages in my travels through classical music, started working with bel canto before I was ten, most lyrics are not in English, especially things like Mass and such. I picked it up again in college and had a great ten years of performing in an ensemble and used it as my practicum for my BA with the linguistics component. I can identify languages I don't speak or read and have sung in about eight, only three of which can I read with any comprehension. I also am amazed at how language travels through the populations over time. There's a lot to ponder there.