Languages as Ways of Being: The Linguistic Biography of a Nordic Nomad

Abstract

AbstractThis paper documents the Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) in my personal multilingual repertoire, as it traces my path and pathos (or passion) of learning languages—starting with my mother tongue which has been a point of reference for most other languages that I have learnt during my life. It is also a sort of memoir of different periods in my life, inevitably linked to cultural and linguistic experiences, to formal and informal language education and self-access learning, as I was acquiring the languages that I speak today, and of the strategies I have used instinctively as a language learner—language learning strategies that served my purposes and worked for me. In providing a detailed account of when and how I enriched my linguistic repertoire, primarily with the five North Germanic or Nordic languages some of which are to a certain extent intercomprehensible, but also with other languages acutely different from the Germanic languages such as Lithuanian and Greek, I talk about how I felt or feel about each of these languages which have played different roles in my life, depending on a wide variety of factors, including place of residence, work, family, close friendships and social networks.KeywordsDominant language constellations (DLC)Language repertoireMultilingualismLanguage learning strategiesForeign language learningNordic languages.