In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri
One week after moving from the United States to Rome, Jhumpa Lahiri begins writing a secret diary - in Italian not English. In Other Words is the result: a memoir of language-learning and Lahiri’s quest to discover a new authorial voice.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
As any language learner knows, those early weeks are humbling.
“I write in a terrible, embarrassing Italian, full of mistakes. Without correcting, without a dictionary, by instinct alone.” (55)
She stops reading in English and through reading slowly in Italian rediscovers “the pleasure of reading.” Every book completed “seems a feat.”
For Lahiri, language, identity, and cultural heritage are raw topics. She considers herself a “linguistic exile” from India yet also feels a “continuous estrangement” from the US: a person without country or specific culture. A person marginalised even from the word exile:
“Those who don’t belong to any specific place can’t, in fact, return anywhere. The concepts of exile and return imply a point of origin, a homeland. Without a homeland and without a mother tongue, I wander the world, even at my desk. In the end I realise that it wasn’t a true exile: far from it. I am exiled even from the definition of exile.” (133)
One of the most charged chapters is The Wall - in which Lahiri describes her appearance as being a hindrance to being accepted linguistically in Italy. People assume she cannot speak Italian, that her Italian is flawed, that they won’t understand.
“They don’t appreciate that I am working hard to speak their language; rather, it irritates them.” (139)
Taking him at face value, no one expresses surprise when her Caucasian husband speaks Italian.
Lahiri describes In Other Words as a “hesitant” book. It is. It’s short and personal. For those living a foreign language environment, though, there’s much to recognise and empathise with. This is Lahiri’s diary in and about Italian: her private triumph. I wish I were as dedicated.
