“…the medial aspect of my left proximal anterior forearm…”
–Me, describing where I would place the tattoo of my matrilineal surnames to Daughter.

What languages do you speak?

I speak American English and Mandarin with a Taiwan 外省人 accent. I am fluent in both but only literate to an early primary school level in the latter. In a previous medical practice I had so many Spanish speaking patients who were willing to teach me, that by the time I left if the patient knew a little English and the problem was not too complicated, I could get through an entire clinic visit without an interpreter. I had a long chain of Post-It notes in my office of words and phrases they had taught me.

Son and Daughter grew up with internist and orthopaedic surgeon parents so they speak a little medicine. Daughter spent five weeks learning archeology and osteology this summer, so her fluency in anatomy has improved–hence my description above. It’s just the most efficient and accurate way to describe the body part. Quick tutorial:
–Closer to central mass of body is proximal, farther is distal.
–Orienting left/right, closer to center is medial, farther away is lateral. For the hands, anatomical position assumes palms facing forward (anterior), so pinky side is medial, thumb side is lateral.
–Front of body is anterior, back is posterior.
–Closer to the head is superior; closer to the feet is inferior.
–Ventral is belly side, dorsal is back side (so back of the hand is dorsal but weirdly, top of the foot is also dorsal–which those fluent in anatomy already know!).
–Rostral is toward the head, caudal is toward the sacrum (tail).

How fun to talk shop with my kid!

It got me thinking again how bonding it is to share jargon. Consider any profession. We can go anywhere in the world and assume we can work with anyone in our field simply because we all speak the language of our discipline. It’s a built-in connection that precedes our acquaintance, that bridges other language and culture barriers. How cool is that!?

It all made me wonder what other languages I speak.
Here is a partial list, in rough order of verbal fluency:
Medicine (especially internal medicine and orthopaedics)
Biology
Chemistry (organic more than others)
Exercise/fitness
Nutrition
Volleyball
Mahjong
Pens
Paper/stationery
Writing
Psychology
Romance
Bread/sourdough
Audiobooks
Pottery

I also speak Relationship. I am highly fluent and literate verbally. But this language calls for and forth our greatest capacity for nonverbal communication, no? Huh. I love that.

Wanna know what languages I do not speak? This was fun to list too:
Sports other than volleyball (though I did learn once how to spot a moving pick in basketball)
Makeup
Skincare
Music (though I appreciate it greatly)
Pop culture
Fashion (though Daughter has taught me much about classic designers)
Money/finance

Aside from a lighthearted and fun reflection on Sunday afternoon while procrastinating housecleaning, the intersecting concepts of language, communication, and connection just make me shake my head in awe and wonder. How many more languages could I learn in this lifetime? I am convinced this is how people stay young and live longer: lifelong stimulation and learning, connection with and integration of the novel and interesting that brings us closer to our fellow humans. It could be anything!

Aspire to global human polyglotism, my friends!