On What We Talk About When We Talk About Language

Tasmin Chu writes about father tongues, identity and maths

Welcome to the Guest Writer series where I commission one of my favourite voices to write something from their heart.

Tasmin Chu

is an artist and writer who lives in Montreal. She studies math and her Substack first caught me in the throat then my heart. I adore The Sun Eats Away At The Earth. There is always poetry among the prose so I was so excited when she wrote this piece for The Aram’s guest writer series.

Chu explores identity, language and the roots of language — even the one found in the study of maths.

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Given that I came here when I was 17. Fresh out of high school, rusty in French. Dreaming, of that Montréal autumn, leaf-rich, glazed in reds. Given, that I had already lived in Taiwan, eight years prior, I wrapped my mouth around tonal words. How, upon arriving there, I finally understood why my father spoke so musically, why his words were so beautiful. Given I cried at school, I could never understand what was happening. Given that at the age of ten, I had already left behind a scrap of green childhood in a green land.