During a recent conversational class, I learned to introduce myself in Spanish.
“Me llamo Shin. Soy músico.” (My name is Shin. I am a musician.)
This got me curious, because any English speaker would be tempted to say “Soy un músico” instead, but apparently, it’s not quite correct to add the article when speaking about my profession.
So during a 15-minute break with my band in between our shows, I asked my Spanish-speaking bandmate why he thinks this is so. His answer was so beautiful that I have to share with you:
“When you say ‘I am a musician’, you are just that, one musician. But you see, you are not just a musician. So you say ‘Soy músico. I am musician.‘ When I tell you ‘I am musician’, I’m heroically professing that I embody music. All musicians are within me, and I am within all musicians.”
I’m pretty sure he just made that explanation up, but nonetheless, I was inspired by how romantically he thinks about his language.
