User:Natalie.Desautels

My goal is to help the Wikipedia movement by contributing, correcting, expanding and translating articles in classical music and jazz. I have a special interest in classical guitar, flamenco guitar and atonal music. I am a proud polyglot, a simultaneous tri-lingual, a code switcher and enjoy several mother tongues; I can translate fluently to and from English, French and Spanish. (My ancestry is such that my father was French, Spanish and German, and my mother English, Scottish and Russian going back one generation). Thanks to my upbringing, I am also a receptive multilingual, able to understand other languages as well. As such I take pleasure in enacting different kinds of selves, and linguistic contexts create different kinds of self-expression and experiences for me. My diplomas are in engineering, languages, music and computer science and I've had the pleasure of doing lots of translation work even though I am fortunate to be independent. Wikipedia is a magnificent endeavor indeed and I am strongly motivated to give some of my time to contribute and help out in many ways including the use of my language skills.

Your compliments are welcome; I interpret them to mean that I've helped improve Wikipedia in some small way. It never has nor ever will be in my nature to get involved in conflict (see userbox below), so I only respond to constructive criticism. In context, constructive means whatever makes Wikipedia better, which at times also means resetting one's ego and sense of self-importance. Alas, Wikipedia is no different than life, which is rife with conflict whether at home or on the battlefield. I believe that the greatest victory is often not going to battle; one should at least try to achieve a higher understanding, to bring people into the conflict resolution process (perhaps without them even being aware of it).

The Buddha said "When I go, I'm gone!" He meant life is so short, and every day is a gift. Indeed, life is how we spend time. Why waste it on making oneself or others unhappy? If you think you have problems, chances are the person you meet has more problems than you do. I treasure civility and the laws of cause and effect; I often ponder upon this ancient wisdom:

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Barnstars
Here is a userbox to paste onto your user page if you wish:


 * Congratulations, Natalie! This is richly deserved, very well done!
 * With kind regards;
 * Patrick. ツ Pdebee.(talk)(guestbook) 09:03, 12 March 2016 (UTC)


 * What a pleasant surprise! Thank you kindly. best regards ...je vous remercie infiniment. Sincères salutations, Natalie --Natalie.Desautels (talk) 10:02, 12 March 2016 (UTC)


 * That's very kind of you . On top of it, I do like falafel! Merci! --Natalie.Desautels (talk) 09:12, 15 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Dear User:Sainsf, My goodness, what a pleasant surprise!  ...and just in time to delight in along with my morning expresso and of course breakfast croissant, as we French are wont to do. Top of the morning to you, my cyber friend and colleague   Natalie Natalie.Desautels (talk) 13:52, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Wow. ...All I can say is a B.I.G. ... ....

Seriousness aside (as Groucho Marx used to say), this is very heartwarming ...and meaningful to me. Thank you. --Natalie.Desautels (talk) 14:43, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

The Excellent New Editor's Barnstar for you!

 * That's so kind, really . I sent you a Teamwork barnstar in appreciation for your fantastic contributions, particularly on that special page you especially created to help us. Future contributions ...hm, I guess that might be the Quebec French article we were working on. I would love that! kindest regards, --Natalie.Desautels (talk) 21:56, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Some falafel for you!

 * User:Sainsf, Many thanks. It would be appropriate, in this gastronomic instance, to say Yum, which would be Miam in French. I always found the onomatopoeic differences in languages interesting; there is often an very different equivalent. Does that mean that sounds strike our ears differently according to the language we speak? A cat says Meow in English, but Miaou in French; a cow says Moo, but Meuh in French—not close really. Interesting food for thought... --Natalie.Desautels (talk) 02:59, 10 April 2016 (UTC)

DYK for Michael Laucke
Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:52, 7 May 2016 (UTC)