Another point about language and communication...
Language barriers can lead to very amusing experiences. Saussure wrote on page 8 that, "Being part of a system, it is endowed not only with signification but also and especially with a value…” This concept is that our sense of reality is in large part shaped by our vocabulary and so we can comprehend certain phrases, while in other places in the world it would mean something entirely different. My favorite example of this was when he used the example that, “in some languages it is not possible to say ‘sit in the sun’” (page 8). It is quite amusing to think about that statement LITERALLY! Even the point he makes about in French the plurality of certain body parts, in French class I learned that when we say we are brushing our hair, we must imply that it is hair plural or you would literally be saying that you are brushing one single strand of hair. There are many expressions that we take for granted, with words that we have applied meaning too that would not necessarily make sense if thinking about the language grammatically. There are certain expressions which can not be translated correctly from the original language, it is a concept that might not exist in our language structure. For example in Hebrew there is an expression which is pronounced as: Ezze Hutspa. This expression means something like, “oh what nerve that person had.” It is not the same though to say it in English as it is to say it in the language where the expression is used. Actually one of the most incredible language structures is Yiddish. This peculiar language actually infuses jokes and sarcasm into the language in a way that many of languages do not have. The way it is structured is a symbol of how the people who created the language were feeling. Mentality of those who spoke Yiddish was very cynical and people needed to infuse the humor into the language to keep strong during a lot of discrimination.
Because of the variation of language uses around the world, first I want to commend translators who can fluently speak 4, 5, or 6 languages because it is remarkable. Also, this article made me think about a post made by Sgt. Pepper about our obsession with cell phones and the use of technology in our world today. We are able to communicate across these weird boundaries of time and space. In fact most of us spend more time communicating with people who are far away as opposed to face to face. Just think about all of the miscommunication that stems from this, particularly if you are talking with someone who speaks another language. When saying something like, “ I am going to sit in the sun,” how does that person know if you mean you want to sit on something underneath the sky when the sun is shining or if you literally mean to fly to space and sit IN the sun. Language is so tricky!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It's interesting to note that the language and words in particular, is a mirror of a culture. "American English" I find is peculiarly reflective of the populist and democratic norms of the culture. It is not as personal as most languages in that there is little, other than perceived regional accents, social distinction in its structure. Most Romance languages, or better said most languages are constructed so that class distinction is embedded in its uses. Thus: in Spanish the word for "YOU", can be "usted" or "TU" or in Latin America "VOS" which is a bastardization of Vosotros. "Usted" being the polite version, "TU" the familiar, and "Vos" the vernacular, used mostly with demeaning tones. In English the YOU can be used with out social baggage. Thus Language can be used for Social distinction as well as legal communication. This is where English can become a mine field. Word in general can become symbols of generational prejudices, as we can witness if we study individual words and their permutations over periods of time. Language is as fluid and malleable as clay by the hands of time, or red-hot steel by the hammer of historical events, such as the holocaust. Now the question of "translation" of words from one language to another is dangerous because of the particular social, moral, and ethnical qualities that color language. As Robert Frost remarked, "Poetry is that which is lost in translation." Nevertheless a well constructed, well researched translation can withstand the test of time, history, by rigorously protecting the etymological sources of the words used, a clear example is the "Lords Prayer" (used here only as language example devoid of any religious connotation) It was constructed in Latin many centuries ago, it has been translated to a myriad of languages, yet it remains the same.
Post a Comment