Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Ummmm..... What?
There are times when i talk to people and have no idea either what they're talking about or what their point is even though in their head it makes perfect sense. Keep in mind that these people are American born and speak English as their first language. The point i am making is that i don't think that there will ever be a perfectly transparent language. Each language has their own jokes, sarcasm, slang, ect. which adds to the confusion between languages and religion when it comes to a clear understanding of what's being said. Also, rhetoric as we talked about in class adds to the demise of transparency because of tricky wording and persuasive gestures. There are very few things in each language that is understood in the same fashion by everyone around the world. I think that this will always be the case for generations to come.
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I totally agree with you! Like in some languages that have gestures that mean something really rude, but here in American it means good job (the thumbs up). I think that pictures will be the closest to communicating across cultures that we will get. Pictures seem to be one of the few things around that someone in American could look at understand along with someone in China, most likely. But I do believe that this will also be an ongoing problem too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that there cannot be a perfectly transparent language, but I do think that some things can be universal, like certain gestures such as a wave. However, these things are pretty rare and it definitely depends on what culture/country you come from that determines how you view them. Lots of things can get lost in translation which is what I think you were saying when there will always be some amount of confusion.
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