4 ms·

Languages are essentially known to humans as a mean of communication. Why does it matter which language as long it is effective?

Koshkin 6y ago
To say that a language is merely a means of communication is like saying that paint is only needed for painting fences and walls.
yur3i__ 6y ago
Because the only effective language for communicating with the past is the language that the people of the past used, if those languages die then their stories and knowledge dies with them
veddox 6y ago
Languages are inseperable from the culture they evolve in. Humour, historical references, values, even entire philosophical concepts can be impossible to adequately translate, because they are often so closely tied to the way a culture’s language developed and is used. Because of that, you‘ll never truly know a culture until you know its language. (See also: https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux/status/1359574074326982664 https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux/status/1359574074326982664)
ptato 6y ago
Language is culture, and language is identity
xyzelement 6y ago
Additional to the comments you got - different languages are able to express different things. There's the classic example of Innuits having hundreds of synonyms for snow: I bet you can have a much more nuanced conversation about snow in that language than any other. Have you ever heard the phrase "lost in translation" and thought about what it actually means?
- ab111111111 6y ago
  It's more a matter of "different languages force you to express different things". E.g. English forces you to specify subject and tense, while Chinese makes specifying such things optional.
  - xyzelement 6y ago
    It's not just that. Some languages are richer than others in various dimensions. For example: English has a single "diminutive"-type suffix but Russian has a vast range to express various related suffixes that allow you to color nouns in a way I can't really convey in English. This makes Russian more naturally suitable to (for example) poetry, but english for Technical writing
Tagbert 6y ago
Why does it matter that the little Italian restaurant run by the grandmother and her family has closed? We can just all just go to Olive Garden?

Koshkin 6y ago

To say that a language is merely a means of communication is like saying that paint is only needed for painting fences and walls.

yur3i__ 6y ago

Because the only effective language for communicating with the past is the language that the people of the past used, if those languages die then their stories and knowledge dies with them

veddox 6y ago

Languages are inseperable from the culture they evolve in. Humour, historical references, values, even entire philosophical concepts can be impossible to adequately translate, because they are often so closely tied to the way a culture’s language developed and is used. Because of that, you‘ll never truly know a culture until you know its language. (See also: https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux/status/1359574074326982664 https://twitter.com/BretDevereaux/status/1359574074326982664)

ptato 6y ago

Language is culture, and language is identity

xyzelement 6y ago

Additional to the comments you got - different languages are able to express different things. There's the classic example of Innuits having hundreds of synonyms for snow: I bet you can have a much more nuanced conversation about snow in that language than any other. Have you ever heard the phrase "lost in translation" and thought about what it actually means?

ab111111111 6y ago
It's more a matter of "different languages force you to express different things". E.g. English forces you to specify subject and tense, while Chinese makes specifying such things optional.
- xyzelement 6y ago
  It's not just that. Some languages are richer than others in various dimensions. For example: English has a single "diminutive"-type suffix but Russian has a vast range to express various related suffixes that allow you to color nouns in a way I can't really convey in English. This makes Russian more naturally suitable to (for example) poetry, but english for Technical writing

Tagbert 6y ago

Why does it matter that the little Italian restaurant run by the grandmother and her family has closed? We can just all just go to Olive Garden?