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Languages are tools but also barriers of thought. The main reason Americans can't understand China or Russia, or Arab countries and vice versa is language. Pe
by Htsthbjig 12y ago
Languages are tools but also barriers of thought.
The main reason Americans can't understand China or Russia, or Arab countries and vice versa is language.
People in the UK for example, do not listen to Putin 2 hours long Q&A and think for themselves. They listen to intermediaries, like Andrew Wood, because they don't understand Russian.
People would be shocked to know what Mr Putin is really saying, compared with what they are being told he is saying.
The same happens on the other side, too. The China and Russia media can portray a controlled picture of the rest of the world for most of their population.
The printing press changed the world because it made possible for people to read the Bible themselves instead of using the intermediaries interpretation(that sometimes were not in their best interest). Science advanced enormously when the status quo could be criticized(thanks access to books and the knowledge those carried).
- diego_moita 12y agoSorry, you used bad evidence. Truth is: politicians' words are irrelevant, in Russia, the West, the East and the 3rd World. What matters is what they do, not what they say. I live in a 3r World country (Brazil). In a 3rd world perspective the Russian invasion of Ukraine is imperialism, plain and simple, just like what Russians accuse the western powers of doing. Russians have been dreaming of imperialism long before Lenin denounced it. And they never stopped dreaming about it.
- guard-of-terra 12y agoWas the Vietnam invasion of Cambodia imperialism? One that disposed of Khmer Rouge.
- diego_moita 12y agoI don't know and I don't understand how it relates to the subject of this thread.
- guard-of-terra 12y agoI assure you that Putin's Q&A doesn't contain any language tricks not available for Americans or UK peope. In fact, Putin's Q&A doesn't contain much of anything. It's not about the language, it's more about shared history or lack thereof.
- DanBC 12y agoIf Ann gives a 2 hour speech in Russian, and Bob does not speak Russian, then Bob needs to rely on Chris or Dave to translate. Bob is at a disadvantage because he has to trust either (or both) of the translators.
- guard-of-terra 12y agoEven then Bob will need even more people to validate whether any things Ann said are true. Or, more relevant, which things Ann said are ones she deeply cares about, and which ones were inserted just to fill the talk space or pay lip service.
- tokenadult 12y ago真的吗？There are plenty of Americans who understand Chinese. (I have also studied Russian, although my Russian is less proficient than my Chinese.) In fact, the United States offers exceptional opportunities to understand the rest of the world, because the United States is full of immigrants from other countries, including Russia and China (I know both), and receives more international tourist visitors each year than any other country besides France. The single biggest reason that the United States government can't control what I hear about world news from other sources in other countries is that it doesn't try to. News organizations in the United States are private enterprises, sometimes run on a nonprofit basis, and I can read and listen to news from all over the world while living in the United States. It's easy to get an unfiltered Internet connection here, and in the old days it was easy (and remarkably inexpensive) to get a shortwave radio here. (I have done both.) It's also possible to subscribe to periodicals published in other countries and receive those by mail here (I used to do that, but now read those on the Internet).