I have been taking some German language training for some time now. I also know a few other languages like Konkani which is also my mother tongue, Kannada, Hindi and English ofcourse. I also got a chance to taste a bit of Japanese as a foreign language and Bengali as the local language when i worked for TCS Kolkata. Also i have some exposure to tulu (being able to talk bits and pieces here and there!!). So having being acquainted with about half a dozen languages makes me wonder sometimes, " How does man ( women too!!) express the same thing in so many different ways". It is quite amazing to see how we all think in different languages the same thing or atleast similar things and coexist as a society. Also, what is more wonderful is that how each of these languages are complex or simple in their own ways.
For example German, i would call it as a language full of exceptions ( Read this from Mark Twain!!). There are as many exceptions as there are rule. But then i think this is applicable for many other languages including English!!....However, we do not realize this so much. If you take Chinese or Urdu here even the way the language is written is different from how many other languages are written ( top to bottom and right to left respectively). What could be the origin and the ideas behind the evolution behind these various form of representation of the Human ideas? However, some languages do not have a script of their own for example my mother tougue Konkani borrows the script from which ever script the speaker is most familiar with.
Next comes regarding the sounds in a language. Can one language represent all possible sounds in a faithful manner? Well this is definitely not true because i know a lot of sounds in Malayalam which i dont think i will be ever able to replicate forget writing them in anyway expect in Malayalam. The best part is that in every language there is some of the vocabalary is always cognate to some other language, usaully the one which is spoken in a geographical neighbor land. I remember when i learnt English not much significance was given to phonetics (You can see that from my pathetic accent of English!!) However, these days many schools are using the phonetics as the basis for teaching rather than using a for apple and b for ball types!!...
Nevertheless, I think it is a nice time-pass to learn a new language. Apparently, it helps in keeping ones brains tuned. So as long as it is fun i think it makes sense for one to learn a language in his free time. It is so sad and silly to see people fighting over language and preference of one language over the other....Each language is unique and has its own beauty..
For example German, i would call it as a language full of exceptions ( Read this from Mark Twain!!). There are as many exceptions as there are rule. But then i think this is applicable for many other languages including English!!....However, we do not realize this so much. If you take Chinese or Urdu here even the way the language is written is different from how many other languages are written ( top to bottom and right to left respectively). What could be the origin and the ideas behind the evolution behind these various form of representation of the Human ideas? However, some languages do not have a script of their own for example my mother tougue Konkani borrows the script from which ever script the speaker is most familiar with.
Next comes regarding the sounds in a language. Can one language represent all possible sounds in a faithful manner? Well this is definitely not true because i know a lot of sounds in Malayalam which i dont think i will be ever able to replicate forget writing them in anyway expect in Malayalam. The best part is that in every language there is some of the vocabalary is always cognate to some other language, usaully the one which is spoken in a geographical neighbor land. I remember when i learnt English not much significance was given to phonetics (You can see that from my pathetic accent of English!!) However, these days many schools are using the phonetics as the basis for teaching rather than using a for apple and b for ball types!!...
Nevertheless, I think it is a nice time-pass to learn a new language. Apparently, it helps in keeping ones brains tuned. So as long as it is fun i think it makes sense for one to learn a language in his free time. It is so sad and silly to see people fighting over language and preference of one language over the other....Each language is unique and has its own beauty..
Powered by ScribeFire.
No comments:
Post a Comment