The thing about language (Au sujet de la langue)
24th October 2007
In English...
Wer Fremdsprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen.
(He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
By necessity language is an imperfect transmitter of thought: it introduces ambiguity and the opportunity for misconception. Thoughts and feeling simply cannot be communicated in their entirety, save perhaps by the most inspired poetry, through language. So language of itself filters thought, and each language on its own must increase this limitation further!
The power of language to affect the way in which we think, and the way in which we express ourselves, is enormous. Simply the sounds of a particular language, the forms and intonation of its words, affect the way in which the mind interprets them. Do they not say that some languages sound sweeter than others? Indeed, I have often found that poetry comes easier to me in French than it does in English. When I want to think creatively, I tend to do so in French—it seems naturally to work better that way. Sanskrit always creates in me a calming sense of rhythm and flux. I'm sure that every language creates its own subtle effects in this manner.
The truth in this statement of Goethe becomes ever more apparent to me. Knowing another language is like viewing the world from a different perspective. It subtly alters the point of reference, slightly alters the way in which thought is expressed and understood. I guess this is why the history of a culture is embedded in its language, and by understanding the language we are better able to understand the culture.
If we are to preserve the rich and varied cultures of the world, then, we must preserve their languages. The importance of teaching these to children—and in particular the mother tongue if this is not English—cannot, I think, be underestimated.
En Français...
Wer Fremdsprachen nicht kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen.
(Qui ne sait parler des langues étrangères ne sait rien de sa propre langue.)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
La langue est nécessairement un transmetteur imparfait des idées: elle introduit l'ambiguité avec qui viennent des idées fausses. Les pensées et les sentiments ne peuvent pas être communiqué en totalité, sauf peut-être par la poésie la plus haute. La langue elle-même filtre donc les idées, et une langue spécifique doit augmenter cette limitation!
Le pouvoir de la langue d'influencer comment on pense, et comment on s'éxprime, est énorme. Même le son d'une langue, la forme et l'intonation de ses mots, influence notre expérience mentale. N'est-il pas dit que quelques langues sont plus mélodieuses que les autres? Vraiment, je trouve que la poésie vient plus façilement en Français qu'en Anglais. Quand je veux être créatif, je pense en Français! Quand je lis le Sanskrit, j'ai le sens d'un rythm, un flux calmant. Je suis sûr que chaque langue crée comme ça ses propres effets subtils.
Pour moi, la vérité de cette déclaration de Goethe devient toujours plus claire. Savoir parler une autre langue est pouvoir voir le monde d'une nouvelle perspective. Ça change délicatement notre référentiel, donnant des nouvelles expréssions et compréhensions aux idées. Je pense que c'est pourquoi l'histoire d'une culture est liée tellement à sa langue. Par comprendre la langue, on peut mieux comprendre la culture.
Donc, si on veut conserver les cultures riches et variées du monde, si on veut célébrer notre humanité collective, il faut conserver leur langues. On ne peut pas sous-estimer l'importance d'enseigner les langues aux enfants—en particulier la langue maternelle si elle n'est pas l'Anglais. On ne veut pas une planète monolingue.
As a monoglot, I don't suppose I am ever likely to be able to fully appreciate many of the points you so have beautifully put here, but I definitely agree with most of them. However, I would like to add a couple more layers to the discussion, the first being the likely role of the "ambiguity" and "misconception" you mention introduced by language and its interpretation to the many centuries of conflict between people with different beliefs. The ambiguity of language often allows a person to interpret it as they wish. Holy texts have consequently been interpreted in many ways in the past, and I have always presumed this to be the basis for the myriad of religions and denominations of them seen across the world today. Whether the differences generated are quite subtle, such as the day of the Sabbath, or more profound, they have the potential to cause disagreement, and many of the large wars and conflicts in history have begun as a result of a dislike of one or a few extremists of one religion or denomination for another.
The second point I would like to raise is that music can be an alternative medium through which we can learn about the history and culture of a country. Music is a medium common to all countries and cultures and can therefore be appreciated by everyone. It even sometimes allows us to understand the thoughts of members of other species! Additionally, music does not take many years of learning to be able to comprehend. The obvious example is how music has been used for countless generations in diverse ways as part of the way we worship God. Just as certain sounds and the style of scripts used are associated with the languages of a particular area of the world, so are musical styles and timbres. Compare the drums, whistles and vocal sounds used as part of the rituals of some the African tribes (my favourite being the tribe who click their tongues!), with the flutes, twangs and characteristic style of singing of India and the orchestras, organs and hymns sung in the West. Like dialects of a language, subtleties within the music of a country are unique to regions. For example, the Welsh male voice choirs, Scottish bagpipes and the Yorkshire-style carols sung at Christmas.
We can also learn about the history of a culture from the music. A large proportion of music of the Baroque era was written for dancing to during functions held in the ballrooms and courtyards of wealthy homes (courantes, gigues, bourrées, allemandes etc) whereas that of the Classical and Romantic eras was written more for concerts in grand venues, thereby reflecting the social interests of people at the time. Look at today's so-called "dance music" and you really understand how different the social events of the present day differ from that of the past!
Contrasting spoken languages, the ambiguity in the interpretation of the thoughts the composer attempted to portray doesn't limit the ability of music as a communicative tool but, in my opinion, makes it all the more brilliant. Part of the beauty of music is that no two individuals will conjure up the same thoughts whilst listening to a piece of music, no two individuals will interpret a score in the same way and this interpretation is at least half the fun of playing as well as listening to music.
So although I have always felt that a part of me and my Welshness is missing by my not speaking the language of my homeland, I am able use music as an alternative to English for expression of my thoughts. After all, it is widely known that "where words fail, music speaks".