Question of the Day: Language 9 May 2007
Posted by SA'ILA in SA'ILA.trackback
Those who speak more than one language often comment that it is not possible to always translate every single expression from one language into another – that often, language captures nuances that go beyond just words, and encompasses an entire behavior present in a particular culture.
Along these lines, is it possible that if a word or phrase is not present in a language, that the concept may not exist in that particular culture?
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It’s possible. From a psychological perspective at least.
I studied a little bit on the idea of bilingualism and thinking in different languages.
There is some evidence that may suggest that one’s personality and way of thinking is actually shaped by the language/culture.
In fact one study I read compared western vs eastern ways of thinking- and showed some quite striking differences in some supposedly classic psychological tests.
These were attributed to the way in which cultures come to value what knowledge is and how this then shapes advancements and developments in their culture.
For example in chinese culture there is a tendancy to view the whole-rather than compartmentalizing and categorizing- compared to western appraoches. So for a long time surgery in chinese medicine was considered heresy- because it didnt see the problem in the context of the whole.
Such ideas feed into feed into the way people percieve things and into the language- which then feeds back into cultures… so they influence eachother
I think that based on this it is possible that particluar cultures have concepts unheard of in other cultures… but I do think that it is possible to learn those concepts if one is of a different culture in the same way it is possible to learn a language…question is whether any translation is ever possible… or is the multilingual forever in two minds?
Anonymous – jazak’Allah khair for the perspective. A friend and I had a discussion on the concept of “adab,” a word that we find not easily explainable to those not familiar with it (just because it encompasses so much), and I do agree with you that we can – insh’Allah – learn concepts that exist in different cultures, as symbolized by how Muslims not necessarily familiar with the concept in the way they are raised do try and adopt the way the Prophet (peace be upon him) led his life with the utmost of adab . . .
I’m curious though – can you kindly clarify what you mean by “is the multilingual forever in two minds”? Is it that someone who has familiarity with languages and concepts present in different cultures is constantly straddling between cultures without the ability to truly translate in entirety for one of another culture? Does this mean that a person who speaks only one language can not just understand a simple translation; that the person would have to *live* through certain concepts . . . ?
As salaam u alaikum, in fact, in my Linguistics class, we have discussed the fact that cognition and language are so closely connected that nuances in language most definitely affect cognition. In short, it is very possible that an idea or concept may not exist in one culture but be present in another based simply on a particular expression in one language/culture.
Something positive about Globalism has been the widespread sharing of human experience across cultural/linguistic borders so that ideas have started seeping into cultures where they were not originally cultivated…something negative about this Global Village is the gross and mass mono-culture (read: western) that is becoming the standard and thus causing a creative collapse of ideas originating from cultures whose development and growth has been stunted by dominating western culture…
Multilingualism allows two different worlds to live in the mind of the multilinguist, that is my understanding. An expansion of a universal understanding creates a world of great possibilities cognitively and linguistically – the multilinguist’s mind can be fertile for such creativity…..jazak’Allahu khairan for the thought provoking post.