How can studying the history of language(s) be enriching? Can studying our own language’s history, for
example Slovak, help us feel more rooted–whatever that means? How can we protect other, smaller
languages/dialects and cultures from the pervasive influence of English, if
such protection is necessary?
„The more languages you know, the more you are a person.“ says one beautiful Slavic saying. And I whole-heartedly agree with it too. In today´s world, where learning language for being able to communicate is getting less and less important, it is even more crucial to actively try to preserve the languages that – not surprisingly – cannot stand the pressure of English globalization, which is unfortunately also the case of Sanskrit.
ReplyDeleteOnce I started reading the article, the astounding spectre of English and even overall European words that have direct connection to Sanskrit simply took my breath away. The first paragraphs where Mr Taseer enumerated quite a number of words connected to European ones intrigued me even more when this part came. “...Sanskrit was actively mocked and despised. It was as if the very sound of the language had become debased...” I can tell you, the linguist inside me almost burst from anger at this point. Not only the language itself was pressured and almost disappeared due to English education, even natives stepped away from it, saying it is a dialect of no value.
That is an outrage. My personal opinion is that ceasing languages should be treated the same way as endangered animals. Language is a cultural heritage of an ethnic group, a unique insight into a special way of thinking, understanding things. And it is not only about the structure of a sentence, it is also about the concrete words. After a certain number of languages one has mastered, I believe, a person starts having a completely different understanding of the world itself. For example, in Sanskrit, when you literally translate word “body” you get something like “that which is easily destroyed”. And that is an absolutely new way of understanding a word body! And suddenly, after getting to know how different cultures apprehend and connect things, you dive even deeper to the mysteries of language and a different culture.
Even though I believe this does not affect Slovakia – thanks to its relatively small language diversity and short language history – this problem actively changes India. English prevalence and language preservation should start being discussed more and more often, becoming one of the main world problems. Because in a few decades we might find ourselves without the huge amount of comprehension a foreign language gives us and thus finding ourselves unable to understand others. And this can, unfortunately, lead solely to a bad conclusion.
Before reading this article, I went through questions written right below the link. My first thought was: why on earth would someone study languages, what is it good for? However, the feeling I had while reading the article was, as both Peter and Ema said, amazing. It is so interesting I even tried to google some of the words that came to my mind. For instance the word „mother“ or „mama“ is one of the oldest words. I think that it could be fascinating to study languages.
DeleteI also really like the idea that Peter came with that „ceasing languages should be treated the same way as endangered animals“. In my opinion, the original language is a part of history. I do not mean we should learn these languages at schools by heart on history lessons. What I am saying is we all should have an opportunity to understand them. Not only now, in 2015, but also in the future (however I think the future of languages is about English only).
Peter also said (and the article as well), that original language helps to understand the word or term better. The thing is, it is just partially true. I do not think it is so necessary to know the origin of the word, or an original name of the word to understand the term better. I do not agree that knowing, for example, Sanskrit language would change your understanding the world itself. My question is what does it mean „to understand the word better“. For example, he mentioned term „body“. 'Something, which is easily destroyed' is very interesting, but it did not really helped me with understanding the word or world.
I think the thing talking about understanding anything, really depends on personality. As in a case of art. There are people looking at the painting with an abitlity to tell you the mood that the author had during painting the painting. On the other side you have those people like me who can see... some painting.
The connections between different languages, that were often mentioned and explained in the article, have always enchanted me. I can clearly remember one of the English lessons during my first year at GJH. We were dealing with the history of England and English language and I was fascinated to hear how the language was created. How it evolved from Germanic languages – which is the reasons why words such as kindergarten, doppelganger or poltergeist occur in English -, how it was influenced by Latin because the old Germanic tribes such as Angles, Saxons and Franks lived alongside the people from the Roman Empire – borrowing words like picture, bonus or aquarium - and how we can find traces of French language in English because of the reign of William III of Orange which is also the reason why the words of French origin – for instance liberty, to encounter or pork- are usually the ones that were used by the nobility. I can feel the same captivation in the German classes that I started taking two years ago. Many correlations with English can be found, numerous words sound the same or have similar word roots – such as lens, arm or atlas. Furthermore, there are various words used in Slovak language that have been adapted from German and as a result can be understood well even for a German learner.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the author's viewpoint that losing touch with the history of one's nation and the inability to reach the roots of one's country is a severe problem in today's globalizing world. Especially when it is happening in a country like India. I mean, if someone said that the Slovaks are losing touch with their nation's roots because of the great influence of English speaking countries, I would probably laugh. I view Slovakia as a small and very young country with a short history which doesn't date back further than a few centuries. A country, whose history does not have much of a significance. That is why the globalization happening in Slovakia does not concern me a great deal. However, India is a completely different subject. According to Wikipedia, the history of it's civilization dates approximately 5,000 years back. It's a large country with a large amount of traditions and moreover, it is the country where one of the major religions of the today's world – Hinduism – originated. The loss of the traditions of such a great culture would be a great issue. That is why I find it important to preserve this culture.
In addition, I believe that one of the methods of preventing the loss of cultural heritage is knowing and studying the history of the nation. Because a person cannot be in touch with his roots when he doesn't know where his roots lay. And because language is a crucial element of any culture, it is important to know the history of the language too. Consequently, by knowing the history of a nation's language and traditions one can become a more rooted citizen with a sense of his own country. And that is, from my point of view, a significant milestone in fighting globalization, globalization that causes deracination and loss of roots.
Ema Mojžišová
When I read Ema’s comment, I thought about history of our language. I realized how much effort it took to codify and make people use it. For instance, in Slovakia we have lots of different dialects. Sometimes they sound like completely different language. And it would be such a pity for example if dialect from eastern Slovakia would disappear. Then part of our history and culture would die with it. And it is only part of Slovak language not whole.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Ema’s idea of studying history to understand language better. Because you would not realize importance of it until you know how it was created. And even though many languages share some words, they are not the same. Also I share her idea of influence of English in Slovakia. It is not as bad as in some countries, especially in India. In Slovakia, we are still taught about history and codification of our language very well. And it should prevent our language from being forgotten.
I also agree with Peter’s idea of protecting languages. With every dead language, one culture is dying too. And I hope that I will not experience that there will be only few well spread languages and other would be dead. I like his comparison with endangered animals. Just like these animals, they cannot be brought back.
So in conclusion, I would say that globalization and using English helps, but we should not forget about other languages. Every language is part of our cultural heritage which cannot be replaced.