The Love and Inspiration of Languages

Languages are something that everyone uses every day. We use it when we are having fun with friends, or when we are doing serious tasks. Of course, people who are indifferent to languages would think that languages are no more than an effective means of communication, but this is simply not the case. To me, languages act as the identity of a race as well as mentors of people. Their influence goes so far as to the emotional side of the human race, and there are so many positive aspects that come with languages that we are not aware of.

For years, studies have shown that exposure to the Spanish language is an effective cure for mental problems. Natives speakers of Spanish are less inclined to depression, and also the language seems to have a very strong influence on others. Visitors to countries in Latin America seldom feel sad on the streets, as Spanish is such a free, positive language that exudes passion.

Personally, I should say that I have witnessed an immense growth after I started learning this tongue too. In high school I was a very depressed and introvert girl, but after I started Spanish lessons I began to feel confident and happy, enjoying the littlest joys in my life and appreciating the beauty of a lot of things in the world. The enthusiasm that the Spanish language gives out really inspired me to look to the bright side of things, and I learned to be anxiety-free. The love that I have for the Spanish language exceeds the love that I have had for anything else in the world, as this is something that really changed my soul and my attitude.

Hence, though I may not aspire to be a Spanish professor in the future, the passion that Spanish has given me will sustain me still. Spanish has not only made me capable of communicating with 0.6 billion people in the world, but also it has given me light and energy, something so valuable that I shall treasure always. J

Are Languages Really Arbitrary?

 Are languages arbitrary? If you are a student of languages and linguistics, you might have been told that the answer to this is an absolute yes.Of course, language is a man-created subject, and as humans have complex, unpredictable thoughts and emotions, it is logical that languages are subject to arbitrariness in its most original creation. However, though I do agree to this to a certain extent, as a polyglot I claim that this isn't true for all aspects of the human language. Here I provide three examples to support my view.
  One evident example is the Korean language. According to Koreans, the Korean letters were invented according to the placing of the tongue when different sounds are produced. In this sense, even though the creation of the Korean lexicon may seem arbitrary, the Korean alphabet isn't.
  The second evident example that I have is Chinese. As most readers of this blog would know, the Chinese characters usually follow the form of the object that it represents. For example, water is written as "水", and wood is written as "木". All of this has to do with the natural form and shape that these words represent in life.
  Last but not least, we must not ignore the fact that not all words in occidental languages are arbitrary. In some English words, for example, the pronunciation or the feeling that comes with the word has to do with its meaning. For instance "squeeze" has a pronunciation that gets you thinking of the action of getting toothpaste out from a tube, and the word " splash" does leave the sound of water jumping in your mind. These are some of the numerous non-arbitrary lexicon in English, and surely there are a million other examples in the 6900 tongues that the world has!

Language and Personality

        “Kill’em, shoot’em, take all of ‘em down!”… These words and the fervent emotion that comes with them may sound brutal and “out of this world”, but unfortunately it has well become the language of a great many young males in the global society today. With the increasing popularity of violent video games in the market, kids nowadays often get exposed more to violent and dirty language and less to polite language. The case of the MRT Genocide on the 21^st of May in Taipei corresponds well to this issue, and from Cheng Chieh’s murder motives, we can see how linguistics and psychology can play a major role in an individual’s personality and way of life.

        For at least a dozen years, linguists that have a foundation in Neuroscience have been researching quite a lot on this topic. It seems that not only the images but also the language and the lexicon frequently heard in a person’s childhood can contribute either negatively or positively to that child’s further mental development. Researches have shown that kids who watch mostly “soft programs” (programs with only friendly words like “That’s very kind of you” and “It’s lovely to have people like you in this world”) or programs with no violence nor villlains usually adopt a friendlier character, whereas kids who spend time playing video games or watching hero-villain shows (shows which have lines like “Fight to death for justice!” or  “May blood be spilled till justice is served!”) tend to be more ferocious as they grow up.

        Hence, the language that kids are exposed to determines to a great extent what kind of person they will turn out to be. If the society wants to avoid violence, one serious and useful way to put that in action is to omit all violent programs and video games in the kid’s market.

Will English Cease to Become the World's Lingua Franca?

  The world speaks English. Everywhere you go, English seems to be a basic communication tool, especially in a land that is exotic and unfamiliar to you. However, is there a possibility that English would cease to function as the global means of communication? Personally, I believe that English would still flourish, at the very least for the next 100 years, and my defense can be based on three evident facts:
  To begin with, a "Lingua Franca" usually does not change in a short amount of time. No one can anticipate the death of English in the international media just yet, and neither can we expect the imminent generations to give up all English courses and switch to Chinese or Spanish courses instead. Humans in the present century are already accustomed to English as a primary means of communication and there is nothing much we can do about that.
  Secondly, if America continues to be the power of the world, people will keep looking up to this nation. As much as the U.S. decides the trends of the global market, there is no manner by which we can resist English to survive.
 Last but not least, English was the dominant political language when globalization began placing its roots in the west. Many aspects of the globalized world we see today were established by the U.S., and with the whole world enjoying America's inventions (modern democracy, multimedia, technology, etc...), it wouldn't be logical for the English language to lose its say any time soon.

  Hence, due to the nature of a franca lingua's life expectancy, America's influence, and the timing of the United State's rise in world history, there is no doubt that English would not die out any time soon as the world's most dominant language. You can still hold on to your Spanish textbooks, but never forget how useful English is in our daily lives.

Problems of Language-Learning Among Taiwanese Students

 

Foreign-language learning seems to be a great challenge for most Taiwanese students, and in recent years people have been spending loads of cash consulting English crams schools for the sake of getting a good grade in school, in the TOEFL test, or in the IELTS test. These students seek rapid improvement, but rarely do they take time to understand the wrong methods and habits that they resort to while learning languages.

 

With years of observation I have come to see that Taiwanese students use too many “vocabulary handbooks” (books that contain only hundreds of vocabulary with a Chinese translation and no English explanation). Such cramming is time-consuming, not to mention the fact that these books jeopardize students’ abilities to grasp the context where each word is utilized.

Another bad habit that Taiwanese students have while learning English is that they rely too much on “Chinese to English translation” to complete an English text. They resort to writing down Chinese and later literally translating every word into English using Google translation devices. In fact, “thinking in a Chinese and not English sense” could lead to serious miscommunication, and also it could mistakenly guide students to “write with an accent.”

 

One last bad habit that I witness among these students is that the memorize vocabulary "the hard way"; that is, they cram everything in without using logic to remember what they learn in class. They have no lexical observation and contain no idea as to how one should analyze new vocabulary from its roots.

These are some major problems that Taiwanese students should deal with. Only with this, an eager heart and a fearless mind can students anticipate to develop their language capacities to the absolute fullest.

Our Concept of Time in Language Structures

   To a certain extent, languages can be considered as the greatest reflection of a society's philosophy, culture, and accumulated train of thought. Most people are naturally unaware of this phenomenon; nonetheless, in the past century linguists, translators, and writers have been investing much effort exploring how the "time concepts" of a society could lead to significant changes or uses in grammar or language use. Though each language has its own unique grammar structure, experts in intercultural linguistics have basically classified all known world languages into two categories, according to "the impact that the concept of time makes in their languages".


   The first category includes basically all occidental (mostly international) languages. As races in the western hemisphere  view the flow of time as a straight line, Romance, Germanic, and Slavic tongues usually include very complex past and future tense rules(In the Spanish language, we see that the past tense can be even more detailedly divided into four types). In addition to this, the majority of these languages  include the subjunctive, a tense quite abstract which is often used in inconcrete contexts. Westerners believe that because there are many things in life which do not actually occur in the "straight time line", the subjunctive could serve as the most perfect tense when expressing uncertainty in the future. 

  The rules in the oriental nations in quite the opposite. Because Confucianism has been so influential in history, Asian nations follow China's train of thought to a great extent. As stated in China's greastest work of philosophyYiJing, Asians view time not in a straight line, but in a circle. Unlike westerners, they trust that things in life repeat, and that there is no need to distinguish that clearly the past from the future. With this mindset, Asian languages do not really have a very concrete past tense, future tense, or subjunctive mood, leaving the Chinese language with a very concise grammar structure.

Globalization: A Threat to Cultural Identity

 
Blonde hair, blue eyes; black hair, brown eyes; auburn hair, green eyes... With globalization on the rise, people from all ethnicities and tongues get together and open a new, exciting page of the humanities. Language exchange enhances respect among races, bringing about a more peaceful, more positive understanding among people from different corners of the world. Nevertheless, this exchange of culture has brought about confusion in some countries, certain religions, and a few mixed individuals. The excitement may seem mind-blowing, but the identity and essence of culture meets a point of crisis.  

 One reason may be that with immigration movements increasing, people now identify themselves not by their blood and ethnicity, but by their growing environment. American born Chinese individuals might feel more close to the western style and less engaged to their eastern roots.

Another factor behind this phenomenon has to do with the dominance of certain tongues. With western languages like English, Spanish, and French widespread and spoken by billions of people, Asians, Latinos, and Africans start to experience a crisis in their language identities. Should their own tongues be abolished? Is the frequent use of western languages washing away the confidence and pride of their original culture? These are questions that certain cultures continue to confront with, and with it we see an inevitable, even dangerous "complex of inferiority".

 In conclusion, globalization may be offering us numerous chances of expanding our horizons, but there are sone bigger, unknown problems that many people seek to deal with. There might be a possibility that this issue cannot be dealt with, but at the moment we all are clear on the fact that we'll be needing a broader mind and acceptance of new identity definitions in a very near future.  

Translation in the 21st Century:Challenge or Chance?

 With globalization dominating the trends of the current century, humans seek a higher need to establish a stronger translation basis in all nations. We get curious about other countries and we feel obligated to enhance our interpretation skills to do business with other continents. With all this excitement at hand, the field of transtology rises, and many languages majors seek to engage in the world of exotic tongues. However, are humans ready for the rise of transtology studies? This continues to be a big question at hand.

  To date, studies have shown that humans have not entirely reached the mark for "mature translation practices"; which is to say, we may speak two languages well and with full fluency, but the knowledge that we have about the cultures that lie behind languages is still too weak for us to realize the real challenges of translation. In addition, translation in the practical world may sound easy, but translation in the literary world is a whole new unparalleled challenge that almost no one in the world could dominate. In my point of view, literary translations are a hybrid work of art with the soul of another language. For example, the translated work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novels can be seen as literature, but its very essence differs from the great author’s original Spanish version. Languages are bits of culture themselves, and even languages that are close or cognate in terms of origin vary considerably in grammar structure, logic, philosophy, and pronunciation. This difference makes translation seem like an extremely difficult, even impossible task to accomplish.

Parents' Responsibilities in a Child's Language Acquisition

All of us are aware that parents play an imprescindible role in building a child’s language potentials, and here are some facts that one may want to follow:

        To begin with, it is not advisable to educate a child to be bilingual at an too early an age. A child should first consolidate his first language until the age of three or four before proceeding onto the second language. A third language is not recommended until the child develops mature usage of the first two tongues.

        If the parents insist in getting their kids to be bilingual, there are two major ways to achieve this goal. Once the child demonstrates that he can articulate well, one of his parents should start communicating with him in a second tongue, and the other parent should continue talking to him in his first language. Note that both the father and the mother should always stick to the same languages when talking to the child. If these parents care about the child’s fluency in both languages, the easiest way is to take their infants to a nation where the targeted language is spoken as an official tongue. Note that the child has to carry in speaking his first language in a family context.

        Language acquisition is a complicated myth that researchers are still fighting to unravel. However, if parents think clearly before they plan their child’s language learning, I trust that there is hope for every family to have bright bilingual children.

 

What My Almost-Perfect Community Needs on Language Planning

        I’ve lived in Mucha for 10 years now, and it is indeed a perfect community—a quiet atmosphere with fresh air and beautiful sceneries. However, one thing I cannot tolerate about the place is the lack of international perspective among inhabitants. I have come up with a few ideas to improve that aspect in my community, with the help of language learning-facilities.

        I strongly trust that English is the key towards developing a community’s international potentials, and hence I conjecture that the local government should promote more free English courses to all. The authorities may think of ways to motivate people to participate in these courses, say, provide free meals for those who come to the community English classes or provide coupons in the local market for those who pass a community English test. With food and money pushing on its back, perhaps there would be more people who would take time to take English courses and improve their speaking abilities.

        Another way to promote English in the community would be to encourage foreigners to live in Mucha. The local authorities could offer cheaper rents to foreigners, and with a rapid increase of international inhabitants, people in the neighborhood would be obligated to speak English in work, in the bus, in the market, and in the elevator. Though this may seem like a less effective way of improving the local Taiwanese’s English, in the long run at least Mucha would become a more international area in Taipei.

        Mucha seems like a village that one would see in late 18 century Taipei, and it is time to build intercultural mindsets among the people. I sincerely hope that in the near future, the government could take measures and examine ways to improve that aspect.

 

Frustrations as a Language Instructor

In my junior year I was lucky enough to get a part-time job as a Spanish instructor in National Chengchi University's Foreign Language Group. On the very first day of class, it suddenly hit me that I possessed a very natural talent in teaching languages and explaining culture and grammar; that was a feeling so strong that I immediately fell in love with language-teaching, and I have been trying to discover the difficulties and struggles of beginners who are learning Spanish. However, as much as I love it, there are many troubles that come with this job. The process isn't half as easy as it looks like, and to date I have experienced so, so many frustrations. Allow me to elaborate on that.

  For one thing, it wasn't until a few months ago until I realized that as a Spanish "near-native speaker", I do not really comprehend that questions and worries that a beginner might have. I keep finding it incredible to believe why some people have problems with the easiest type of grammar, or why people have such a hard time memorizing Spanish vocabulary. "Putting ourselves in our students' shoes" is something so crucial that most languages teachers forget. I bet that's also why most departments in the Foreign Language College assign foreign professors to teach only seniors. 

 

   In addition, I can to say I am seriously annoyed by the fact that Taiwanese students always "memorize" grammar and vocabulary. Languages aren't like History, we can't expect to get adept at it solely by memorizing rules and not using it often.  Also, several students struggle with syntax as they rely too much on straight-forward translated" pictionaries" (illustrated books in which there are many words in a foreign language and the Chinese translation beside it). In reality, experts in language-teaching in a broader sense investigate on the effects of this. In cases of TESOL studies, experts see that habits like these lead to students giving sentences like "My grandmother is ancient" or "My brother hits me with his paws". Errors like these  seem inevitable, and sadly most Taiwanese students still stick with the same ways of learning English, those "unhealthy ways" that make them misunderstand the usage of each word.

Colonization's Impacts in Languages: the Case of the Mayan Tongue

Colonization has always been a viewed as a two-sided historical reality. While socially speaking colonization is a major key towards the globalized society we enjoy today, other aspects of humanity wither under the shadows of it. Personally, I have been very engaged in the study of the Mayan tongue in southern Mexico, and above that since last year I have dedicated much time and effort elaborating my mini thesis Linguistic Changes under Cross-cultural Encounters in the Mayan Territory. Here I seize the chance briefly share a few of my views on the issue of language change under and after colonization.

  Having spent two months in Chiapas, Mexico, I discovered that the once extremely intricate web of Mayan tongues (which reached it peak in the 10th century) has been reduced to only 7 roots. Experts claim that the Spanish colonization was the major reason behind the sudden decline of these Central and South American indigineous tongues, including also the Aztec and Incan languages. Much of the culture seen in languages has been lost, and enigmas continue to trouble linguists and historians. In addition, it goes to say that the introduction of the Spanish language (a major Romance language with Latin structures) has caused significant changes in syntax in the Mayan language. Many terms in the Southern Mayan area are directly acquired from Spanish, and some conjecture that this phenomenom has led to a parcial decease of the Mayan pride. Furthermore, the extension of Spanish has led to an unthinkable change in the Mayan language's grammar structure. Bilingualism in the entire society in the 18th century evidently left its roots in the Mayan tongues, for all Mayan tongues now conform to the Spanish language's rule of "subject, verb, object" instead of maintaining its original "object, subject, verb"rule. 

  Of course, the above mentioned are merely objective, linguistics approaches towards viewing how deeply colonization influenced the Latin American society; further influences, such as the lost of cultural identity, are more complex and sensitive issues that rise behind these changes. Nonetheless, in our day the entire Latin American society speaks Spanish as an official or secondary tongue, and the relationship between Spanish and South America has evolved in a healthy manner. Things have changed, and people oblige themselves to view language change resulted from colonization with a positive mindset.

Languages as Religions

                                                                         Languages as Religions    2014.3.27

Most of the time, I like to refer to myself as a “devout language major”. To most people, this concept may not seem logical at all—how do you address a student as a “devout” student? Isn’t the word “devout” practiced mostly in religion? As weird as the notion may appear, for me, I do have a strong and personal sense towards languages and what they represent in the course of personal improvement as well as human identity.

        From the perspective of an individual, I trust that languages work with a soul embedded by the people who speak it. Languages have life, and are the passive inspiration for a lot of people. All European tongues have a sense of vitality and fresh character that sustain through its culture; the Spaniards have a down-to-earth, rough beauty in their pronunciations while the Italians bear a lively kind of sexiness in their interpretation of the spoken Italian language. On a personal level, I trust that the Spanish language, with its enlightening spirit, has transformed me throughout the years. Spanish has taught me to change myself into a less pessimistic girl, and to feel delighted-- grateful for all the smallest good things in life. As absurd as it may sound, Spanish is a source of enlightenment for me, and throughout the years I have not only mastered it but also I have strived to have its beauty known and understood by more Taiwanese.

        In addition, languages reach out to an entire race and record various details of a race’s essence. Many terms of culture, history, religion, and the arts are registered, created, and invented under language systems, and from the change of languages we witness how humans evolve throughout the centuries. Even under a same spoken language where people of distinct countries can understand each other, languages record different meaning for each of these nations, and translate the spirit of those nations in a different manner, using the same lexicon. Languages are the best chameleons in the world, forever changing, but forever being the most basic asset of human development. I trust that languages have the ultimate power for transforming this world, just like a religion, and as a language-aficionado and a fighter for language rights, I proudly address myself as a “devout language major”.

       

History, the Two-Faced Monster

        The tactics of humanitarian studies is something interesting, yet to be researched to its fullest. Out of all the fields of humanities, the course of history has proven to be yet the biggest challenge. All details of historical studies- of historical figures, historical events- cannot be perceived in solely one direction, but should be touched upon through several dimensions. It is exactly this variety of opinions and perspectives that structures the excitement of history studies.

        To illustrate, take 17^th century India as a bright example. In the early 1600s, the great Mughal era devoted a great percentage of its affluence to the construction of the Taj Majal, the tomb of Jahan Jir and his beloved wife. Now, in our era Taj Majal may be considered one of the seven wonders of the world, and its majectic beauty, unparelell, has attracted a great many visitors from across the globe to witness the acme of Indian ancient civilization. As stunning and unmatched as the Taj Mahal may be, history reveals two different sides of the story, and sadly most people have been only beguiled by the beautiful side of it. In fact, though the Taj Mahal continues to bring visitors and create life for India’s tourism, few people know the actual agony behind the construction of this wonderous palace. 20,000 innocent people were exploited and tortured throughout the process, and under the king Jahan Jir’s orders no one was free from affliction. The kingdom ran out of funds, with no resources left because of the Taj Mahal. In addition, with the king’s decision to lock his father up in a tower, the great powers of India’s most flourished era started to decline. The great architects of Taj Mahal had their arms chopped off after twenty years of sweat and efforts, ending up as the king’s greatest contributors- and slaves. India went from affluent, to the state where it is today, with half a billion people starving and struggling in poverty. India’s most breath-taking palace may have left behind a great anthropological wonder, but the nation, four hundred years later, continues to live in the shades of avarice. This is the two-sided reality that almost every part of history conveys.

 

Laments on the Decline of Literary Passion

        Human evolution is long, profound, and undeniably filled with more vicissitudes than we can handle. The same goes to the evolution of human knowledge and our understanding of the world. Just fixing our eyes in Europe we see an abysmal change of human perspectives in each era. From the dark middle ages to the surge of Latin’s importance in the Renaissance; from the enlightenment of the French evolution to the hybrid- almost chaotic- perspectives of knowledge that we have today, we see that everything, and everything we feel about the academics is changing little by little. While some may sense energy in this change of thought, I take the issue otherwise, and as a language major, I process this change through a more pessimistic overview.

        Putting aside the flourishing field of science, the humanities are declining in almost every way imaginable. In the 14^th century, the Renaissance and the enlightenment of Latin, brought about excitement and expanded the human potential in most areas of development. Literature and art were thought to be the propellers of prosperity, and people believed that without culture, the society stayed soulless, dead, meaningless… Throughout the following five hundred years, society continued to passionate for the literary arts, but in a rate less impressive than the Renaissance. Until today, in the 21^st century, I trust there is little to expect from the literary world- not because the quality of contemporary literature is unacceptable, but because the society in general negates the value literature without getting to comprehend its ultimate value. Even in my very own department, where literature seems to be the key of its survival, we see no spike of interest for literature and art among students of European Philology. People scorn, despise the literary arts, and view language learning as merely a manner of expediting international trade and commerce. This shallow side of the society has yet to be improved before the soul of our humanites sinks forever.

A Recap of My College Years: Dedication to Language

  As a senior in the last year of university, sometimes I can't help but keep recapping on the details of how exponentially my college years transformed through the past four years. Of course, this journey, like any other, has been filled with laughter as well as tears of frustration and regret; however as I look back I discover how crucially right the biggest mistake of my life had been.

  My freshman year started up in one of the most competitive medical universities in Taiwan. As a student in medical school, I did not live the glory that the average medical student would have. I was forced into this major, and instead of flourishing, I kept sinking- till a point where I would not save myself anymore. To me, being a doctor- or even aspiring to be one- is not equivalent to being a hero in this universe. Quite the contrary, I thought firmly that doctors were merely people who sought money out of those who us in the more devastating periods of our lives. 

  And with that concept in mind, and against all sorts of waves of objection, I dropped out of medical school and fought a spot for myself in National Chengchi University. I gave up what people thought of as a glorious career to pursue and went for what I loved most, ironically a major that most people considered useless-Hispanic Philology. My new world in NCCU has guided me through whatever darkness I had previously been through, and finally, by devoting myself to what I enjoy most, I've come to see my own potentials and lift myself out of the previous madness. Spanish language may not lead me to a very lucrative career nor bring me tons of gold, but it has definitely enriched my soul to the utmost and revived my love and belief of all the beautiful things in life.