“regardless of cultural background, one should be able understand the text as long as one is thoroughly entangled in modern life.”
-Xu Bing
The subject of language is something I've always had a particular sensitivity to discussing. On one hand, I have always had a deep admiration for the many unique languages and cultures that make the world the way we see it today. These languages not only indicate where someone is from - they can also indicate who that person is. And for me, nothing is more admirable than someone who knows multiple languages - the wherewithal that it takes to learn totally new languages, the gratifying feeling they must feel when they speak to someone and shock them with their fluency - it's a truly beautiful sight to see.
On the other hand, I stand in stark contrast to those people. Even with my ethnicity and my foreign place of birth, English is still the only language I have grasped - and though I would like to believe I've harnessed it well enough, I still feel a bit of shame whenever I confront someone who speaks Arabic...and reveal to them that we can't really have a conversation in our native tongue. Language is understanding. It's about being aware of a world separate-but-oh-so-close to the world you live in. As it stands, though, language is anything but uniform and there is still sometimes a massive lack of exchange of cultures and ideas as a result.
Which brings us to Xu Bing's quote above, nestled within an excerpt from a book that was briefly discussed in class Friday. Bing's "language of icons" is truly fascinating, if not simplistic: By simply gathering familiar icons and images and framing them together, Bing manages to formulate a language that - for the most part - anyone can understand. As teachers, there sometimes can be a monumental rift in language in our very own classrooms. It is important that these stark contrasts are minimized in the future, and I believe technology is the best way of going about it in the future. Technology can be used for many things, and I believe social interaction is one of its greatest benefits. We can sit down, right now, and chat with somebody in Hong Kong about the many different intricacies of language and how it effects our daily lives. We can also chat with our Hong Kong friend about better ways of bringing our cultures closer together. Whatever the case may be, the fact is we CAN create a society more interconnected than ever before. Xu Bing's Language of Icons is a testament to that.
I agree that the "language of icons" provided an interesting exercise. It makes me wonder whether we could someday develop a complex pictorial language that be universally understood. There have been efforts made (like with Esperanto) to establish an easy-to-learn universal language, but they've always sort of fizzled out. (Maybe because people reject the concept of a contructed language being imposed on them- they'd rather it evolve naturally?) But I think there may be potential within the technological realm to take steps toward a universal manner of communicating.
ReplyDeleteI am really excited to see how the promise of more global connection promotes social justice and equality across the globe. The idea that the internet can provide us with a universal language of icons, or even translating what we are saying into the language of whoever may be reading it, is such an amazing opportunity and change in communication. It really is fascinating that we can communicate across the globe so easily.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the language of icons was an interesting exercise. Do you think this is something you would use in your classroom? It seems like it could be interesting to use in a history or social studies class.
ReplyDeleteI think this is very insightful. I agree that technology is a way to overcome the language barrier, not only through video chats and such that will help us communicate visually, but through online translators and information about other cultures that are readily available online. Do you think that even bad translators can be a helpful tool to multilingual communication?
ReplyDeleteHussein, you make a convincing case about the significance of learning other languages, and I'm drawn to your observation that "language is understanding." This observation would seem to me to raise an attendant question about whether language study might have a place in a social studies classroom. I don't mean the nuts and bolts of grammar and tense but rather, as your comment suggests, the cultural insights one derives from looking at language structure and (to borrow from our friend, James Gee) systems. I co-teach a course called China Odyssey that uses vicarious travel to connect MS/HS kids in discussions of social and cultural issues, and one of the most fascinating things I have ever seen is the way that my colleague, Professor Chan, shows how Chinese characters (which look random to non-speakers and even to most speakers of Chinese) are actually derived from drawings that portray complex ideas like love and cooperation. Fascinating stuff.
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