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%NON-TRANSLATABLE COMMUNICATIONS 781017
Verbal statements in French may be translated into
verbal statements in Spanish with relatively little
distortion in meaning. That is to say, a person who grew
up bilingual in both French and Spanish might read both
the French and the Spanish verbal statements and assent
that they said essentially the same thing. The
equivalence of verbal translations becomes less precise as
one moves between languages and cultures which share less
in common; e.g., French to English, English to Chinese,
Ancient Egyptian to American Bureaucracies. What one
language permits, facilitates, coerces you to say---may be
impossible to express in any adequate translation---a
person growing up bilingual in both languages finding all
attempts at translation to be totally inadequate. They
may find the attempts laughable, absurd, or tragic---
depending on circumstances.
As we move away from verbal languages we encounter
increasing instances of communications in one language
which can not be translated into an equivalent
communication in another language. No verbal statement
can convey exactly the same message as a caress. No
mathematical equation will express the sentiment of a
sonnet with fidelity. No symphony can convey the meaning
of a system of coupled second order differential
equations. No string of words can convey accurately the
desire expressed in a coy glance of passion. The
difficulty of translation is augmented if there are
cultural differences between the persons involved, in
addition to the differences between the languages.
People who are highly specialized will often act as
if only their particular language is capable of
communicating meaningful messages. If that is the case
they will disregard all messages which can not be
translated into their language---and regard translations
into their language as accurately representing all the
meaningful content of the message in the original language
with which they are not familiar. They, through lack of
familiarity with diverse languages, are thus incapable of
dialogue with many people whose focal realities can be
pointed to only with their respective appropriate
languages. They need to become sensitive to the reality
of non-translatable communications and take the time to
become familiar with appropriate alternative realities and
languages.
(c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in
www.essayz.com Search for Integrity and Honesty
(On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)
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