language a barrier?
decided to write another post..
was in front of MMU waiting for the last bus to puchong at 9 pm on friday.there were two african guys waiting for the bus too and the bus driver was trying to explain some of the routes in cyber to them. i dont know if they understood or not but they seemed to be a little bored. after all..the driver was struggling with his english and even i couldnt understand what he was saying. then while boarding the bus..two other guys came..i dont know where they are from but they were definately not malaysians..and they wanted to go to KL but the bus was to puchong and the driver was trying to tell them in BM to go to another station to wait but both of them didnt understand a word. finally the driver ended up taking them there..
it got me thinking anyway..how much language is important in our daily life..how much we have evolved..from grunts and nods..to words and then proper sentences..i stumbled upon this quote from the net..
"There grew in the centre of the earth the wonderful world tree, or knowledge tree. It was so tall that it reached almost to heaven. It said in its heart, "I shall hold my head in heaven and spread my branches over all the earth, and gather all men together under my shadow, and protect them, and prevent them from separating." But Brahma, to punish the pride of the tree, cut off its branches and cast them down on the earth, when they sprang up as wata trees, and made differences of belief and speech and customs to prevail on the earth, to disperse men upon its surface."
Hindu legend, from Wayne L. Allison, In The Beginning Was The Word: (The Genesis of Language)
Speech is so essential to our concept of intelligence that its possession is virtually equated with being human. Animals who talk are human, because what sets us apart from other animals is the “gift” of speech.In this context, then, consider the case of human language. It is one of the most distinctive behavioral adaptations on the planet. Languages evolved in only one species, in only one way, without precedent, except in the most general sense. And the differences between languages and all other natural modes of communicating are vast.What events transpired that have allowed humans to speak, while animals remain silent? If we are to believe the evolutionary teaching currently taking place in colleges and universities around the world, speech evolved as a natural process over time. Yet no one is quite sure how, and there are no known animals that are in a transition phase from non-speaking to speaking. In fact, in the Atlas of Languages, this remarkable admission can be found: ‘No languageless community has ever been found.
In fact, the origin of speech and language (along with the development of sex and reproduction) remains one of the most significant hurdles in evolutionary theory, even in the twenty-first century. In an effort “make the problem go away,” some evolutionists have chosen not to even address the problem.Evolutionist, John McCrone, put it this way:
"It all started with an ape that learned to speak. Man’s hominid ancestors were doing well enough, even though the world had slipped into the cold grip of the ice ages. They had solved a few key problems that had held back the other branches of the ape family, such as how to find enough food to feed their rather oversized brains. Then man’s ancestors happened on the trick of language. Suddenly, a whole new mental landscape opened up. Man became self-aware and self-possessed"
Nobody knows exactly how many languages there are in the world, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing between a language and a sub-language (or dialects within it). One authoritative source that has collected data from all over the world, The Ethnologue, listed the total number of languages as 6809.
it's funny though..so many languages in the world but it doesnt seem to give us anything..it only manages to separate humans in many different ways.. and worse still..with 6809 languages..those three men at the bus stop still couldnt understand each other..talk about total waste..
was in front of MMU waiting for the last bus to puchong at 9 pm on friday.there were two african guys waiting for the bus too and the bus driver was trying to explain some of the routes in cyber to them. i dont know if they understood or not but they seemed to be a little bored. after all..the driver was struggling with his english and even i couldnt understand what he was saying. then while boarding the bus..two other guys came..i dont know where they are from but they were definately not malaysians..and they wanted to go to KL but the bus was to puchong and the driver was trying to tell them in BM to go to another station to wait but both of them didnt understand a word. finally the driver ended up taking them there..
it got me thinking anyway..how much language is important in our daily life..how much we have evolved..from grunts and nods..to words and then proper sentences..i stumbled upon this quote from the net..
"There grew in the centre of the earth the wonderful world tree, or knowledge tree. It was so tall that it reached almost to heaven. It said in its heart, "I shall hold my head in heaven and spread my branches over all the earth, and gather all men together under my shadow, and protect them, and prevent them from separating." But Brahma, to punish the pride of the tree, cut off its branches and cast them down on the earth, when they sprang up as wata trees, and made differences of belief and speech and customs to prevail on the earth, to disperse men upon its surface."
Hindu legend, from Wayne L. Allison, In The Beginning Was The Word: (The Genesis of Language)
Speech is so essential to our concept of intelligence that its possession is virtually equated with being human. Animals who talk are human, because what sets us apart from other animals is the “gift” of speech.In this context, then, consider the case of human language. It is one of the most distinctive behavioral adaptations on the planet. Languages evolved in only one species, in only one way, without precedent, except in the most general sense. And the differences between languages and all other natural modes of communicating are vast.What events transpired that have allowed humans to speak, while animals remain silent? If we are to believe the evolutionary teaching currently taking place in colleges and universities around the world, speech evolved as a natural process over time. Yet no one is quite sure how, and there are no known animals that are in a transition phase from non-speaking to speaking. In fact, in the Atlas of Languages, this remarkable admission can be found: ‘No languageless community has ever been found.
In fact, the origin of speech and language (along with the development of sex and reproduction) remains one of the most significant hurdles in evolutionary theory, even in the twenty-first century. In an effort “make the problem go away,” some evolutionists have chosen not to even address the problem.Evolutionist, John McCrone, put it this way:
"It all started with an ape that learned to speak. Man’s hominid ancestors were doing well enough, even though the world had slipped into the cold grip of the ice ages. They had solved a few key problems that had held back the other branches of the ape family, such as how to find enough food to feed their rather oversized brains. Then man’s ancestors happened on the trick of language. Suddenly, a whole new mental landscape opened up. Man became self-aware and self-possessed"
Nobody knows exactly how many languages there are in the world, partly because of the difficulty of distinguishing between a language and a sub-language (or dialects within it). One authoritative source that has collected data from all over the world, The Ethnologue, listed the total number of languages as 6809.
it's funny though..so many languages in the world but it doesnt seem to give us anything..it only manages to separate humans in many different ways.. and worse still..with 6809 languages..those three men at the bus stop still couldnt understand each other..talk about total waste..
posted by BluePixie @ 10:05 PM
<< Home