Language will always play a role in my life. Language is the key to communication and explaining our thoughts. Words are meaningless without language. Though language does not need to be communicated verbally. There are a variety of means that your thoughts can be carried across, such as through body and sign language. In the podcast, a story is told about a deaf man who would only ever sign what others signed to him. He never realized the association between words and objects and how you give symbolic meaning to anything if you just give it a name. When this man realized this, a whole new world opened for him. Putting meaning behind words makes what they name important and combining words into sentences that have significant as they are able to explain anything going on.
The ability of language is remarkable. I use it to convey my feelings, emotions, and thoughts. Within school, I use it to discuss my knowledge of subjects and ask questions to learn more about areas that I have difficulty in. Furthermore, language allows me to communicate with my family. My grandparents, who still live in Germany, do not speak English, rather they speak German. If my parents had never taught me German, everything I would say to them would be meaningless. They would only hear words, not my thoughts. We would be unable to have conversations with significance, rather it would be an empty exchange of words. In spite of language being able to be conveyed in a variety of means, not every way is comprehensible by everyone. Therefore, it is vital that a method of communication is used that can be understood by those that you want to connect with. And when that method is found, the beauty of language can be demonstrated. Language can be used to interact with people coming from all different backgrounds as a way to tell our stories. Without this ability, we would never be able to understand one another as we could not put symbolic meaning to different aspects of our lives and share what we are going through. Take my situation as an example; despite being separated by an ocean, language gives me the ability to communicate with my family so they know and understand my story and I am able to comprehend theirs. Though attaching meaning to words also can have damaging effects, especially emotionally. Describing others using cruel vocabulary always internally impacts other. Whenever I hear others talk about me in a negative light, I never know how to respond. Those people chose to associate those awful words with me because for some reason, that is how I mean to them in their lives. And I think to myself, I could change myself so that these people would change their perspective of me but then I realize, I do not want to become a person I am not in order to please the thoughts and emotions of a few others.
What a powerful treatise on language. I think the power of language to communicate ideas rings especially true in light of your familial experiences. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.