My sociology teacher mentioned that many languages have words for emotions that would not translate into another language. Then she posed the question: "does that mean others can't feel those emotions?" I want to know what others think about this.
I feel that we can all feel those emotions, the problem then resides that we can not convey those emotions to others. So in essence words fail hard core in these situations. If a tree falls and you are there to witness it but have no idea how to describe what you just saw or what " a tree falling" actually means, and what the sound of it makes, has it really fallen? In essence through my jumbled thoughts spewed upon that poorly written sentence, a tree still falls, an emotion is still had, but you are unable to convey them to the rest of the world. Sometimes people have different describing words for the same thing, and if you ask someone from a country where English has never been spoken, would they be able to tell you they were "happy" in response they would ask you the same question if you are "bondarodamado" which in essence translates roughly to the English "happy", but still one is feeling that emotion, it is just not known in the other language making it technically a "null" in the realm of your thought. So I feel that in essence, as in the words of Mrs. Larson, Mrs. Garofano "Language fails."
I agree with Jeff in that people feel those emotions too. Even if the languages don't translate there might be a combination of words for a specific word. I can't think of an example right now, but I think all emotions are present. It is interesting that you bring this up Michael, I never really thought about it.
I feel that we can all feel those emotions, the problem then resides that we can not convey those emotions to others. So in essence words fail hard core in these situations. If a tree falls and you are there to witness it but have no idea how to describe what you just saw or what " a tree falling" actually means, and what the sound of it makes, has it really fallen? In essence through my jumbled thoughts spewed upon that poorly written sentence, a tree still falls, an emotion is still had, but you are unable to convey them to the rest of the world. Sometimes people have different describing words for the same thing, and if you ask someone from a country where English has never been spoken, would they be able to tell you they were "happy" in response they would ask you the same question if you are "bondarodamado" which in essence translates roughly to the English "happy", but still one is feeling that emotion, it is just not known in the other language making it technically a "null" in the realm of your thought. So I feel that in essence, as in the words of Mrs. Larson, Mrs. Garofano "Language fails."
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jeff in that people feel those emotions too. Even if the languages don't translate there might be a combination of words for a specific word. I can't think of an example right now, but I think all emotions are present. It is interesting that you bring this up Michael, I never really thought about it.
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