It's a mix feeling after listening the potcasts. I am very glad that Eldofanso finally got the meaning of language, yet I feel sorry for him for loosing the connection with his friends. What I understand about language from the potcasts is: it is the media that helps make connection; it can be verbal or non-verbal, some might driven by human instinct; it's dynamic; it will evolve and it's cultural.
So, was Eldofanso thinking of anything when he was wordless? I think so. From genetic point of view, thinking should happen before language, as language was created by human with their thought base on their needs. As time goes by, the relationship between language has become more complex due to the the change of the environment and vise versa. Maybe Eldofanso's thought back then could not last long and might be just image (just making assumption as his friends able to act out the scene, so there must be images remained inside their head), but definitely there's something happening inside his brain. It is very difficult for any of us, who has the privilege to learn language(s) to even imagine the world without language. I feel so struggle and frustrated that I have to use the language that I'm not good at to express myself, not to mention without words to express.
I am interested in how language changes the way we think. Each language has their own system and specific meaning that tie to the culture and environment of the culture group. It provides different cognitive experiences and development. Therefore these differences will definitely affect a person's cognition. The example about the concept of block and street in TED talks that Derek Sivers gave, (Weird, or just different?) is a good example of how the differences affect our thought.
As teacher, a foreign language teacher, I should always be aware of some of the differences and try to bridge the gap of the students' understanding toward learning new language. Sometimes it's really difficult due to my lack of knowledge of the students' language background (e.g. I have no idea how the Koren word works in order to help my students to make connection.) and I know the experiences will not be the same, as I am just using my assumption based on my understanding (which affected by my language) to 'imagine' the way they think (just like you 'imagining' to understand the way Chinese speakers think while they learn English). But I will keep on learning and trying.
I was also touched by the story of Ildefonso. And as I stated in my post, I think the thought of people as Ildefonso, consists of images.
ReplyDeleteI read in somewhere about our photograph memory or something like that. The memories of my early childhood come to mind as scene, without words. But I still wondering about how to build our thoughts without words. In my last class, Child development, we had a discussion about language, behavior and thoughts. I think the way we develop our thoughts it will be the same, but the we express our ideas is different. Why? Maybe because the languages have different grammatical rules, and somehow, this affects the way exposure of our ideals.Make sense?
You are so right Silvia! Not only affects the way we express ourselves, I guess the receiver/ listener will interprete differently due to the different language background.
DeleteThank you for your comment. =)
It is just amazing to me to think how many hundreds of languages there are in the world. It is a gift you have to be able to use more than one. Could you imagine if there was a person alive that could speak every language? Impossible.
ReplyDeleteSo I wouldn't worry too much if you don't know Korean, or German or French for that matter.
Due to our limited lifespans one person can only know so many languages. I sometimes wonder if kids get confused when they are learning many languages. I had a student once who was exposed to 4 languages (English, Thai, Chinese, and Turkish). He seemed quite confused.
Thank you Nelson! You are right that we can't possibly know all the languages.
DeleteIt can be confusing when one being exposed to different languages. My students have the same problem as well. I am very lucky because I have the environment that allow me to use all of them everyday, that really help my language to get fluency.
Hi Ker - Thanks for the post and the video. I am not convinced that thought as we know it is happening without language. I think in this case the what was happening in the mind without language may have been images but even those images could not have been connected until one was built by another with a slight detail. So mimicking really isn't thinking - in my mind, anyway. ANd, the fact that he could not describe his life prior to finding language says to me that he may not even have the memories. If you draw out a a memory of your own, you may have an image but you are also naming that image and the things in it. You are say to yourself, "Oh I remember the time when.." If you didn't have those words would you remember? I think that is why we don't remember much of our own lives prior to 6. We may have one or two memories but they are foggy at best. Such an interesting thing to think about :)
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