The Game Called Communication

Language has become my favorite pastime. There are so many things about it that keeps me curious, but here a few for you to consider.

When I took Spanish in college, the first few chapters of the text was incredible. It described the near perfect language that had rules for everything (and I love rules). We studied verb conjugation, looking at the vosotros and nosotros forms. I loved it. It all made sense. Then the most dreaded chapter in the entire text appeared: Irregular Verbs. That's when I started hating Spanish.

It is interesting however, that English has the same problems, it's just that I grew up learning English. The most common irregular verbs are verbs of being. Words like is, am, are, was, were, etc. If you did not speak the language you would not immediately recognize how closely these are related. But, all of them speak of the same subject: states of being.

Perhaps we have such a difficult time communicating our state of being that our language reflects this. It is something to consider.

Another thing that makes language difficult is the use of idioms and colloquial expressions. Several stories from speaking with interpreters come to mind. The term "brand new" makes perfect sense in our Western culture, but Kenyan's have no idea what it means. The word "snit" does not translate well either.

A term my mom used often was "off like a jug handle." Many have never seen a jug, and did not know they had handles. Add the Southern drawl to it is unintelligible to most.

Yet, we still have to communicate, and our native tongue is the best shot we have of getting our message across. The only thing I know to do is keep trying.