introduction
hello everyone and welcome to another brrly babbles blog post!!! i just got home from dinner and im super bloated. just wanted to let you all know that before i start today's topic WHICH IS LINGUISTICS! i came up with this blog post idea a while back (2/24 to be exact) and i just drafted it to remind myself to write a blog post about this topic and HERE I AM WRITING IT! i also have some other ideas drafted up so yeah. honestly though i feel like when i write on my blog, they're about topics that come spontaneously to me in the moment so when i draft up ideas i don't feel the passion that i had when i first thought of the idea. that's okay though because i will try my best to be passionate about this topic in order to produce a blog post because i like the look of having a lot of blog posts because I JUST DO.
super long rant (you can skip it if you want but personally i think it's very interesting)
you know i really like long chapter books because i like the look of a fat long book and i also like the feeling of finishing a long book and this has been an ongoing thing for me since i was a teeny weeny baby. my grandma who wasn't really my grandma (she was like my dad's caregiver for a while) took me to the library because she really wanted to get me into reading since i said i hated reading once and i didn't actually mean it i was just a moody kid but anyway when the librarian asked me what book i wanted i said i wanted a really long chapter book. HOWEVER since i was a tiny little kid i also didn't really know how to read long chapter books so i also wanted a few pictures in it as well. HOWEVER, i also didn't want it to be ONLY pictures because i liked the feeling of reading a lot of words. so what i wanted was a long long book but also a few pictures in it, and guess what i got recommended by the librarian? DORK DIARIES!!!! i am so happy that i got introduced to dork diaries because it really got me into reading. also i think the reason why i liked such long books was because i also really liked the feeling of them in my hands. idk why but yk graphic novels and how they're sorta heavy cus of all the ink and the thickness of the pages?? i really like holding them idk i think i'm just weird is that relatable to anyone. does anyone like long books because of the way they feel in your hands physically. i also saw this one youtube video where it was rainbow dash and she kept stealing this fat long comic book from this guy and he got super mad and he kept trying to get the comic book back. i would rewatch it a lot as a kid and not because of rainbow dash (i was a fat mlp fan but that's not the point) and not because the video was interesting it was honestly kinda cringe but because i really really really liked how long and fat and nice the comic book sounded. like when the man would flip through the pages of the comic book it sounded so cool and then when he held it i could feel the weight in my hands and i was like WOW I REALLY WANT A LONG COMIC BOOK! and yeah i think that's why i like the feeling of having a lot of something like i really like collecting things and that's why i like having a lot of blog posts and why i like long chapter books and why i really like textbooks and why i like long research papers and IDK MOVING ON
the history behind why i'm interested in linguistics because this is very random
anyways sorry that was very very off topic. so about a year ago i was researching books to read like one does and i came across a book called babel.
so in 8th grade we were offered the chance to take spanish 1 and of course i took that chance because speaking another language is actually so AWESOME like i didn't really think of it that way in 8th because honestly i took the class so i could get ahead in highschool and i wouldn't have to take a language class during my senior year but now that i've been studying spanish for a while it's brought me a new perspective on linguistics and language. whenever i'm able to understand something in spanish i just feel so amazed and entranced by the fact that i can understand something that i couldn't a while ago and i really like reading spanish text like it's my favorite activity to do in spanish class. i also just really like talking in spanish whenever i get the chance and being able to form coherent sentences in spanish is SO SATISFYING gosh i love speaking another language. i can also KIND OF speak vietnamese but my viet vocabulary is extremely limited since the only reason why i know how to speak a bit of viet is because my mom speaks mainly viet to me and she has never spoken a full english sentence to me in my ENTIRE LIFE. of course the things she says to me are mostly commands and i also sometimes listen in on her conversations with her relatives in vietnam because i can't talk to them so i have to listen. well i can talk to them but not about the topics i want and i can't exactly get my point across either because i don't know how to say what i want to say in viet. ANYWAYS i think it's very cool that i know how to speak a bit of viet by just talking to my mom and listening to my relatives speak. i cant read or write viet but i can speak and comprehend it kind of so YEAH! anyways after i took spanish 1 and realized how interesting my ability to speak viet is, i started thinking about all the languages in the world and how cool it is that each one has a completely different set of grammar rules and have different combinations of letters and how cool it'd be to communicate with other people of different languages. i was also thinking about how complex different languages are and how impressive it is that people can speak them. english is also a hard language to people whose first language isn't english and i just find that so INTERESTING because i speak english everyday and it doesn't seem hard but that's because i've been speaking english since the day i was born and it's just so COOL TO THINK ABOUT!!!! i also want to learn more about different cultures around the world because i want to be more open-minded and other cultures are so different from what i practice and we're all humans yet we're so intricate and complex and it's just so cool!!! i want to learn more about society!
in summary i want to learn more about linguistics and different cultures because i want to be connected to the rest of the world and complex languages are interesting and being able to communicate with everyone is a nice skill to have and the power of language is incredibly important in today's society!
the power of language
being able to communicate across all different variations of language is a powerful skill to have. you can convey your ideas with all people and you're able to understand what other people are saying as well. you can withhold information from another person if it's being said in another language!!!! like guys being able to speak a bunch of languages is so very powerful it is crazy. another example would be how some old texts are in an ancient language that no one speaks anymore. being able to know that ancient language would be an incredibly powerful skill to have because you'd be able to translate old texts that could potentially be some groundbreaking scientific discovery that's flunked modern scientists for years!!!!!!!
to put it in perspective, imagine that if your parents aren't fluent in the language you are fluent in. for me, my mom isn't very fluent in english but i know a little bit of vietnamese and i'm able to communicate my main points with her, but if i want to get into small details and convey my full intentions i CAN'T! if i have the power of knowing vietnamese i would be able to talk with her so much more and convey all of my points with her. i would be able to hold full conversations with her and strengthen our relationship! but i can't do that because i don't know a lot of vietnamese!!!!
by applying this situation to other people, you can start to see the significant impact that language has on our power. for example, in the book babel which i mentioned earlier, the main character is brought into an argument between a chinese laborer and a british sailor. the british sailor won't allow the chinese laborer onto this ship that's about to sail for a reason that i've forgotten, but all you need to know is that the chinese laborer had the right to board the ship. anyways, the main character comes along and the chinese laborer is like "yo tell this guy i have permission to board the ship". the main character can speak both chinese and english btw. the main character is like "should i tell the british sailor.....like should i really?..." like i don't even remember why he doesn't tell the british sailor because i read this part a couple months ago and then i just stopped reading the book but he decides to not translate what the chinese laborer said to the british sailor. he also tells the chinese laborer that he's not allowed to board the ship despite his right to and tells him a LIE that the british sailor said something about not boarding the ship. pretty much he had the power of language to decide whether or not the chinese laborer was able to board the ship. LIKE WOW did that blow your mind guys. if not it's probably because of the way i write. i am not a very good writer and the way i describe things is very vague and the small details are what bring things meaning but i cannot bring the small details to life. SIGH
language is like the key to a chest of information. i mean without language we wouldn't be able to communicate at all and therefore not convey our ideas at ALL!! so be thankful that you can communicate and that you have language on your side!
learning new languages and the significance of learning about a variety of cultures
personally guys i want to learn a bunch of languages because each language has such a diverse and intricate set of rules and it's just so cool!!!!! like spanish has different grammar than english and learning about that is so interesting and then there's different characters and different ways of saying the same alphabetic characters and WOW language is so complex and so cooooolllll! personally i think it'd be really cool to know mandarin. like i want to be able to speak it but i think i'll learn it later in life because my priority should be to learn vietnamese so i can communicate more deeply with my mom.
reasons for learning about different cultures:
- empathy and respect for other people, more open-minded
- brings you new perspectives on the same situation
- have you guys ever read never cry wolf?? well it brought me perspective on how different cultures have varying perspectives on the same thing and i think that's another reason why it's important to learn about different cultures. so the american culture had the perspective that wolves were dangerous and that they should all be KILLED and then the inuit culture held the perspective that wolves were a keystone species and should be protected because they bring balance to nature! by learning about new cultures and gaining new perspectives on different situations, you can think critically and form your own opinions on things!
- no more intolerant behavior. not that you are intolerant right now but i think having a limited perspective on different cultures inevitably allows for intolerance to form
image from cio views because i'm not trying to get sued. well i'm not even earning revenue from this blog so i don't think i'd be able to get sued either way, right??
conclusion
okay that's all i have to say on linguistics because i want to talk about another topic and i have milked this topic to the MAX. goodbye everyone i hope this blog post inspires you to continue learning about new cultures and to learn a second or third or even a fourth language if you're just crazy like that. also i added some images which i usually don't do but i think i'll be doing it from now on because it looks better than just a bunch of paragraphs!
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