language by numbers
last friday i met a pretty cool guy at the bar we went to play pool at (the bar that happened to be right next to this thingy)
he was pretty old, but nevertheless a fun guy to have a discussion with.
the main topic was language.
he, being able to speak 7 languages (that’s what he said), including english, spanish, french, german and japanese, seemed to have gotten around quite a lot (it turned out he was once a sailor).
the funny thing about the whole discussion was, that we both had the same perception of what the difference in “knowing a language” and “knowing a language” is.
this whole thing kept me thinking and suddenly, half a week later, while sitting on the BART from pleasanton to oakland, it hit me.
i found a nice way to, literally picture the whole thing.
using a language is pretty much like drawing and painting.
learning a language you start off with the bare basics, like what are the components of the sentences, how do you build sentences, etc. this is pretty much the frame, your paper, the tools, your paint.
you start off with drawing a rough pencil sketch, placing words somewhere on the huge, white space of the fabric.
it looks pretty blunt, and it sounds like that too. it is probably, if at all, conjugated the wrong way.
the order of things is not correct yet.
it’s far from being a master piece.
but once you’ve been doing this for a while, the sketches start looking better, far from perfect, but better.
people will actually see where you want to go. they will understand the basic meaning of what you want to say.
rough sketches are by no means meant to communicate details, and are very likely to be misinterpreted.
now, since you’ve been learning, you’ll get to the point where the word order is pretty good.
and you’ve collected enough words (tools) to make up an adequate vocabulary.
it’s like adding color.
pictures with colors look more natural, putting color into your language does the same thing.
you begin to pick up techniques from various other artists, slang so to say.
you try a little of this, add a bit more red on this side, take away a hint of blue there…
of course, you can always work “by the book”, hence the title of this post “language by numbers”.
tho people will notice this right away, since, as everyone can tell, those pictures where you just have to fill in the colors in the numbered spaces always look cheap.
well, so i’ve been sitting on BART, thinking about exactly this, while all around me people were talking.
it was evening rush hour, and the train was kind of packed; and, as usual for this area, you have a nice mix of styles.
the heavy, soulful brushstrokes of the african americans, the soft, almost filigree chinese language paintinge, the rough, picasso-ish hispanic style, and all of the many american flavors.
it’s like walking thru a huge art collection, taking short breaks in front of the various paintings, done by great masters, as well as unskilled schoolars.
and there’s one more thing both, language and paintings, have in common:
even tho you can learn how to draw and paint, some people never get past kindergarten level.