Originally I had thought about blogging about linguistics: how our words themselves or even just the way they are used and pronounced affect how people see us—whether there is any discrimination or judgment. Sociolinguistics, I guess. I had wanted to dispel misconceptions of what made a language a language or a dialect, what made something “correct” about a language, if indeed there is any “correctness” involved. That kind of stuff. But I thought about it for a while. Could I really write about that for an entire semester? I didn't really have anything to say about this stuff except for what you could easily learn in a class that you can actually take here at this university (a class that I had taken, of course...) I didn't really have anything new to add to this discussion—I just agreed with people and wanted others to know about it all. So I was thinking, along with my roommate, what else did I care about that could be academically related to linguistics?
But first!—here's something you should know about me: I'm spiritual—my spirituality is Jesus Christ. I know, I know—doesn't it just sound like I might as well say, “Hi everyone, I'm a Christian - Protestant! What's your religion according to Facebook?” But really, what I believe—it's not a set of rules that you just follow blindly, nor is it just a tradition or a label. I'm not gonna just go with the flow, be like the others—no rock and roll music, must be home-schooled and vote Republican because it's what God wants you to do. No way. All that I want is to follow Jesus's example. I mean, with all my ability (and then some!) I want to listen to others' differing beliefs in order to respect and love them. But what I hope is to share with you something I find interesting, in more ways than just spiritual—something that also says a lot about people, cultures, and languages.
If you can't tell already by the title of this blog, I'll be writing about Bible translation around the world. And as most people know, Christians—whether the religious, traditional kind or the kind that really wants to make a difference in the world—read the Bible. (Whether they really do what it says is another matter...) What's the point of translating it? Well, to do as the book itself says, those who choose the spirituality of following God's way are supposed to take this book and its message to “every nation, tribe, language and people” so that “every nation, tribe, language and people” can hopefully decide for itself whether or not it wants to choose this way as well. For those who do not have this book in their own language, how are they supposed to read and truly understand it unless it is translated into their heart language?
For that matter, what does translation mean? It might mean finding out what exactly what languages are out there: how many are there? Do they already have a writing system? What languages is it related to? It will definitely mean understanding a new culture and people group. It will mean difficulties and struggles of those going out there to do this work, and it will also mean difficulties and struggles in the work itself. Hopefully I'll get to know more and we can look into the linguistics and cultural differences involved in all this together!
As with any intellectual exchange, feel free to disagree with me because I'll be happy to reply! This is what a blog is for—it's a dialogue between writer and reader, reader to reader, hopefully to further understanding between different peoples—whether of the same or different nation, tribe, or language.
And so... peace in the Middle East, as my currently sleeping, IR roommate would say...
No comments:
Post a Comment