From BigThink: Like It Or Not: We Are All Going To Learn Chinese

 Chinese is a difficult language to learn.  Some of the words are pictographs and easy to remember, but most of the characters are complicated and must be written very precisely.  The sad part in translating, as with any culture, the true meanings are never fully conveyed.  In order for you to truly understand you would have had to grow up in that culture.  How will we ever truly understand each other?  A Star Trek episode where Picard has to understand a culture and a language before he is released is brought to mind.  Star Trek: The Next Generation - Darmok is a great example.

We need to really try and understand each other without assuming.  We all march to a different drummer.  There are many opinions and view points and cultural differences.  We need to embrace our differences and not be so quick to judge.  Walk a mile in my shoes, please.  I may not want to conform to your beliefs and your world.  Live and let live and let peace, love and understanding abide.

Click below for a great article on the cultural differences in words and their meanings in the Chinese language as compared to the European languages and it's impact it has had in the past and the surprising changes it will cause in the future.

Like It Or Not: We Are All Going To Learn Chinese

 

From Big Think:

Like It Or Not: We Are All Going To Learn Chinese

by Thorsten Pattberg

November 24, 2013, 12:00 AM

China presents to the West an entirely new domain of knowledge. Globalization must make good use of it. Translators should abstain from translating Chinese key terminologies into convenient but ultimately misleading European words.

Watch Thorsten Pattberg explain the idea here: 
Like It Or Not: We Are All Going To Learn Chinese


Image courtesy of Shutterstock

by Thorsten Pattberg

On Twitter worldethics