Fresco, the link you gave is helpful in understanding how language develops around culture. There is an example given of Pablo Neruda's unhappiness with the translation of his poetry into French:
Quote:. In many of the translations into French - I don't say in all of them - my poetry escapes, nothing remains; one cannot protest because it says the same thing that one has written. But it is obvious that if I had been a French poet, I would not have said what I did in that poem, because the value of the words is so different. I would have written something else' (Plimpton 1981, p. 63).
This reminds me of Dys' experience. He lived in Saudi Arabia from the time he was three until 13, attending American University in Beirut (there were classes from kindergarten through post graduate studies). When he started high school in America, he had all sorts of difficulty because he had been used to conversing using many different languages. All the languages used by the students, meant they learned to use a word from one language, say Italian, and a word from another language, say Greek, in order to get just the meaning they wished to convey. These kids were fluent in several languages, even reading the Iliad in Greek.
When he started high school here in the States, he was teased unmercifully for his odd use of language. Naturally, he stopped using all those languages, trying to restrain his use to English in order to communicate. It wasn't long before he lost fluency in the other languages. Culture, especially for a shy teenager, is a profoundly powerful influence. What happened to his speaker? Did Dys do him in or move him to a less conspicuous place to avoid embarrassment?
Pablo Neruda was frustrated by the absence of meaning in French translations. Dys attempted using particular languages to express himself clearly. How much does culture count using language to convey basic meaning, versus the inability to express meaning and emotion in poetry? Am I even asking the right questions?
Now is the time for the brains to jump in. I feel myself sinking into an ocean of opposing currents.
JLN, I hope your friend never met me. Poor boy would have been very confused. [size=7]Just kidding.[/size]