Lectures were great so far as it is still the most relaxing one as compared to the rest of my modules. Let's hope it will stay in this way till the very end.
Just like to mention about the section on compliments. To me, compliment is like an art while responding to it is a challenge. This is because with an inappropriate response, the other party might feel offended.
Below are some of my random thoughts:
Speech is one of the power tools humans used to express themselves. It works well with people standing right in front of you or geographically distant. Its something that people rely on at the onset of their life (eg. infants crying for their milk bottles), at different places (eg. be it Japan, Korea or Singapore) and time (eg. Qing Dynasty or even the Stone Age). However, speech is not proprietary to human only but is used extensively by animal of all types as well (just that we do not understand, how sad...).
What makes thing worst is that humans have a very complicated mindset when it comes to interpretation of a sentence. For instance, to an American, the phase “see you later” would mean “goodbye” to them. But to the Chinese, it might mean that he would be coming back later. Such confusion is ubiquitous yet we have to live with it (how sad * 2). As said by a wise person: “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility”.
In spite of this, standardizing a language for everyone to use might not be a good idea. My personal view of it is due to the lost of its underlying meaning, sentiment and its inner beauty. This is especially so in poetry. For example, the following Chinese phase:
春有百花秋有月 [There are spring flowers autumn months]
夏有凉风冬有雪 [Summer there are cool winter snow]
若无闲事挂心头 [If there are no big deal to hang their hearts]
便是人间好时节 [Earth is a good season]
Hmm... Does not sound that impressive after translation (Sad * 3).
Well, seems quite long already. Better sign off here. Stay tune for more...
Just like to mention about the section on compliments. To me, compliment is like an art while responding to it is a challenge. This is because with an inappropriate response, the other party might feel offended.
Below are some of my random thoughts:
Speech is one of the power tools humans used to express themselves. It works well with people standing right in front of you or geographically distant. Its something that people rely on at the onset of their life (eg. infants crying for their milk bottles), at different places (eg. be it Japan, Korea or Singapore) and time (eg. Qing Dynasty or even the Stone Age). However, speech is not proprietary to human only but is used extensively by animal of all types as well (just that we do not understand, how sad...).
What makes thing worst is that humans have a very complicated mindset when it comes to interpretation of a sentence. For instance, to an American, the phase “see you later” would mean “goodbye” to them. But to the Chinese, it might mean that he would be coming back later. Such confusion is ubiquitous yet we have to live with it (how sad * 2). As said by a wise person: “The eternal mystery of the world is its comprehensibility”.
In spite of this, standardizing a language for everyone to use might not be a good idea. My personal view of it is due to the lost of its underlying meaning, sentiment and its inner beauty. This is especially so in poetry. For example, the following Chinese phase:
春有百花秋有月 [There are spring flowers autumn months]
夏有凉风冬有雪 [Summer there are cool winter snow]
若无闲事挂心头 [If there are no big deal to hang their hearts]
便是人间好时节 [Earth is a good season]
[Translated by Google]
Hmm... Does not sound that impressive after translation (Sad * 3).
Well, seems quite long already. Better sign off here. Stay tune for more...
