jIHvaD qay’be’. jIvtaH qoHpu’ ‘e’ vIpIH. ghIlab ghewmey rur.

tlhIngan Hol jatlhwI’pu' vISovbogh law’ law’ baratngan Hol jatlhwI’pu’ vISovbogh law’ puS. law’ba' baratnganpu’ ‘e’ vISov. jIjatlhbe’ <<baratngan Hol jatlhwI’ vISovbe’mo’, baratngan Hol jatlh pagh.>> 

jatlh qoHpu’ <<(tlhIngan Hol jatlhwI’pu’ vISovbe’mo’) tlhIngan Hol jatlh pagh>>.

Interestingly, if you say {tlhIngan Hol jatlh pagh} in Klingon, you are technically right, since we know that the one guy in the Universe named {pagh} does, in fact, speak Klingon, but when you say it in English, you are wrong. His name is not “nobody”. It’s {pagh}.

Language colors thoughts. I think in a different color when I speak Klingon. By speaking Klingon, I notice the color I’m immersed in when I speak English. If I didn’t speak Klingon, I wouldn’t notice the color of English, and I’d ignorantly think that’s the only color there is. I’d believe that the thoughts I have in English are the only thoughts I could have.

Learning ASL gives me yet another color through which to view the world. Communication is only a portion of the reason one should learn a language. It also serves to expand the mind, and to step closer to gaining the ability to think beyond words, since speaking only one language tends to invisibly limit the framework of your thoughts. The immediate, preconscious translation of thoughts into words begins to reshape the idea between that deeper consciousness and the one that talks.

Out of habit, thoughts begin to fall into the ruts cut by earlier spoken ideas, until the dark areas between this limited vocabulary of ideas become invisible and unexplorable, as if they didn’t exist. Mathematics and music are impossible to create by those who never learn those languages. There are philosophies and sciences that we shall never know, if we insist on the dominance of a single language, so that everyone can communicate with anyone (ignoring the Deaf, of course).

I have deep respect for those among us who venture into many languages. I wish I had the time and resources to learn more than I am likely to ever learn. If I had been rich enough to not have to work, I’d know more languages now than I do.

charghwI’ vaghnerya’ngan

rInpa’ bomnIS be’’a’ pI’.




On May 14, 2019, at 10:00 AM, SuStel <sustel@trimboli.name> wrote:

On 5/14/2019 9:53 AM, mayqel qunen'oS wrote:
charghwI':
When I tell normal people about my odd hobby of speaking
Klingon, they ask me why I’ve learned a language that “nobody speaks”.
jaSHa', mugheltaHvIS veQ Humanpu', chaHvaD jIjatlh, Sa'Hutraj qoDDaq
pe'vIl 'InSepraj yIghoS 'ej pengagh'egh..

rut 'Il ghelwI'. chaq chaHvaD bImayHa'. loQ yIgharchoH.

-- 
SuStel
http://trimboli.name
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