{"id":428,"date":"2026-01-14T14:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T14:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/?p=428"},"modified":"2026-01-14T14:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T14:24:19","slug":"is-language-a-means-of-communication-or-portal-into-being","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/?p=428","title":{"rendered":"Is Language a Means of Communication or Portal into Being?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Is language a means of communication? A friend recently used the word\u00a0\u201cflimsy\u201d<\/em>\u00a0in a somewhat unusual context, and I asked, \u201cWhat do you mean by\u00a0flimsy<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He replied, \u201cWell, the word means what it sounds like \u2014 flimsy<\/em>. Don\u2019t you hear how it sounds?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t always tell what an English word means by the way it sounds,\u201d I said. \u201cEnglish isn\u2019t my native language.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh,\u201d he answered, \u201cI didn\u2019t realize that. But it\u2019s true \u2014 we learn to associate meaning with sound from an early age.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That remark made me think of the Russian word for flimsy<\/em>, and immediately a whole series of images and associations stirred in my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we look at a thing, we think we are seeing the thing itself. In reality, we are seeing a constellation of images and symbols handed down to us by language and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Language builds a house in which we live. We cannot step outside its walls, even if we try. Whatever we see or think exists within that house \u2014 and it is there that we dwell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin Heidegger said,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cLanguage is not merely and not primarily a means of communication. Language is the house of Being in which man dwells. Those who think and those who create with words are the guardians of this home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This \u201chome\u201d is preserved for us by language and culture. We think we live in the world, but in fact we live inside a text \u2014 a system of meanings and interpretations into which we were born. We dwell within our cultural semantics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Ludwig Wittgenstein put it, \u201cThe limits of my language mean the limits of my world.\u201d And Jacques Derrida sharpened the point further: \u201cThere is nothing outside the text.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am rarely conscious of the fact that when I look at a table, I am seeing a different table from the one my American friend sees. We do not encounter the table directly. First, we see the \u201ctext\u201d about the table that we have absorbed from our respective cultures and languages.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cHuman beings do not live in the objective world alone, nor alone in the world of social activity as ordinarily understood, but are very much at the mercy of the particular language which has become the medium of expression for their society.\u201d
\u2014 Edward Sapir, Language<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I believe I am looking at a thing, but I am looking at <\/a>semantics<\/a><\/em> \u2014 a system of symbols shaped by my language. That\u2019s why people from different cultures interpret things differently. They live in different houses<\/em> \u2014 different coding systems. That\u2019s why cultures clash. We sincerely don\u2019t understand how someone can see the same thing in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final analysis, most wars are waged for semantic reasons. One culture becomes so convinced that it sees the world the \u201cright\u201d way that it seeks to compel the other culture to acknowledge it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fascism is a purely semantic phenomenon<\/a> \u2014 one culture identifies itself so completely with its semantics that it equates them to ultimate reality. It deifies its own coding system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fascism arises when we refuse to look at one thing in two different ways. Reversal of fascism begins when I attempt to <\/a>transcend<\/a><\/strong> my cultural semantics.<\/a> I discover that there\u2019s Meaning behind my smaller meanings \u2014 the Logos behind all cultural semantics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a Symbol behind all symbols. As I move toward that Symbol, I come to realize that my culture is only a shadow. It foreshadows Reality but cannot replace it. When we embrace the Symbol,\u00a0the Symbol embraces us in return<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 for the Greek\u00a0symbolon<\/em>\u00a0means \u201cto throw together, to unite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Let’s create something together!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is language a means of communication? A friend recently used the word\u00a0\u201cflimsy\u201d\u00a0in a somewhat unusual context, and I asked, \u201cWhat do you mean by\u00a0flimsy?\u201d He replied, \u201cWell, the word means what it sounds like \u2014 flimsy. Don\u2019t you hear how it sounds?\u201d \u201cI can\u2019t always tell what an English word means by the way it sounds,\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16],"tags":[9,17,18,21,13],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","category-writing","tag-language","tag-love-of-language","tag-philology","tag-philosophy","tag-translation-as-art","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":430,"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions\/430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/russiantranslators.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}