"Yes And No"

“Yes and No” by Amy Tan talks about how people tend to interpret language outside of their own completely wrong. While reading a new paper article, she begins to get “fired up” about the author perspective on Chinese people and their language. What brings her into what I call “rage” is how the article reinforced prejudice about her culture .The article found in the New York Times Magazine, stated that Chinese language doesn’t even have words for “yes” and “no”. She feels that article makes the readers think that all Chinese are discreet and modest. Like Amy Tan I also believe this idea comes from the misunderstanding of the Chinese way of thinking in contrast to the western way of thinking. She goes on to explain that it’s not that the Chinese never say no or yes, but base on their speech patterns. Chinese people tend to try not to display strong dislike or like for something. Where as the American thinking tells us to be bold and clear with our likes nor dislike. I think that the conflict starts with the fact that language is very complicated and hard for outside to understand the minds of a given culture: Just like Amy Tan said: Something enormous is always lost in translation. Something insidious seeps in to the gaps, especially when amateur linguists continue to compare, one-for-one, language differences and then put forth notions wide open to misinterpretation

For me the most interesting point of the stories is the struggle to fusion ,then separate her two identities .This seems to be a familiar theme in the Amy Tan books I have read so far. Tan goes on to explain that languages, is not just a tool for communication, it also embodied with the culture and the point of view of people who speak it. She believes that different languages come with different thinking and claims that when she is thinking like an American she with speak like and American ,and vice versa with Chinese thinking. She said: “one’s perception of the world and how one functions in it depends a great deal on the language used” (Tan ). Since she was raised in a Chinese speaking family and living in America, she found that she is a kind of “two minds” due to richness of her linguistic experiences. She found she was forced to speak modest and polite when she speaks in Chinese. Amy Tan seems to be caught between both cultures. Language can come to impact and define an entire life or even an entire culture.

Being a Christian I often word what language if any at all does God speak and hear in.
And does his listen ear change depending on the speaker?
What language should a bilingual person pray in order to have his or her preys answered?

My relationship with language is deeply rooted in my culture but who I am. For me, language is used to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties. Language can be called a system of signs which helps us to identify ourselves and others (A.L. Kroeber (1923),); therefore it is a cultural value. Different ideas stem from differing language use within one’s culture and the whole intertwining of these relationships started for me at birth. I use language as a mean to direct my social lives along with my culture ties. It helps me to express everything in my life facts, ideas, emotions, opinion, and attitude and even to create a new experience by choosing the right medium to communicate with.

With only the use of words, I can create virtual images to my readers and or listeners. If “the eyes are the window to your soul” then language is the window to our way of life. Language is a part of every single object in or around my life; it is the conduit that connects every rock, tree, animal, and person together. This is what makes language so powerful: it is the window from which we not only view the world but create our outlook on the world. The written or spoken word is indispensible to civilization.

The statement that “Language is Culture and Culture is Language” implies that there is a complex homologous relationship between language and culture. Franz Boas argued that one could not really understand another culture without having direct access to its language because of the intimate connection between culture and language. Language is so complexly intertwined with culture that language and culture must have evolved together, influencing one another in the process and ultimately shaping what it means to be human. According to A.L. Kroeber (1923), “Culture, then, began when speech was present; and from then on, the enrichment of either means the further development of the other.”For me the whole point of or reason for linguists study language stems from the realization that language reflects patterns of thought. Therefore, to study language from this perspective is to study patterns of conceptualization. Language offers a window into cognitive function, providing insights into the nature, structure and organization of thoughts and ideas. Language is assumed to reflect certain fundamental properties and design features of the human mind.

We take language for granted, yet we rely upon it throughout our lives in order to perform a range of functions. Imagine how you would accomplish all the things you many do, even in a single day, without language: buying an item in a shop, providing or requesting information, passing the time of day, expressing an opinion, declaring undying love, agreeing or disagreeing, signaling displeasure or happiness, arguing, someone, and so on. Imagine how other forms of behavior would be accomplished in the absence of language: rituals like marriage, business meetings, using the Internet, the telephone, and so forth.

I often wonder what it means to know a language. Does the way we approach the question and the answer we come up with will reveal a lot about the approach, perspective and assumptions of language within our culture?

There's a powerful connection between language and self; this relationship is prevalent not only within my life but among all of us. Language is the definition of what it means to be human – the mind and the experience.