{"id":16,"date":"2015-05-20T21:41:22","date_gmt":"2015-05-21T04:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/?p=16"},"modified":"2015-05-24T10:31:18","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T17:31:18","slug":"1-2-words-words-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/2015\/05\/20\/1-2-words-words-words\/","title":{"rendered":"1.2 words, words, words"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prompt:\u00a0<\/strong>Words<\/em>. Chamberlin talks a lot about language, in particular the strangeness and wonder of how language works. Stories, he says, \u201cbring us close to the world we live in\u00a0by taking us into the world of words\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(italics mine,1).\u00a0 He describes learning to read and write as learning \u201cto be comfortable with a cat that is both there and not there\u201d \u00a0(132). Based on Chamberlin\u2019s understanding of how riddles and charms work, explain this \u201cworld of words.\u201d Reflect on why \u201cwords make us feel closer to the world we live in\u201d (1).<\/p>\n

\u2014Dr. Erika Paterson, ENGL 470 Lesson 1:2<\/a><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

I’d like to begin by reflecting on\u00a0how\u00a0I learned to read words, which is a very difficult memory to conjure because I learned how to read at a very early age. I cannot remember a world where a physical thing could not\u00a0<\/em>be represented by a black-and-white graphic, and now I wonder how I would be perceiving the world if I’d never learned that…<\/p>\n

I learned how to read in Chinese first and\u00a0I\u00a0think Chinese was easier for a child to grasp in terms of understanding the concept of reading. Chinese doesn’t use\u00a0an alphabet or phonetic sounds; rather, characters are\u00a0unique symbols that stand for a unique thing. Chinese characters are also derived from pictographs; for example, the character for “fire” actually looks like fire. This reminds me of my classmate’s\u00a0Alyssa Ready’s\u00a0first post<\/a> about the importance of recognizing non-western symbols in literature: for western readers, a symbol is metaphorical and conceptual, but for non-western readers, symbols can be practical and conceptual at once. Indeed, “metaphor is the basic trick of language” and “[l]inguists used to say that every word was once a metaphor” (Chamberlin 163).<\/p>\n

I learned how to read in English thanks to both the diligent tutelage of my mother’s flashcards and my own interest in reading. As a shy and imaginative only child, I loved reading\u00a0because it could be done alone. Reading was a way to entertain myself and escape from everyday humdrum. After\u00a0I learned how to “sound things out”, reading in English came easily to me. If I didn’t know a word, all I had to do was consult a dictionary.<\/p>\n

Reading gave me agency. Gave me an individuality, an independence. Notice how many of these kids <\/a>talk about how reading will help with their future career. Another example is a widely-circulated YouTube video on the power of words<\/a>\u2014changing\u00a0how\u00a0<\/em>you say the same message can endow it more power.<\/p>\n

Being able to read words\u00a0gave me power<\/em><\/strong>: power to relate to those\u00a0who didn’t live in my non-English-speaking household and power to explore worlds on my own with minimal adult help.\u00a0Especially for children, who don’t have much power, this was a big deal.<\/p>\n

Words connected me to\u00a0both my non-English-speaking private life and my English-speaking public one.\u00a0I have clear memories of things “lost in translation” too\u2014there were certain concepts I learned in Chinese that I struggled with translating to English, and vice versa. Which created a sort of miniature culture-clash on the playground. There were things I could never really\u00a0describe “properly.”\u00a0<\/em>To give you a sense of what I mean, here is a fun Lifehack\u00a0list of words (and concepts!) not available in the English language<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I loved Chamberlin’s chapter on riddles the most, as I think it relates well with my experience of growing up with two languages. I learned early on that a character was “pure metaphor, the basis of all belief” (Chamberlin 160). And when I was introduced to the phonetic system and a language that described the world in a way completely different from the world in Chinese, I had to change my understanding of the world the way Chamberlin claims Homer did (161).<\/p>\n

The magic of words lie in their ability to give power.<\/strong> Take away words, and you take away more than a child’s adventure. You can take away entire civilizations’ ability to tell their stories and express what they mean, what they\u00a0really\u00a0<\/em>mean, and take away\u00a0your own\u00a0<\/em>potential power to understand\u00a0them.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

*This goes longer than the post’s prescribed word count, but if you have extra time and more interest, may I direct you to my reply to Gretta’s comment (the first comment on this post), in which I describe in further detail the uniqueness of written Chinese in the presence of dialects. There is an analogous relationship here to oral vs. written subculture<\/strong>, as most Chinese dialects that are not Mandarin cannot be written<\/em>, but are often fiercely\u2014almost patriotically\u2014protected against extinction by its speakers.<\/p>\n

Works cited and consulted<\/h3>\n

Argane, Hiba. “Lost in Translation: 30 Words With No English Equivalent.”\u00a0Lifehack.\u00a0<\/em>Lifehack, n.d. Web. 19 May 2015.<\/a><\/p>\n

Chamberlin, J. Edward. If This is Your Land, Where are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground.\u00a0<\/i>Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2004. Print.<\/p>\n

Gardner, Andrea. “The Power of Words.” Online video clip.\u00a0YouTube.\u00a0<\/em>YouTube, 23 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 May 2015.<\/a>\u00a0(Citation format suggested by Purdue OWL<\/a> because MLA guide doesn’t have one).<\/p>\n

Grozdanic,\u00a0Ajla. “Kids from around the World Tell Us Why They Love to Read.”\u00a0Save the Children.\u00a0<\/em>Save the Children, 14 Feb. 2013. Web. 19 May 2015.<\/a><\/p>\n

Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 1:2.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres May 2015.\u00a0<\/em>The University of British Columbia\u00a0Department of English, n.d. Web. 19 May 2015.<\/a><\/p>\n

Ready, Alyssa. “Hello world-This is me.”\u00a0Alyssa Ready. <\/em>The University of British Columbia student blogs, 13 May 2015. Web. 20 May 2015.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Purdue OWL<\/em>. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web.\u00a020 May 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prompt:\u00a0Words. Chamberlin talks a lot about language, in particular the strangeness and wonder of how language works. Stories, he says, \u201cbring us close to the world we live in\u00a0by taking us into the world of words\u201d\u00a0(italics mine,1).\u00a0 He describes learning to read and write as learning \u201cto be comfortable with a cat that is both […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28445,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/licharmaine470\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}