After viewing Prof. Lera Borditsky’s SAR lecture, I found myself relating to her insight and findings. My reflections stem from my lived experiences and the nature of my cultural upbringing and social surroundings. I grew up in a bilingual English and Cantonese speaking household, and I have consistently studied a number of foreign languages as a child and throughout my academic career. I would say that I had a profound interest in learning languages, and was fascinated by the different perceptions and windows of thought that seemed to change across different languages. People from different cultures and speaking different languages experience the world and distinguish their feelings differently. I likened it to having various levels of a sensory palate.
I once had a teacher who told me that language is the eye to culture. This notion was ingrained in my memory since then, and I was humbled by the many experiences, and to relive the world through these various perspectives. Not only are beliefs, customs, traditions, and history revealed through language and etymology, but there are also the metaphors of life that are only understood by that culture. I often codeswitch between English and Cantonese, and I would often wonder why some words and expressions cannot be translated. I would wonder why a word with a positive connotation in one language would have a negative connotation in another, and why some words have “hidden meanings” and associations unbeknownst to the learner. I also struggled with learning languages with grammatical gender – as Prof. Borditsky’s best explained, there is no rhyme or reason for the assignation of these genders. I had to rely on my memory in French and Spanish to understand the lack of pattern in grammatical genders, which is a concept that does not exist in the languages I spoke.
As a language learner and writer who often dealt with translated poetry and prose, the lost in translation phenomenon is truly intriguing to me. I found the case of translating creative writing to be severely affected by mistranslations. The beauty, tenacity, and visceral-ness of a poem or literature in one language, cannot easily be captured by a translation in another. The motives, attitude, and personality of a character and their actions might be perceived differently in another language. These inconsistencies and the notion that we perceive the world through the language could cause inaccuracies in the piece of work. It might cause frustration for the original author, translator, and reader, because the piece, no matter how well translated, may have some particular aspects, sometimes in detail, and sometimes coming in rippling waves, lost in between the lines of language. Where does this lost meaning go, shadowed by the translation?
Literary metaphors are strongly linked to cognitive linguistic processes and are an emblem of the culture, tradition, mythology, and history. (Zhang, 2012). For instance, in the Chinese language, there are many metaphors found in literature which can be mistranslated and misinterpreted in translated works, thus losing meaning in this cultural experience.
A notable example of an ancient metaphor lost in translation would be from Wang Wei (王維), a classical Chinese poet from the Tang Dynasty, wrote a poem titled “Yearning” (相思). In the poem, the motif of red beans (紅豆) symbolizes “lovesickness” and “yearning” for a lover during separation. This metaphor’s strong presence has been preserved through generations of expression and craft in Chinese culture. However, the red bean is not an object of strong meaning or a prevalent metaphor in other cultures. Thus, this metaphor may be reduced, misinterpreted, or mistranslated with another metaphor that may mean “yearning” in another culture.
In Yu’s (2015) study on American and British translations of classical Chinese poetry, they discovered that the translators would make the following amendments to the poems: removing the metaphor (tenor and vehicle) completely, removing the vehicle of the metaphor, misinterpreting the metaphor, adding a metaphor that is not found in the original poem, translating the metaphor into literal language, or replacing the metaphor with another metaphor that has a similar meaning. These alterations would have a profound effect on the roots, authenticity, integrity, and emotions conveyed in the poem.
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“Yearning” (相思) by Wang Wei, translated by Betty Tseng
紅豆生南國，
[red] [bean] [grow] [south] [kingdom]
Red beans grow in the southern lands;
春來發幾枝；
[spring] [come] [emit] [several] [branch]
when spring comes they grow a few branches;
願君多采擷，
[hope] [sir] [more] [pick] [collect]
I hope you will gather a few more –
此物最相思。
[this] [thing] [most] [each other] [think]
these things are what one yearns for the most.
References
Boroditsky, L. (2011). How language shapes thought. Scientific American, 304(2), 62-65.
Boroditsky, L. (June 2017). [Video]. How the languages we speak shape the way we think. Lera Boroditsky, How the Languages We Speak Shape the Ways We Think
Wang, W. (Tang Dynasty). Yearning (B. Tseng, Translator). (Original work published in Tang Dynasty). https://eastasiastudent.net/china/classical/wang-wei-xiangsi/
Yu, S. (2015). Metaphors and metonymies in classical Chinese poetry and their English translations. Translation Journal. https://translationjournal.net/July-2015/metaphors-and-metonymies-in-classical-chinese-poetry-and-their-english-translations.html
Zhang, Y. (2012). Discursive metaphors analysis: The love metaphor of plant in Chinese love poetry. Cross-Cultural Communication, 8(5), 74 -78. DOI:10.3968/j.ccc.1923670020120805.2022
One reply on “Task 2: Does language shape the way we think?”
The poem caught my attention right away. As a teenager, we spent days and nights reciting these poems. We were frequently tested on our understanding of the poems, who the poets are and what inspired them to write these poems.
Without understanding the culture, it is almost impossible to understand an ancient Chinese poem. Our teacher always explained the background information to help us understand why such a metaphor was used and why it was so encouraging for the people.
As language changes with time, I think the younger generations will need more and more “background information” to help understand ancient written text. I believe language shapes the way we think because language is produced and influenced by everything around us, such as culture and technology, just like our minds.
Interestingly, just like how comedy turns life’s misery into funny jokes and leaves people thinking after laughing, most poems tend to do the same thing – using beautiful and powerful words to protest against the unfairness in the world. Interestingly, many famous Chinese poets wrote their most significant poems after they lost their political careers.