Limitations of Language

[caronbot]

After reading Langer's dissertation on, I suppose, expression (?) I find myself confused as to how to take and apply it to our study of narrative.  It fits in very well to our discussions about both technological and social evolution of narrative as needed, in that "language is a very poor medium for expressing our emotional language" (Langer 100

Comments

Limitations of Media in General

[ammamc]

In many ways, Langer is right to say language and our other various media are incapable of allowing us to truly express ourselves. How many times has anyone become so frustrated when a thought in their mind or an image they had just imagined could not be easily translated onto pen and paper? How many times have we been incapable and deeply vexed when we could not realize in painting or sculpture what we had envisioned in our minds? Even with new media, we rely on age old methods of conveying our feelings and thoughts. We still write and use language on the Internet. We continue to use images, except now they are moving--but can they really capture what we want it to?
Langer also says that different words are seen as different languages and every language can be translated--"When two people systematically use different words for almost everything, they are said to speak different languages. Two languages are roughly equivalent" (94). I am not sure if this is true as well. Certain words in a language cannot be easily translated into another--there is no definite dog=chien. However, though the above words both do mean dog, certain words and phases are lost in translation.