RE: I want to understand the words of God
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Hello @amberkashif,
I noticed that you've followed me, and I came to your blog to look around. :D
Thank you for these delightful musings about language. Language has always fascinated me. I'm a native English speaker, but in the course of my life I've picked up tiny bits of German and Hungarian, quite a bit of Spanish, and I have studied biblical languages; some Hebrew, and quite a lot of Greek.
For reasons very similar to the ones you've described, one of my ongoing projects (begun perhaps two years ago now) is attempting to read through the New Testament in its original Koine Greek language. After studying Greek (on and off) for much of my life, I wanted to really immerse myself in it. I believe that Jesus is truly God himself, become one of us, and I want to continually increase my understanding of what he has had to say to us all. BTW, I am approximately 2/3 of the way through the book, and continue to learn new things all the time. :D
The bible informs me that it was by language that Jesus created the world and all we see in the universe; he spoke, and it all came into being. And I wrestle with the general impossibility of translation all the time, in my own mind, and especially when I read translations of the bible. You give some great examples in your article.
In fact, for quite a long time I have been writing an occasional series of articles that I call "The Curmudgeon's Bible," in which I complain bitterly about what I see as very bad translations of particular words or passages of scripture. :O
All of this is meant to tell you that it was a real treat for me to find this lovely post of yours today and to "meet" someone here on Hive with a common interest in language. :D Thank you for your work. I hope sometime "YOU" might give us some insight into the actual differences between Aap, Tum and Tu because I would find that fascinating. ;)
Cheers!
😄😇😉
I was scrolling through the comment section of a post where I found a long comment of yours and there I realized this man is worth following. You didn't prove me wrong. Hehe.
If you have so much experience with language, I am sure you would agree with me that the only impossibility between language is not the appropriate translation but also you cannot transfer the exact emotion. For having the taste of a particular emotion related to the world, you would have yo understand its meaning, usage and connotation in that particular language. Isn't it that so?
Interesting to know. The Qur'an states something similar. "Kun faya kun" are the words used in Qur'an which means that Allah said it (the creation of universe) to happen and so it happened.
That's a nice idea. I would love to write about it especially when there is someone interested to know. I am not sure if I would be able to explain it precisely. The reason is the same. Language barrier.
Thanks for visiting my blog. It was really a delightful experience.
One thing I am wondering about @creatr. You didn't check my recent post but digged down on my blog page and reached to this very post. Was it accidental or intentional?
Hi again!
Yes of course I agree. But I would consider that a "secondary effect," primarily caused by the complete history of an individual who was born into a particular language and has grown up in a particular culture. The life experiences in that culture will have the strongest effect on the emotions; just my opinion as we discuss this. :)
I am a patient person, and I am interested to know the differences and similarities between Aap, Tum and Tu, and how and in what context they are used. Perhaps if you think about it for a while, you may come up with some ideas and examples that can help you overcome all the barriers, at least enough to help us understand? ;)
(He smiles)... Jesus/God has given me a strong dose of curiosity. I wanted to know a bit about someone who followed me, so I went to your blog and scanned down the titles of articles there. Because of my special interest in language, your title "I want to understand the words of God" jumped out immediately, and so that is where I began reading. :D And I was not disappointed.
Amber, because of your interest in language, May I share with you a story I wrote a while ago? It is in a genre I call "theological fantasy," This is the story I have in mind:
"Good Morning"
If you find this invitation intriguing enough to read my story, after you have read it I would like to share with you a few more of my speculations about the nature and origin of language.
Thank you for your kind and generous response.