Main Knowledge Question: What are the limitations of language?
Real- Life Situation: #tokkailuaQ question where it was our assignment to find a word in another language that
was untranslatable to English. We have to explain these words in different languages in a whole phrase in
English. This provoked me to think abut how our language is limited and extended.
How does language extend or limit thinking?
Limits:
 Language is linear, thoughts are non-linear
o Using language to try to convey a thought is like trying to paint a sunset, lacking
o Language is formed by clause after clause, whereas thoughts are an interconnected network
o We are taught to “keep things to the point”, which is in a linear fashion
o We have to write in paragraphs and sections instead of networks
Extensions:
 We can easily communicate with others
 Talking to someone about something can systematically improve memory
 Writing
o We can write down plans that are too complicated to keep in our heads
 Coordination
o Keep attention
o Allocate sources
o In coordinated activities
o Team members can’t read your mind
Both: Emojis
 Language is limited in communicating emotions
o Intonations, facial expressions, hand gestures are all lost
o There are a limited amount of emojis, people cannot express what they truly want to express if
there is not an emoji to show it
 Emojis assist in conveying emotions and further expressing the language
1984 George Orwell
 Language of Newspeak
o Newspeak contains simple words like good, gooder, goodest, plusgood, and doubleplusgood
o A limited language leads to limited thinking
 Language can only express a certain extent of our thoughts.
 It relates to the real-life situation of finding untranslatable words because our English language is
limited by not having words to describe certain thoughts/feelings.
Why are some words untranslatable between cultures?
 Definition of translation: word to word correspondence
 In idioms and poems, the same words may not be used, but the same ideas are
o Ex: in Spanish idioms, “quien much habla, mucho yerra” literally means he who talks a lot
makes many mistakes, but has the idea of our American idiom: loose lips sink ships. Loose lips
sink ships in Spanish is not “labios sueltos hunden barcos”





Translation is never exact, translators are just attempting to convey the best meaning for a foreign
word
In stories, some words are left not translated, to help convey a certain feeling about the
characters/text
o Ex: In The Stranger, by Albert Camus, the word for mother, Maman, in French was left
untranslated because that is what a Frenchman would call his mother in that culture. Not
Mother nor Mom, nor Ma.
#tokkailuaQ question where we had to tweet out a poster of an untranslatable word and its definition
in English.
Shows how many words and meanings can never be directly translated, and if words/phrases are
directly translated, they may not carry the same definition. This aspect to translation is a limiting factor
to our language in combination with other languages.
Reflects how many words there are in different languages that we do not know and that we do not
have in English. These other words cannot be directly translated to English and it is difficult to say what
we feel/need to say without words that these other languages have.
Do texting and social media limit our language?
 More texting = less accepting of new words
 More book/magazine/newspaper reading = more accepting of new words
 Study by Joan Lee where college students were asked about their texting and reading habits, then
given a list of words that were both real and fake
o Based on this assumption: "Our assumption about text messaging is that it encourages
unconstrained language.”
o The study proved this assumption wrong
o The people who accepted more words were able to better interpret the meaning or tolerated
the word more
o Students who texted more rejected the words instead of acknowledging them as possible
words
o People reading more traditional print are exposed to variety and creativity with language while
texting is just colloquial peer-to-peer language
 Is Twitter ruining the English language?
o The 140 character limit actually enhances efficiency and wordplay
 Study at Penn State University says shortcuts used in texting hinder the ability to switch between
“techspeak” and grammar rules
o Study done on over 500 middle school students with a survey which showed a decline in
grammar scores
o Sometimes older people cannot understand what a young person is trying to say when they
text so the communication is hindered
Conclusion:
 Discussions about the way people text
o Ex: what it means if someone says, “ok” or uses a capital letter or a period. It also relates to our
tweets because we all have to think of a short way to explain what we want to say on Twitter.



The use of technology can sometimes hinder our communication in some circumstances. Lots of kids
will only want to text and never call on the telephone and so if you are trying to have a discussion with
someone that only texts, it is harder and takes a longer time to type everything out.
Use of texting and Twitter can boost efficiency in saying short, concise things, but can have negative
effects on grammar and communication between different generations.
People have different abbreviations for actions in other languages that may get lost in translation. We
all saw the language B stopmotion videos in class and how people from other cultures used
texting/tech language in those languages.
Conclusion- Answer to main knowledge question:
 Language can only express a certain amount of what we think because there is only a certain amount
of ways to describe a network of complex thinking.
 Another way language is limited is the lack of decisiveness in translation. Translated words are only a
guess for a meaning, connotation or definition.
 The use of technology can extend our language because we can easily talk to more people, but the
language is limited when there are only a certain amount of characters allowed in social media and
only a certain amount of emojis with various guesses for meanings.