why language is so important
When my mother saw me in the LAX, she gave me a hug and talked to me that she was scared in the airport. I asked her why and answer did not surprise me: she did not know how to speak English. Without translator inside her phone, she cannot even get her luggage and walk out of the airport. In the car, she talked with me and said how happy she is to finally talk with somebody who speak Chinese. What She told me inspired me how important language is from two perspectives: language is the tool of communication and the carrier of cultures.
From my own perspective, Language firstly served as a tool of communication. At the beginning, people formed different groups to live together in different place to survive. They only need to communicate with each others in a complicate way: such as yell or use their hand to describe. But as the size of the group growing larger and larger, people find out that they need to communicate in a more simple way. They invited characters and simplify them as time went by. Then they make use of their throats and stipulate the pronunciation. Now, communication becomes one of the most important part of human activities. Without communication, people cannot even survive in the human society. Take my mother as an example, she does not speak English. If she does not have the translator inside her phone, it will be really difficult to understand what she is trying to say and she cannot go anywhere and hard to survive. Language is the tool that help people understand the meanings purposes and requests of each other. That is why my mother need that translator inside her phone.
Secondly, the reason she so happy to speak with a people who speak Chinese is that she meet with someone who speak same language just as she. People who speaking the same language means they share the same culture. Language is a carrier of culture because it is a tool that help people understand where they came from and what their ancestors have done. Language provides people with convenience of recording and help them leave messages, skills or traditions to next generation. It is a premise of almost every human activities so it is the carrier of the culture. Because culture is all human activities and behaviors that has meanings. And history can help prove why language is the carrier of culture. During the WWII, Japan invaded China and first took place of three provinces in the northeast of China. There is thing they have done: they force the schools in China to teach students Japanese rather than Chinese. Because they know if they want to eliminate a culture, they need to destroy the carrier of it — language.
Language is the tool of communication, which helps human society works well. Language is also the carrier of culture, which assist people to remember where they come from and who they are. All in all, without language, there will be no difference between people and other animals.
