Language is one of the most mysterious creation in this universe. Language is the distinguishing characteristic that makes the man superior over all other living beings. Primarily, its purpose is to make the communication among humans easy and understandable. However, there are various other functions that it serves. It transmits culture, values, ideologies, feelings and emotions.
Why I call it mysterious is because of its diversity. Saying the same thing in two different languages does not always illicit the same emotions. Sometimes, it is not even possible to say something similar in two different languages. Sometimes the difference in sentence construction and grammar affect the meaning from language to another. At other times, there is no appropriate word available to deliver the exact meaning of something said. Being a bilingual (Urdu as my first language and English as the second) I have even felt a difference in my personality while communicating in two different languages.
Because of all these issues, the translation is not likely to provide the comprehensive meaning of words and sentence. it is very important to learn a language if you want to understand what the speaker has delivered in that particular language. The real pleasure and effectiveness of words lies in the language that birthed the sentence. For instance, there is a saying in English
Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is mystery but Today is the gift. That’s why it is called as present.
Let’s translate the saying into any other language you know. Do you get the same pleasure of the words that you feel reading it in English?
Similarly, there is a verse in my language Urdu (I am writing in Roman Urdul
AAP say TUM hoey tum say TU ho gaey
Aik doojay ki hum aarzu ho gaey.
For the three words written in capital letters (Aap, Tum and Tu) there is only one word available in English, that is YOU. The use of three variants of you is giving the meaning and purpose to the above mentioned verse. How can simple translation be able to deliver the meaning? It would kill all the pleasure, meaningfulness and comprehensive of the verses. To understand these verses I would have to learn the specific usage and connotation attached to these words. Each word indicates a different level of connection between the speaker and the listener.
There are several other issues because of which the translation fails to deliver the real meaning of what the speaker had said. For instance, a simple sentence “I read a book” can be translated in two different tenses. Had this sentence been in my native language I could easily tell if it was past or present. However, in English it is uncertain. The context would give the meaning to it. What if the context would also contain the similar confusions? The translator’s own will and understanding is very likely to effect the meaning for someone who is only relying on the translation to understand the speech, isn’t it?
The purpose of all this explanation is to set up the foundations for revealing which language I want to learn and why?
The language I want to learn is Arabic. The reason is that the Holy book I follow is Qur’an and its origin is in Arabic Language. There Qur'an has been translated to many languages. However, none of the translation is the words of God.
The words of God are only and solely in Arabic (as per my faith on Qur’an) . It is impossible to understand the secrets, emotions, pleasure and meaning hidden in those words without learning Arabic.
My desire is that when I recite Qur’an, it should not be like chanting or a ritual but it be like a conversation just like a letter from your loved one. That’s why the language I want to learn is Arabic.
●●●●●■●●●●
This is my entry of Hive Learners Featured contest. You are invited to participate.
