About Different Languages

One of the first assignments that we have had this semester in English 102 was to read the article called Mother Tongue by Amy Tan. I found the article to be very interesting and her insights on the different languages that we use to be very insightful. Most of us go joyfully skipping through life never giving a thought to how our language or use of words affects those that we are trying to reach. We can understand what we are saying and assume that it is clear to everyone. I have become accutely aware of these different languages during this semester in school. English 102 is all pathos, logos and ethos. Not to mention Rhetorical situations, MLA requirements and the dreaded "P" word(plagerism). In my cinema class it is all foreground , backdrops, film Noir and A plethera of other terms and ideas to be grappled with. Then there is Anatomy with all of its words that are 30 letters long and derived by some satanic latin guy that I am sure had the knowledge and psychic ablitiy to see into the future and laugh heartily at all of us poor slobs trying desperatly to learn what thrombocytopenia means. By far the worst language that I am having to tackle in my academic career is the language of my nemesis, that's right, the ever dreaded monster machine that they call the computer. they proclaim that this torture machine will save me time and energy and bring the world to my fingertips when in reality all that it has done for me so far is raise my bloodpressure and bring out an anger and a frustation in me that may rivel anything that an axe murderer may have hiding in the deep recesses of his mind. There is not a time that I sit down to do something that it does not take me at the least 4-5 hours to do when I could have written it down and been on to the next assignment in 20 minutes if I would have been able to do it the old-fashioned pen and paper way. The most amazing thing that I have learned in my short opportunity to become a computer geneuis is that things are not always as easy as they are advertised to be. Back to the main thought that spurred this blog in the first place. We all need to be sensitive to those around use, to our audience and what their understanding of the language is. Otherwise we are not going to accomplish our goal of sharing our thoughts and ideas. Instead we are going to have an audience that looks alittle like the RCA Victor dog. Learning new things is good, that is what we are all here for but the process is oft times painful.