By Sydney Meyer, KETC staff

Language is interesting. We use it to communicate our needs and wants. We use it to tell people we like them (or not like them!). We use it to discuss our ideas and tell jokes and bond with friends. We use it to disagree with one another. Possibilities are endless with language.

But what if you can’t communicate because there are no common words. How do we feel when we are strangers in a strange country and cannot speak the native language? Should we try to learn the language in the countries we visit or move to or that our neighbor speaks? Talk to an immigrant, talk to a traveler, talk to a neighbor who comes from different parts of the globe and you might get some answers.

PIN source Mark Burgess answered a PIN query on language and his thoughts hit home. “Communications can only be improved, and understanding deepened, when we learn to speak the same language as our neighbors. We can appreciate their culture, and their way of thinking about the world from their language.  Being able to speak their language gives you an opportunity to really meet and get to know them, since it is through language that culture is expressed.” I liked that a lot and his thinking led me to really appreciate what the next query responder, Anthony Dolce had to say.