Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
I'm all for language homogenization (pass the blue cheese... thanks)... anything to avoid Babel. However, there is always the concern that certain concepts that are unique to one language will be lost when translated to another language. Concepts with no language equivalent can be lost to the ages (and, many argue, some already have).
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Languages have been lost to the ages.
But the larger question is "So what?". Concepts map to to phenomena, and attempt to understand and explain them. Concepts also change or get invalidated entirely as we gain a better understanding of the world we live in.
There is an evolutionary process taking place. Evolution occurs as species adapt to changing environments. Changes that promote survival are preserved. Changes that don't aren't passed along.
We may well have lost concepts because they don't translate, or because no one now speaks the language that expresses them. Have we lost anything important?
Impossible to know, but I'd guess "Not Really".
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Dennis