Words that say more than they mean
Those of us who speak Catalan know that if a request is answered with a "we'll see," there's a very high probability that this expression is equivalent to a refusal. Each language group imbues its words with cultural significance.
In 1972, the singer Nina Mazzini and the actor Alberto Lupo sang, as a duet and in Italian, the famous song Words, words, adapted into Catalan by the wonderful Núria Feliu. The plot revolves around a classic story of heartbreak. She no longer trusts his sugary words.Parole, parole, parole, parole, parole, soltanto parole"This last sentence of the song was translated into Catalan as "words, words, words... Your words, to me, are nothing." In the French adaptation, popularized by actors Alain Delon and Dalida, the final verse incorporated a different addition: "Paroles et paroles you paroles you paroles you paroles. I encore the paroles that you send to the wind. In it "let go of words", that is, "only words," the French version added: "and more words that you sow to the wind," a literal translation. Despite these slight variations, the three sentences remind us that words are not what the dictionary says, but rather that their meanings change with each act of speech. It is an essential condition for understanding that the sender and the receiver share a common cognitive universe. In the dialogue between the two lovers, the term "word" moves away from the meaning "to give one's word" or to make a firm commitment. It comes to denote precisely the opposite: a lack of commitment and a sense of emptiness.
Cultural Significance
We humans, we speak the language we speak, we are still all of the same species: we feel, reason and live as sapiensFrom this perspective, languages are all equal because they allow us to express what our brain and soul dictate. However, each linguistic group imbues its words with cultural significance. Those of us who speak Catalan know that if a request is answered with a "we'll see," there's a very high probability that this expression is equivalent to a refusal. When we hear a "that's enough," we can interpret that, far from being a manifestation of empathy, the listener has tuned out the conversation and is using the phrase as a linguistic crutch to pretend to follow the thread of the tormenting story.
In fact, language teaching has incorporated the sociocultural learning of words, that is, learning to understand beyond the meaning provided by the dictionary. This paragraph is taken from the book Dialogues on the wonderful history of our words, by Joan Bastardas, extraordinarily reflects what we have just stated: "Later, when we think that 'woman' means the same as 'women' and that both words can be used in reference to someone's 'wife' so that the Spanish phrase 'My wife is Portuguese' corresponds to the Catalan 'my wife is Portuguese', we find that in the sentence 'dream husband and wife' The translation 'they are husband and wife' is not possible. This means that the Catalan 'mujer' is used with the meaning of 'woman', but it does not mean it as it does in Spanish.women'".
Paremiology
Perhaps it is in paremiology, that is, in idioms, where we observe most intensely how words reflect the values, beliefs, and experiences of societies. In Catalan, when we want to say that with patience, time, and effort we can achieve what we set out to do, we have the option of using the proverb "little by little the sink fills up." This same idea is expressed by French speakers when they say that "small to small, the oiseau fait son nid" (the literal translation, "little by little, the bird makes its nest"). The Spanish equivalent is "Little by little the old woman threads it" and in Italian, ""a penna a penna if the goose peels", which literally means "feather by feather the goose feathers." We are human, and we speak. Now, where we, to express constancy, conjure the image of a sink filling up, French speakers focus on a bird building a nest; Spanish speakers on an old woman rowing, and Italians on feathering a bird. The richness of human language lies in the expression of different perspectives on the same fact, feeling, or phenomenon. The phrase "he alone makes the sound and dances," which is sufficiently similar to the Italian "c"antarsela and suonarsela da sol" (literally, "sing it and play it yourself"), corresponds to the French ""Pretre Martin qui chante te qui répond" (literal translation, "Father Martí who sings and responds") and with the Spanish "Juan Palomo, I cook it and I eat it". They all point to the egocentric behavior of someone who ignores others to carry out an action, but they do so by constructing different universes of observation.
Linguistic ethnography, which is a branch of linguistic anthropology, studies languages in the place where they were formed and where they develop to explain their cognitive differences. It is an ecological discipline that roots language and society in a territory and reminds us that speech is not ethereal. This summer, the demonstrations of Mallorcans demanding a tourism economy with less impact on the island were widely reported. The massive invasion of beaches and roads, demographic saturation, cat-and-cat tourism, and debauchery have led to protest signs bearing the slogan"go man", or as we would say in Catalan, "arruix." The meaning of both terms is the same. Each one has a different story. All languages can say everything, but each in its own way.
