{"id":9699,"date":"2019-01-18T07:09:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-18T07:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musik.a-z-translation.com\/a-little-poetry-in-praise-of-language\/"},"modified":"2020-01-09T16:39:39","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T16:39:39","slug":"a-little-poetry-in-praise-of-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.a-z-translations.com\/en\/a-little-poetry-in-praise-of-language\/","title":{"rendered":"A little poetry in praise of language diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"

You probably know the story about the Tower of Babel: how humankind, speaking only one language, had come together to build a tower that would reach all the way to heaven, and how God stepped in and frustrated their efforts by making them speak a multitude of different languages, thus making communication and cooperation a lot more difficult.<\/p>\n

Today, everyone is talking about how in the not-so-distant future, thanks to artificial intelligence and machine translation, we will be able to communicate without language barriers (again), no matter where we’re from and what language we speak.
\nAnother viewpoint – or maybe even fear? – is that one day there will be only one universal language left in the world, possibly a mixture of all kinds of languages, but probably heavily based on (simple) English.<\/p>\n

Simply put: ever since Babel, humankind has been striving to communicate more easily and efficiently again. But is that really an altogether good thing?
\nYes, yes, there are a gazillion good reasons in favor, no question there. However, I recently came across an article on Huffington Post<\/a> by Harold Anthony Lloyd, a Wake Forest Law School professor, who advocates language diversity, praising it as something that is actually a necessity for us to better understand ourselves and our world. It really is worth the read!<\/p>\n

He also included “Two Sonnets\u00a0 for Too Xenophobic Times”, called “Razing Babel I and II”, which I gladly share here. Enjoy!<\/p>\n

Razing Babel I<\/div>\n
Before the tower, we were garroted
\nBy one chord twisted fast around our necks
\nThat kept us on its single cord until
\nGod\u2019s razor cut the knot. We raise new sounds,<\/div>\n
Explore new knowledge, claim new liberties
\nWe hear in novel syllables that, too,
\nImprove our poetry through vaster stocks
\nOf words and rhymes than ever heard before.<\/div>\n
Translation tunes new sounds and teaches, too,
\nNot merely of things said but of ourselves
\nNow singable in sounds unknown before<\/div>\n
As languages compete in novel sports
\nOf wrestling one another for the pen
\nThat none should hoard lest Babel rise again.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Razing Babel II<\/div>\n
In simpler times a single tongue served as
\nA single handle on a broader world,
\nA single inventory of the means
\nTo praise a multifaceted Divine.<\/div>\n
In simpler times a single king sat throned,
\nA single hunter wearing Adam\u2019s skins
\nThat claimed one sovereignty unchallenged of
\nBoth man and beast without conflict of laws.<\/div>\n
In simpler times a single way rose up
\nUnto the Heavens, a single tower men
\nDevised with one geometry and built
\nWith proper symmetry of form until<\/div>\n
God\u2019s thunderbolts, O Nimrods now and then,
\nRoared God will have diversity in men.<\/div>\n
\u00a9 Harold Anthony Lloyd 2016<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You probably know the story about the Tower of Babel: how humankind, speaking only one language, had come together to build a tower that would reach all the way to heaven, and how God stepped in and frustrated their efforts by making them speak a multitude of different languages, thus making communication and cooperation a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1673,959,1066,1674,1675,1178],"tags":[1670,1063,1671,1672,1179],"class_list":["post-9699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-babel","category-english-2","category-interpretation","category-language-diversity","category-poetry","category-translation","tag-babel-2","tag-interpretation-2","tag-language-diversity-2","tag-poetry-2","tag-translation-2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t