language
a beautiful passage from sublime’s innaugural zine on why language matters, in the context of building a different web.
Amhrán na Leabhar (Song of the Books) - LYRICS + Translation
youtu.be“historically, the English had banned the Irish (Gaelic) language - books in Gaelic were confiscated. Now, Gaelic history and culture is largely oral, so this effectively meant banning everything about the culture. In an attempt to try preserve the language, they loaded this ship with a ton of Gaelic books and old manuscripts filled with all kinds of knowledge. Sort of as their perceived last hope at preserving the language, which is over 2000 years old, but the ship hit a rock not far from shore and sank in full view of the people. So this song is a lament of the loss of all that knowledge and, ultimately, the culture” - Bri
Eunoia: Words that Don't Translate
eunoia.world
The power of qualitative research is its magical ability to generate description. Where quantitative measures, qualitative describes the qualities of the human experience
Peter Spear • The Question of Why
And so, while language is necessary, it does a disservice to reality. In attempting to describe the indescribable, words constrain reality. Through simplifications, generalizations, and connotations they mischaracterize and water it down. They fail to capture the complexity, uniqueness, and dynamism of life. And as a result, we never truly see,... See more
The Pursuit
The more powerful communication technologies become, the more people will fight wars over words instead of territory. Language, when wielded at scale, is among man's most powerful weapons.
Untranslatable
untranslatable.co
an online dictionary of idioms and expressions contributed by native speakers all over the world