Language = Insights

I’m just starting to learn German by bits.
I had only known three languages before, Indonesian, English, and Javanese (passive).
So here's what I've got so far.

None of them are alike! (mm... yeah, of course they aren't)


First, English.
Two words to define it, short and accurate.
The words are short but accurate. You can always fill a sentence with a lot of words to explain your thoughts, and it will still look simple. The language is a great balance between the two poles, 'hard to master-complex-idea frenzy' and 'easy-simple-ignorance'. It’s good enough for sophisticated talks, and still easy to comprehend.

The difference it has with German (in my humble opinion) is that English emphasizes on verbs and temporal aspects, while German emphasizes on nouns or identity.
Every noun in German belongs to one gender of three (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Keep in mind that I said nouns, not only physical things. So even words like ‘insanity’ has its own gender (which is male by the way). You have to memorize them all.
But that’s the least of your problem.
Nouns in German change a lot. They change according to number, position in a sentence, possession, even level. You’ll know for sure who’s doing what with/to whom and their conceptual positions.
So German is indeed great for ideas, although the inflections are quite a handful.
Is that why so many philosophers come from Germany?

Anyway, Javanese. Yeah, I have to include this one. Hey, you know what they say, “Every Javanese is a chauvinist.”
It is a language of 'rasa' (I can’t find a proper translation, perhaps ‘sense with a taste of depth’). Javanese has a very wide vocabulary regarding senses. It plays with how you feel.
Unlike the English and German, a Javanese word does not bring you to comprehension of the rational ideas, but to participation of a situation. You will feel like you’re actually living the word, experiencing the full sensory input. That’s why it is sometimes hard to translate. And that’s also why, the best way to study Javanese is not through conversation or studying a list of definitions, but through accessing Javanese art works (especially plays).

Here’s an example.
Regemeng.
It basically translates as ‘to sneak around’.
But actually, its full meaning contains these aspects:
- darkness, so much that the proprietor only appears as an uneven black figure
- gigantic form, the proprietor must be incredibly large, and
- suspense and silence, the surrounding nature has to be eerily quite
Can you feel it now?
There’s also renggunuk (gargantuan creature’s gigantic stomps seen from below its belly while it crosses over you), or even ngger (a special-loving-calling word for offspring, different than kulup, nduk, putra, anak, lare, yoga).
So you see, there's a lot of senses in the words.
But I’ll stop being a chauvinist now.

Well, how about Indonesian?
Err…
I have to think more about it.
But for now, I think it’s pretty simple, affixes aside.
So at least it’s quite powerful to unite this multicultural nation.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that to know a language is to know its people.
Do you know that there are 21 words for snow in Eskimo?
Yeah, it’s a stupid and superficial example, but it certainly hints a chance to learn the people’s perspective, values, character, and much more, doesn’t it?
When you study a new language, new ideas and perspective will surely barge in.
Mm.. Perhaps that’s what interests a lot of people in the first place.