Living Languages

I wanted to say something very quickly about the evolution of languages (and I'm writing it in a language, how so very not ironic). Recently an acquaintance of mine went to Ireland for a bus tour. I have already forgiven him. He asked if I knew any cool things that he should see while he was there, and I told him he should definitely get to a Gaeltacht. He couldn't believe that there was a language that the Irish spoke that wasn't English. I always cringe when someone with an Irish surname says this. I cringed.

When I told him that there is an Irish language he jumped on the fact that he knew there was such a thing as Gaelic. I explained to him that Irish is a Gaelic language like English is a Germanic language. I pointed out that there are other Gaelic languages, like Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Scotch. (Anybody know any others? What do they speak in Brittany?) He obviously didn't believe me when I told him that it was a living language.

To him, a living language was one that is still spoken, and he didn't believe that Irish was still in common use. A living language, though, is a language that can adapt and change and remain relevant for whichever contemporary era it in which it finds itself. Cultures can recognize when a language is in danger of irrelevance and can take measures to ensure that the language is preserved, as language and culture are often so closely bound. The example that jumps to mind is that of the Korean language.

Before Korea had a written alphabet the Japanese alphabet was used for conducting business in Korea. Soon, the Korean traders began communicating in Japanese when not doing business. The Korean king knew that Korean language and eventually Korean culture would die out if there were not a written language. He commissioned one of his advisors to create an alphabet. Because the Korean alphabet was created from a logical, thought out process rather than through evolution, it is simple enough for everyone to understand. Literacy was made compulsory in old Korea, far in advance of the Japanese and mainland Asian cultures. Korean is a living language because it can grow and accommodate new ideas. For example, the Korean word for computer means something like "thinking machine" or "counting machine", while other languages simply co-opt the English word and express it phonetically in their letters. Understandably, Koreans are still interested in the preservation of their thought processes and so their language and are taking steps to ensure its survival.

There is an Irish word for bicycle, but I have only ever heard Irish speakers use the word bicycle. On the last trip to Ireland we took a lot of pictures of the family, but no one could tell us how to say "cheese" in Irish. Okay, I should've known myself, but I'm American, remember?

I remember floating on Mad Dog's longboard, the "Straight Up", at Waikiki and failing miserably at catching waves. A couple of local guys kept zinging by me on the waves I missed and I could hear them conversing in Hawaiian. It was stilted, stop and go talk, but the conversation carried forward. It was easy to tell they were translating from English to Hawaiian to themselves and then expressing themselves in the English thought process with Hawaiian words. But they were doing it. They were taking the necessary steps to revive their language and their culture as much as they could for the environment it found itself in. If they keep at it long enough then eventually it will return in some form.

The Irish are doing it too, even if they do co-opt some words like computer and bicycle. I wonder how having the Irish language in my head instead of English would have changed the way I see and experience the world. I wonder what I missed like so many Hawaiian winter swells.