Language

It's really interesting to think about all of the different countries in the world and how each one has one or many of their own languages spoken and all have different cultures. I think it is virtually impossible for someone to be able to properly communicate with and understand people from all of these different places. As we learned in class, something as simple as the "okay" hand gesture that Americans use means something extremely different and rather offensive to Italians. Most Americans, however, probably have no idea that this is the case and might give this gesture to an Italian without even thinking twice about it. Also, it is hard to think that some languages have words that don't even translate to English. We just assume that since we are Americans our language covers everything, but the truth is that many languages happen to have words that are not expressed in English. When I was in junior high I was talking to a friend who spoke Russian and she was trying to tell me a story about her family that she thought was hilarious. As the story went on, I found that it was going to be nearly impossible for her to tell it because she just could not figure out how to tell me what her family members said in English, because they also spoke Russian. It's important for people to be aware of how many different cultures there are out there and how many different languages other people speak. By being more socially aware, people from very different cultures can communicate better and learn how to understand one another in a simpler manner.