“Figurative language is the language of the imagination, contrived to create thought through its appeal to the imagination.”
Now, can the language we speak limit how we are able to imagine? Imagination, for the most part, means ‘to see’, coming from the Latin root imag. What are we able to see then, as far as imagination goes?
In Chinese, the word “imagination” looks a little something like this:
想象力
Using my limited knowledge on what these individual characters mean, this comes to mean, very roughly and literally, “think-the-image power”. When thought of like this, I immediately begin to see that imagination is something ‘beyond’, that it does not in fact lay in the same scope as reality; it only uses reality as a grounds in which to refer back to.
If the Chinese were clever enough to say that imagination is something above and beyond, would their scope of imagination not be wider and stronger?
You may be surprised to find that, no, it isn't. In fact, Chinese students have, on a global scale, the least imaginative minds, and fall fifth-to-last on creativity. The emphasis does not fall on how creatively the students are supposed to solve a problem; rather, the emphasis is put on being able to solve a problem in the first place.
With this in mind, a new question arises: does culture and the environment a person is raised in reflect on their ability to be imaginative? If it does, then that means that as well as having a lack of imagination, an entire society can potentially be unable to know in such a way that requires the area of imagination.
Coming back to the language aspect: in English, we have access to the most colorful phrasing available. Mastering this language means being able to manipulate it in such a way that allows the one listening to actually ‘see’ the words being spoken; this is done through the use of figurative language:
“But look, the morn in russet mantle clad,
Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill”
-(Hamlet, Act I Scene I)
In this description, the morning, to me, is an armed warrior, brazenly trekking through the dark to bring about the new day. The modern translation looks a little like this:
“But look, morning is breaking beyond that hill in the east, turning the sky red.”
-(Hamlet, Act I Scene I)
Just like that, the words have taken on a totally different vision in my mind. This time I did not imagine a warrior; rather, I imagined a red sun peeking over a small hill, turning the night into day. Its interesting to know that these words, intended to have the same meaning, visualized themselves entirely different in my head. This leads to one final thought:
Does the way something is said (compare modern Shakespeare to the original) limit the imaginative quality? Imagination is the driving force behind good literature- it defines the ‘good’ and ‘bad’, but that's a later debate- and a more expansive imagination makes for a more expansive read. Imagination may or may not be enhanced based on translations into certain languages, but it will require to imagine in a ‘different’ kinda way.
I agree with Andrew that imagination can be greatly influenced by your culture or environment. Similar to China, many countries don't put and emphasis on creativity and choose to focus on things that are "concrete" such as science and technology. But I believe that imagination is just as important because it affects your reality as well. Creativity allows you to be unique and separates yourself from others. For example, looking at science and technology, imagination can play a key role when it comes to inventing new technology and improving technology. It’s important to know how to think outside the box in order to be able to create various solutions. These can be solutions to something as small as a math problem to something big like a life problem. All in all, I believe that imagination is of great value and shouldn’t be oppressed by any culture.
ReplyDeleteJulia Badji
I agree with Andrew's opinion on how languages may have an effect on the concept of imagination. Imagination is to me something that cannot be defined by words. It is a concept that has unlimited potential when it is still in the person's mind, but imagination is changed by the language used to convey it to the world. The images created by imagination are going to have to be changed in order to fit the restraints of any language, and thus I also believe that each language or culture affects imagination differently. After all, each specific language is unique to the culture it is prevalent in, and as a result, imagination would not be changed the same way in each culture. I think that Andrew did a really good job proving this point by examining how Chinese and English differ greatly in their approaches to conveying imagination. By using real-life examples to show how the Chinese place less emphasis on the importance of imagination and how the English use figurative speech, Andrew is able to make his point about imagination easier to understand.
ReplyDeleteAndrew made several interesting points that brought up the question, "how can we predict what a person will imagine based off of our own imaginations?" There is never the same imagination there are rather similar imaginations. Imagination could have so many different definitions and meanings to it. Referring back to the examples from Hamlet, I imagined an old man walking up a hill into the sunset, this goes to show that Andrew, Shakespeare and myself have totally different instant imaginations that come to our minds while just reading a single sentence. It seems as though certain words and even everyday things determine our imaginations. Overall Andrews article had an immense impact on the way I understand imagination. However, I have come to the conclusion that imagination has no exact meaning or definition.
ReplyDeleteAndrew's mentioning of Language made me see imagination in a different way. When I thought of imagination previously, I figured it only had to do with being creative inside your head. But as proven by Andrew, Language determines what effect your imagination has. And sometimes it even determines the extent to which you are capable of imagining. My favorite paragraph was "Using my limited knowledge on what these individual characters mean, this comes to mean, very roughly and literally, “think-the-image power”. When thought of like this, I immediately begin to see that imagination is something ‘beyond’, that it does not in fact lay in the same scope as reality; it only uses reality as a grounds in which to refer back to."
ReplyDeleteThat whole comment just seemed so serious. I known for French, their translations are more intense and just as literal. So it makes me wonder, do French people have more imagination??