Powerful Language

I just watched a segment on the long running CBS News Magazine, 60 Minutes about Huckleberry Finn. A publisher updated the text replacing a common racial slur with the word 'slave.' There has been great debate for a long time about the language used by Mark Twain. Many schools will not touch Twain's writing because of the language used while others believe it must be taught because of the same language.

Written and spoken language can be so powerful. We communicate ideas with language but we communicate a lot more. We put for beliefs and emotions with language. It can be very subtle or very bold. You can communicate multiple ideas with a single sentence or say nothing with several pages.

I have noticed I tend to tailor my message to my audience. My workplace is very bilingual. I see this as an asset but I also find that when I speak to people who speak French as their first language, I use a more direct simple language. The people I speak with most of the time work very well in English but I don't want the idea to get lost in translation. They are much better in English than I am in French and it will be like this for quite a while.

I don't know where I really stand on updating literature. I do thoroughly believe in free speech. I think we need to keep the ideas from the past and learn from them or be doomed to fail again. I also understand how racial slurs can make people uncomfortable. It's a type of language that may not be appropriate for all situations or scenarios. That's the hard part.

It seems the last bastion of offensive language is attached to race. There is still too much racism and people get set off very easily about race. It's understandable but we need to keep working to move beyond our current state. Only then will the power of these words be used for good and not for hate.

Parlez-vous

I am the first to admit that I don't speak French as well as I should. However, since I moved to Ottawa, I have been improving. In fact, I ordered my lunch in French today. Nothing fancy. I stuck to short phrases and I'm sure my accent was very thick but I did manage to do it. By no means does this make me think I'm bilingual but it does show a bit of hope.

I don't have a great flare for language. I have worked quite hard to improve my writing in English. I had a goal to write very efficiently and effectively. I have got to a place I am quite confident in what I write. I may not change the world or ever write a great quote but I can sure get my point across and I try to not waste the reader's time. As good as that is, I am never going to write the great Canadian novel, and to be honest I don't want to.

When it comes to other languages, really I just want to get by. I took French all through high school. I did ok. I am around French all the time in the workplace, it's coming back to me. I have ventured into Quebec a few times in the last month. The more exposure I get to French the more comfortable I am becoming. I'm not going to stand up and give a two hour dissertation in French, I may never get to that point. I'm ok with that. I am really just hoping to get to a point I can share in a conversation in French. I think I'm going to get there but it will take a while.

Hopefully I will continue to improve and I will get where I want to be.