Memon 1

Umaima Memon
Mrs. Pelosi
AP Lang F Block
August 16, 2016
Language in itself is a Map:
People that have the privilege of speaking and hearing arent often grateful of
what they have. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today, and they enable
people to interact with each other. However, the abundance of languages in the world makes it
hard for people of different origins to connect with each other. The variety of different languages
has created a system of a common language, which in our world is English. That said, languages
have deep history, and thats the beauty of words.
Arabic, a lovely language, has deep and rich history, going back to the
time where the religion of Islam had first started. Allah had the Quran to be
revealed in Arabic, and even though many translations of the Quran are
available today, no translation is as beautiful as Arabic. The translation of
any language wouldnt hold the same meaning and beauty as the original. A
writer has written on Voices of Youth, While studying I came to a realization;
most people don't appreciate language as much as we should. As a society
we should learn to be more appreciative of all the different languages of the
world. I find it intriguing how there are so many ways to express our feelings
and thoughts. Every language has a distinct sound and tone, like music,
(The Beauty of Language). My grandfather was a writer in a famous Pakistani

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newspaper called Jang, and he appreciated the beauty of language. He

learned over seven languages, but the languages he loved most were
Persian and Sindhi. Being a man of many words, he loved talking about
languages, and he taught my mother a lot about the beauty of languages.
Personally, I think that slang was created for the verbally unfit. Slang is
a lazy method of speaking, and it disrespects the purity of language. Words
like bruh and sup? bother me so much that I often lash out at people who
speak in slang. I also believe that swearing is disrespectful to language, and
in our society, swearing is normal. A comment to a BBC article states, Slang
terms tend to run its course and then fade out when it is not fashionable.
Look at any American show and there is plenty of slang spoken. Yes, we still
understand it yet that is the beauty of our language...it changes with time,
(Is slang sabotaging language?). I agree that the beauty of our language is
that it evolves, but theres no beauty in slang, its shortened English or as I
see it, English for dummies. English has evolved tremendously, going from
Ye Olde English to modern English, but the only thing that has evolved from
then are the words that are confusing. If slang replaces English, I might not
be able to cope with the transition.
The words that come out of our mouths can change the way a person feels about you. In
Einsteins Dreams, a man didnt approach the woman in a red hat because she looked like she
was judgmental. If a person can judge someone else just by looking at them, then what would a
person concur if they talk to them? Words can manipulate what a person is thinking. A persons

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mood is evaluated by the tone of their voice. I express myself through words, expressions, and
tone. If a sentence sounds perfect in my head, I blurt it out, and I end up realizing that it sounded
terribly rude and wrong. Human beings are created to make mistakes, but its necessary for them
to learn from their mistakes. A person can change the way something sounds just by the tone of
their voice, and often it creates many misunderstandings. If Im tired, my sentences are
incoherent and I sound lazy. If Im irritated, my words sound rude and disrespectful even though
I may not mean to sound rude. The constant search for better words to describe what youre
feeling just comes to show that language isnt easy. We might have the most beautiful thoughts
roaming around in our heads, but we end up ruining those thoughts with poor word choice. In
Beauty Salon, the poetic language was what made the book so mysterious and unique. The
metaphor of the fishes showed me what language can provide to beautify a language. The deep
symbolism the fishes had made me think about the book in a different perspective. If not for the
aquarium in the book, I wouldnt have been able to think of Beauty Salon in the same light as I
had with the fishes. The book itself was translated from Spanish; I wonder if the text was even
more meaningful in Spanish, as I wrote before, translations take away some beauty from words.
If I was multilingual, I would have been able to see for myself if it had richer content in Spanish.
Being multilingual has plenty of advantages, but learning more than two to three
languages isnt for everyone. I speak three languages fluently: English, French (Im getting
there), and Urdu. Interacting with people gets easier, and the more people you meet the better it
is. Getting familiar with different cultures is fun and exciting, and changes a persons personality.
I had never met, let alone made friends with people from different parts of the world before
meeting Luca, Hoesu, and Hinako. Their opinions on certain things and their culture make me
intrigued about them as people. People that are multilingual also have great power on their

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hands, the power of cultural diffusion. I think that if a person wants to, he or she can attract
people and get them to find interest in their culture. Once that person is interested, he or she can
start collecting cultural objects, and the process goes on. Eventually, that one culture gets
diffused throughout the country.
I believe that if a person is educated as opposed to a person who is uneducated, that
doesnt give the right to the educated person to show off their superiority. I have seen many
instances where an educated person tries to act as if they dont know how to speak in Urdu.
Although that does give the uneducated a solid first impression, there are drawbacks. If I can
fluently speak a language with a person that Im trying to communicate with, I wouldnt show
off my knowledge. Speaking more languages means that I have ease in learning more languages
and ultimately, it shows that I am a smart human being. Fake accents and fake mispronunciations
would mean that youre lying to yourself, and your guilt wouldnt let you live. Impressions are
made for the better outcome of something, not if you want to disappoint a person and make them
feel bad about themselves. I often speak to my friends in Urdu as well if I see that Im around
people that dont know how to speak in English. Fake impressions and acts are false verbal
maps; they arent true to you and to others.
Anything that I say and know that Im saying it for the happiness of others; it can be one
of two things. It can either be a true verbal map or a false verbal map. If my words make
someone happy without anyone else getting hurt, thats a true verbal map, which is similar to a
white lie. If I say something that comes at the expense of others, theres my false verbal map. My
white lie would allow me to have a guilt-free conscience. I would never say a lie that would
make me regret my words.

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Human beings interact to know more about each other. Some people lie to fit in, and
create endless pits of lies. Interaction is a necessity due to countless reasons. Cultures being
introduced to each other would not be possible if not for words and languages. All humans would
be the same if not for 6500 beautiful languages. People wouldnt be able to have relationships
without words and ultimately, life would be meaningless. Language is something that cannot be
replaced by any amount of high-level technology, in the end language is something we use even
with technology.
Works Cited:
Gillian. "BBC - Have Your Say: Is Slang Sabotaging Language?" BBC. N.p., 28 Sept.
2010. Web. 18 Aug. 2016.
Torres, Andrea. "The Beauty of Language." Voices of Youth. N.p., 7 Feb. 2016. Web. 18
Aug. 2016.

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