A word language comes from Latin 'lingua', which means a tongue. In Kazakh we even use the word for 'tongue', when we speak of language. This means that people mostly think of spoken language when the word 'language' is mentioned. However, we know that language is not limited to spoken or written languages. It seems to be something much wider than that. One way to look at language is as a medium of information exchange. In this respect, every professional community has its own language. Algebraists may speak of groups, rings and modules. Geometers might speak of points, curves, surfaces and tangent planes. Civil engineers might speak of well their stuff, let's say. People from different professional communities might not be able to understand each other's languages. The same might hold even for related fields.
However, all these people from different professions will understand when one speaks of patience, compassion, losses and victories. Because an activity in every discipline involves dealing with failures, learning from books or more experienced people, being curious and so on. In this sense, any person speaks a multitude of languages: domain languages, a language of ethics, a language of human emotions and so on. When people say that communication skills are important, I believe that they mean not only knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, but a whole family of languages which are needed to understand people and express oneself.
When I was in high-school most of my peers were trying to learn English at it opened doors to overseas colleges. Many students sacrificed their time and energy to learn English vocabulary and grammar. Some of them got into desired colleges and completed them with honours. However, when one completes such an educational institution, it becomes clear that knowledge of English alone might not automatically enable one to contribute to respective community. It takes much wider knowledge of human needs, available resources and ways to make a meaningful contribution. After few years the same phenomenon might be applicable to Chinese language, as China becoming stronger with each day. Surely, knowledge of Chinese is helpful, but so is knowledge of other types of languages.
However, all these people from different professions will understand when one speaks of patience, compassion, losses and victories. Because an activity in every discipline involves dealing with failures, learning from books or more experienced people, being curious and so on. In this sense, any person speaks a multitude of languages: domain languages, a language of ethics, a language of human emotions and so on. When people say that communication skills are important, I believe that they mean not only knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, but a whole family of languages which are needed to understand people and express oneself.
When I was in high-school most of my peers were trying to learn English at it opened doors to overseas colleges. Many students sacrificed their time and energy to learn English vocabulary and grammar. Some of them got into desired colleges and completed them with honours. However, when one completes such an educational institution, it becomes clear that knowledge of English alone might not automatically enable one to contribute to respective community. It takes much wider knowledge of human needs, available resources and ways to make a meaningful contribution. After few years the same phenomenon might be applicable to Chinese language, as China becoming stronger with each day. Surely, knowledge of Chinese is helpful, but so is knowledge of other types of languages.
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