There exists a multitude of times when complexity is included in modern concepts for the sake of “information shortening”. Information shortening is a term that describes the action of using a smaller number of words to express the same information. For example, calling a cylindrical tube of mouthwash “toothpaste” is a form of information shortening.
This concept exists in a multitude of ways. In science, acronyms are constantly used to talk about specific concepts, like DNA, RNA, qPCR, CDK, etc. It is undeniably easier to say “CRISPR” instead of specifically saying “CRISPR-Cas9”. These acronyms and short-hand forms of specific concepts are not what I want to talk about.
What I wish to discuss about is when it’s being used in bilingual communications. I personally speak 4 languages, English, Japanese, French, and Korean. When I speak with my friends who can speak two of these languages, something interesting happens. We begin to mix words from both languages in order to convey our thoughts better. For example, I was speaking with a friend of mine who can also speak Japanese, and instead of saying “he didn’t like that”, I said “あいついかれていた。けど、it’s whatever”. The reason why this conveyed the thought better, was because using “あいつ” (which means “him/they”) has a negative connotation with it (I didn’t like the person who we were talking about). Then “いかれていた” means annoyed, but to a degree that’s a bit more than annoyed but isn’t infuriated. It defines this sense of feeling that does not have a similar term in English. Then ending with “it’s whatever”, conveys this feeling of “I don’t care”, which does not have an exact translation in Japanese.
By utilizing the two languages, I was able to convey a thought that was much more complex than what I could’ve done with only one. I think it’s interesting because this fusion of languages helps us understand each other better in a way that is not doable with people from only our cultures alone.
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