As many other things in life, I think language has two aspects to it: an advantage and disadvantage side. The advantage of language is that it is a way of communication that us humans are able to express what we feel and talk with other humans. Language is crucial in many people’s lives because they have an urge to get across their ideas and share their interests with others. Humans are very social therefore language is a key tool for initiating conversation and creating relationships with others. Also in a general view point our lives mostly revolve around language or some other type of communication ways. From the moment we wake up in the morning we interact with another human being and tell them “good morning”. Then we go through the day in school or work where we use our ability to speak to solve problems or solve a major business budget problem. After work/school we come home and talk to family members and express how are day went, so now you may be wondering how can language have any disadvantage points and surprisingly, in my eyes, there are numerous of them.

A teacher indicates to her students that their reports are due Monday; Monday comes around and her desk has a pile of reports hand-written on loose-leaf. The teacher looks up to her students and exclaims that those reports were supposed to be typed, does this sound familiar? If language is used in general terms problems can be arise, therefore precision is extremely important so that the “audience” receives the correct information. This could also occur in a normal conversation where a person uses a word that could be interpreted in many ways and the other person receives the wrong impression. Another aspect is expressing one’s self; as stated above humans use language to express what they feel, but language, at times, is a barrier because it is too difficult to precisely describe the emotion that you are going through. Your mind knows exactly the emotion you are feeling, but your mouth is not able to describe this exact emotion.

Unfortunately I find more disadvantages in language because practically every advantage has a negative counterpoint; or is it a question of value, is it more important to communicate and just not worry about the nit picky disadvantages?

School Trinity High School

I definitely agree that language has both positive and negative aspects.

A big advantage of language is that a group of people can easily express their feelings, wants, and needs. I mean wouldnt it be a little frustrating if you werent even able to express your wants and needs. Its much easier to say "I'm hungry," than to actually try to show a person that you're hungry. However, language has its barriers. Sometimes you cant find the words to express yourself. Don't you ever have those conversations when you feel like the person you're talking to doesnt understand, even though you're talking straight to them? I know I have them. There are times when I'm talking to someone and can't fully express my feelings; I can't find the words to say how I feel.

Language has the advantage of communicating with a variety of people. In a class or household, you can easily communicate to each other. On the other hand, there are thousands of languages in the world, especially in the US. I encounter people in my daily life that I can't communicate with because we do not speak the same language. So should there only be one language in the world, so that everyone can easily communicate? Well, I'm not sure if that would solve any problems at all, it might cause more problems. Could you imagine the opposition by some to refuse to learn a new language? It might take a very long time to have people learn a new language and be able to communicate in that language. And also can you force people to learn? I'm not sure that having a universal language would solve any of the problems that occur because of language, it might just cause more.
Another advantage of language is that it creates relationships and conversations. You can talk to a new friend or a boyfriend just by calling them and then initiate conversations.

But language does have it's disadvantages. At times people assume that the person they are talking to knows what they mean. However, the person they are speaking to may not fully comprehend or know. This is like the example with the teacher that Diana brought up. The teacher assumed his/her class knew that the reports had to be typed. The students just thought that they had to write the report not type it. Problem? yeah I think so.

Language does have it's disadvantages and advantages. I'm not sure if I can personnally say that language has more advantages than disadvantages or vice versa. I think that humans take advantage of language. Now that's a language problem.

School trinity

I too, think that language has its advantages and disadvantages but i think that the advantages out-weigh the disadvantages by a lot. Language allows people to express themselves so perfectly. Can you imagine the difficulty we would have if we didn't have language? How would we be able to communicate with each other? Sure we would still have body language and gestures, but that can only go so far. How many times has someone ever been mad at you and you don't understand why they're mad? If we didn't have language your friend would probably express their anger by ignoring you but that still doesn't solve the problem of that you do not understand WHY they're mad at you. With language you two can sit down and TALK out your problems.

Of course though, like Cathy said, for every advantage there is a disadvantage to counter it. For instance, being able to communicate through language has also given people the ability to degrade each other through curse words, racial slangs, etc. However, when you look at the bigger picture the people who use words like those to express themselves are the minorty of speaking people, and all-in-all the majority of speaking people use language as a necessary and perfect way to communicate.

School Trinity High School

i think language has both advantages and disadvantages. obviously, if it didn't have an advantage it wouldn't be worth our time. it's beneficial because it helps us communicate our feelings and to get in touch with one another. even two people from opposite ends of the world could communicate by some means of language, and that's a pretty powerful thing.

however, language is also a disadvantage at times. because there are so many different languages, not everyone would be able to converse with one another because there's not a standard global language, neither spoken nor written, and not everyone knows sign language. but even within one particular language, as you pointed out, sometimes the things we say can be up to someone's interpretation. this relates to my marketing class because we're learning about the communication aspect of the subject. our assignment was to give directions on how to complete an everyday task, such as making a peanut butter sandwich, for example. the catch was that we had to be really specific because otherwise the recipient of the message wouldn't know what to do. for instance, if you didn't first say open the bag of bread you wouldn't be able to continue with the demonstration. language should be much more fluid and comfortable than it is today.

School THS

I personally think that language has more disadvantages, particularly the English language. Yes, language provides us with the ability to communicate which is key, but if what we are using to communicate is not clear, it is of no use. English has so many words that are spelled the same, but they are pronounced differently and have different meanings. This makes it especially difficult for people to learn the language. If it is hard to learn the language, less people will be able to communicate properly with it and misunderstandings will result.

Also, there are thousands of languages in our world. And though some are only spoken by a few people as a secondary language, having such a wide variety of languages hinders communication rather than helps it.

Lastly, language can be a disadvantage because it comes in a great variety. Allow me to clarify. There is verbal language and body language. Sometimes people will say one thing, but act differently. Which "language" is conveying the person's true feelings. Or is the recipient misinterpreting one of the 2 languages?

Until TOK, I never realized how many disadvantages language has.

I never thought language could have disadvantages until TOK brought this to my attention. I think for the most part the advantages outweigh the disadvantages of language but of course I say this without having the experience of not having a language. I simply can't imagine not having a language as a way to communicate to others. I would imagine the lack of a language would lead to more problems amongst people. This leads me to wonder, however, if languages are so easily misinterpreted then how could they be much of an advantage? I have a book called "They Have a Word for It" by Howard Rheingold which contains untranslatable words. I love this book not only for the interesting words but also because it shows the differences in languages and the problems that can be encountered in translation.

For example, the Hawaiian word "ho'oponopono" is a noun for 'solving a problem by talking it out'. This leads me to wonder why doesn't English have a word for this definition? Does this put languages that have words for defintions that other languages don't have words for at more of an advantage? Is this even important to the language?

School Trinity High School

I think that advantages outway the disadvantages. I cannot imagine a silent and non-speaking world. If I could not verbally communicate with others, I would feel so alone and unable to express my feelings, knowledge, etc. Even though actions speak louder than words, sometimes actions cannot show everything under the surface. An example was from my TOK class. Two students were asked to give each other a hug. For the most part, a hug can be described as a sign of affection and appreciation. However, the students that hugged may have actually hated each other but did it to put on a show. Therefore, their actions would not show their true feelings for each other which others may not be able to pick up. Even though communication cannot describe everything I want to get across to people, it does a pretty decent job. So for the most part, language is more of an advantage.

In the question of whether language is an advantage or a disadvantage there is only one answer. Of course language is an advantage. How should we as a community, a society and as a world village be able to function and communicate without the spoken word. Our world as it is today is a result of us being able to communicate and work together. Imagine a world without languages. Imagine where we would be today. Without language and an effective way of communication the societies we know today would be extremly primitive and undeveloped. In every business interaction, in every trade deal between nations, everytime we interact and socialize with our fellow people we use language. So to the question of whether language is an advantage or disadvantage I can only see one possible answer which is likewise illustrated through our global society. That language is a major advantage and a key to effective global functioning.

School International School of Kenya

i think that languages is more of an advantage to the human race. Without language, imagine where the world would be? Language is an important part of life. The advantage of having a single language which is understood by the rest of the world is helpful. Without having a language it is more difficult to communicate, business transactions are harder and societies are then underdeveloped. Having a language is important.