Difference in Communication

This recent post on Boing Boing really caught my attention; largely due to the frustration I face interning in a multi-lingual environment. However, the communicating differences between languages has become an increasingly big area of interest for me. As someone who has taken an introductory class in linguistics, albeit pass/fail and not one of the classes I am not most focused in (a euphemism for skipping class), languages are one of the most fundamental things that factor into the way we think. Although we may not realize it, our native language already factors greatly in the way we process what we sense, and how we discuss it. 

For architecture this becomes increasingly important. As I have realized in my architectural studies, subtle meanings in seemingly similar words can be the cause of miserable miscommunication. As architecture becomes an increasingly international field, the communication barrier is not only a conscious problem, but also a subconscious dilemma.  

The article by Mike Shaughnessy uses Blue and Light Blue, and Red and Pink as examples for the differences between how languages perceive certain things differently. Red and Pink have word distinctions of paramount importance in English, but Blue and Light Blue are all shades of the same color. However, in Russian, Blues receive the same treatment as Reds in English. In Chinese, Pink is just a variation of Red. If basic colors can vary so much through each language, then when all these these subtle differences aggregate, how can one assure that the idea one builds in another's mind is at all similar to the one they are trying to communicate?

In my limited Chinese vocabulary, I somehow realize when one of my bosses is saying something entirely different from one of my other bosses. Watching them communicate and eventually reach the same idea at the end is something frustrating, but at the same time, incredibly amazing. This trial and error process is as not ideally how every international firm should communicate, but it seems like a reality that won't change any time soon. 

This goes back to something very fundamental to architecture, visual communication. Sketching out ideas diagrammatically is something basic every architect needs to know. Its importance is something I become increasingly aware of time after time. Only when something is sketched out accurately and portrays an idea clearly, can and idea truly cross the language barrier. 

The inspiration for the above comes from the facinating article on Boing Boing by Mike Shaughnessy