Spencer Nystrom (student at Austin College):
"While I am no computer science expert, I’ve learned my fair
share of programming languages in my free time. I’ve always found the structure
of computer languages fascinating. Some require strict parenthesis placement,
others need lots of “$” symbols, and others don’t even need line breaks. But
what I find most interesting about computer languages is that they can lack the
functionality of another language; in short, it is impossible for some more
basic languages to perform some tasks higher-level programming languages can.
Different programming languages tend to fill different niches.
Unlike computer languages, German
and English (and all other spoken languages) fill the same niche in different areas of the world. Most times, the
languages will convey the same meaning, but the way they go about conveying that meaning is completely different.
In fact, there are many times where the process of translation will show what
someone said, but not what they meant, because
the way of saying it doesn’t exist in the other language. This is a rather
interesting predicament. Just because two people don’t share the same language
doesn’t mean they can’t share the same ideas and feelings, it just means they
have to be expressed in different ways to convey the proper meaning. What could
be said in a sentence or two in German could take a small paragraph in English
to explain. This is why I love learning German; it bridges the gap and allows
for a more intuitive understanding of the thoughts and feelings being conveyed
than by having them translated. It lets ideas connect without being bogged
down by interpretation."
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