Importance of Language and What Role does it Play in Our Lives?

Human language is the collection of words and sounds into sentences that apply some specific grammar rules and structure to deliver it eloquently. The purpose of language is to communicate with other humans and make connections. It also serves the main purpose of communicating one’s thoughts in a way that others can understand them easily. Language is the one common factor in humans belonging to different cultures and ethnicities that make humans, humans. This is why the importance of language is undeniable.

Can every sound be recognized as language? what are the characteristics that make a language, a language?

1. Characteristics of Language

As the basic role of human language is to communicate one’s ideas and thoughts to others, it has the following characteristics that develop the importance of language in our lives.

a) Language has Sounds

One of the main characteristics of language is that it has sounds. All the human language that you see around the world has specific sounds and vocal symbols. Sign language is an exception to this rule because it was intrinsically made for people who cannot speak or cannot use their vocal cords. Many languages around the world that have almost gone extinct do not have a written language but they are spoken by some people who want to keep their language alive.

b) It Communicates

Language is a means of communication for humans around the world. language has made the expression of emotions, thoughts, wishes, needs, and ideas easier for human beings. With the help of language, one can easily get their message across without any confusion.

c) It can be Symbolic

May times, language is not translated into its literal meaning. The reason is that metaphors and symbols hold great importance in language. This is often used by literary people and poets to add value and beauty to a language.

d) Language is Inherent

All the languages around the world are not made recently. They are inherited by every generation by their previous generation. This is why it is said that a language holds conventional, traditional, and instinctive abilities. The importance of language is also known by its character of traveling from generation to generation.

e) Language is Subjective

The subjectivity of language means that its meaning can be different in different cultures. One word can mean different things in different cultures and languages. It has no logical and in-built meaning to the words, therefore; these words are not bound to have connections and uniformity.

2. Importance of Language

A language that serves as the main stage for communication is essential in any society. Different areas of our lives are directly or indirectly linked to language and its use. Therefore, the importance of language is a unanimously agreed-upon matter.

The importance of language can be assessed using the example that when a person visits a foreign country and is unaware of the native language, they face many difficulties navigating their way around the country. In this way, language also serves as a barrier to having open and easy communication. Therefore, English has been used as an international language to reduce this hurdle in our lives.

What is the way the importance of language is reflected in different areas of our lives?

a) Language is the Heart of Culture

“If culture was a house, then language was the key to the front door, to all the rooms inside.”

Khaled Hosseini.

While studying culture, certain things are studied extensively, language is one of them. Cultures have very close ties with their respective languages. Many languages have distinct traits that have a deep-rooted history in their cultures. Because of this reason, languages are the first thing anthropologists study to understand a culture.

b) Differentiate Cultures

Each ethnicity or culture that has its own language or dialect has different cultural traits. Language, in many instances, differentiates different cultures from one another. Moreover, language also differentiates different regions of the world. For example, in many regions, the basic grammar of a language is the same but some differences make these languages differ from one another. They also share many similarities in their language.

c) Language Represents the history of Nations

Since the languages that we speak today have been in use for centuries, these languages hold immense importance in terms of relaying history. The Chinese language has a culture of its own and represents the history of South Asian countries and areas surrounding the Silk Road. Similarly, the Arabic language which is known as the language of Muslims has some great references and representations of Muslims. Lastly, the countries that were part of the Soviet Union i.e. Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, etc. share many commonalities in their language because of their deep-rooted history.

d) Differentiate Humans from Animals

A formal verbal language is another thing that differentiates animals from humans. It allows humans to interact with one another by using a formal communication system, whereas; many animals can only communicate their intrinsic needs using different behaviors or signs. For example, whales use supersonic radiation to communicate and smaller animals like bees, ants, and flies use behavioral signs to communicate.

e) Language is a Road towards Advancement

Humans use language mainly to communicate their ideas and thoughts. During the stone age era, humans did not use any language. therefore, there was no development. However, as the human generations carried forward, they started developing languages. As a result, the development of different ideas started with the use of language.

f) Language Enhances Creativity and Learning

Humans’ basic tool of learning is language. Children learn the language first after observing their surroundings and listening to the language of their environment. Later, they start learning different concepts. This shows that conceptual learning can occur after the development of language in humans. Another example is that humans learn the best in their native or first language as compared to their second language. This can be seen in developed nations. Their medium for education is their first language instead of following another language.

Language is another form of creative learning. Poetry, songs, and literary books indicate the use of language for creative learning. A child who has more exposure to literature or languages will have more creative thinking s compared to others who do not indulge in these activities.

g) Language Creates a Sense of Familiarity

Currently, the world has more than 7 thousand languages. Almost all the countries have their own languages. Among these countries, many other languages reside that belong to different ethnic groups of the same country. Because the world is such a huge hodgepodge of languages, people find comfort and familiarity among the ones who speak a similar language. Speaking the same language is one of the biggest ice-breakers.

h) Language is Human Experience

Language is exclusive to human beings. Other living organisms cannot use formal detailed language as humans do. Therefore, it is safe to say that language is a human experience from the start of humanity. Without the help of language, humans cannot express themselves and cannot form connections. This in turn means there will be no societies and even religion will become redundant. Through language, many functions of the world have been running. Without language, politicians won’t be able to convey their messages to the masses and the political system will collapse. Read More

3. Language Express Thoughts and Emotions

Human language is the only medium that expresses the thoughts and emotions of humans as it is. It also helps humans to name and differentiate their emotions without confusion. Human language is the easiest to comprehend. There are thousands of literary pieces of evidence that denote the importance of language by using it to express thoughts, desires, wishes, needs, and ideas in many creative ways.