Universal Language

I spent most of today studying Romanian. When I stop to think about it, the creation and spread of different languages is an extremely interesting phenomenon. The ability to communicate with a vast vocabulary and complex sentence structure is something uniquely human. Two people look at an object or contemplate a concept and think of a word that was assigned to that object or concept thousands of years ago.

It is also amazing how much we can communicate with very little shared communication. My gazda and I can have relatively complex and intelligent conversations using my broken Romanian and their smattering of English words. Though trying to explain concepts of early American history in Romanian to a Romanian is not really something a beginner in the language should attempt.

In the two weeks I’ve lived with my gazda I’ve also come to greatly appreciate the universal language of music. Most of the music they listen to in Romania is the western based popular artists that we know in the US – they really love Rihanna and Lady Gaga. Even most Romanian music artists sing in English – though I’m not sure if they know the language or not. I’ve been enjoying getting to know some Romanian artists and their songs as well as some Romanian “Popular” (traditional) music.