The dog, a girl from poland and the uncertainty of Heisenberg
Last summer keeping a conversation with a girl from poland. She asked to me.
- Ok, what does it mean? when you´re writing this; jejjejejjejejejjejej
I answered her is the way spanish people write they´re laughing down. She said;
- I don´t believe you because when I´m laughing I write this ahahahahahahah.
Then I remembered one anecdote from my childhood. When I was at school in the english class, my pupil book had a lot of drawings like a comic. In one picture appeared one dog barking with a several words written "uouf uouf uouf".
Then my level of english was purely basic. I asked to my teacher. what does it mean? "uouf uouf uouf", my teacher said is the way dogs barking in england. I said that´s not true, because dog is the same animal all over the world and here in spain when a dog is barking it sounds like "guau guau guau".
So now I understand that we try to translate sounds in our brain trough our culture. I tried to apply the uncertainty of Heisenberg on the process of communication.
If you try to study a system, using a tool that it doesn´t belong to that system, the answer would be influenced by this tool.
Although it sound philosophical, maybe sounds exist in a different way, in a pure form that we try to translate using a external tools. In this case we´re talking about our brain and our culture. That´s why we get different interpretations depending on the country.
What´s your opinion?
Search from various English teachers...
Corrections · 2
1
A dog, a girl from Poland, and the uncertainty of Heisenberg
Last summer I was having a conversation with a girl from Poland. She asked to me:- Ok, what does it mean when you write this: jejjejejjejejejjejej
I answered her that that is the way Spanish people write down that they´re laughing*. She said:
- I don´t believe you, because when I´m laughing, I write this: ahahahahahahah.
Then I remembered one anecdote** from my childhood. When I was at school in the english class, another student had a book with a lot of drawings, like a comic. In one picture, there was a dog barking with a several words written: "uouf uouf uouf".
Then, my level of english was very basic. I asked to my teacher, "what does 'uouf uouf uouf' mean?". My teacher said it is the way dogs barking in England. I said, "that´s not true, because dogs are the same animals all over the world, and here in Spain, when a dog is barking, it sounds like 'guau guau guau'".
So, now I understand that we try to translate sounds in our brain through our culture. I tried to apply the uncertainty of Heisenberg to the process of communication.
If you try to study a system, using a tool that it doesn't belong to that system, the answer will be influenced by the tool.
Although it sounds philosophical, maybe sounds exist in a different way, in a pure form that we try to translate using a external tools. In this case, we´re talking about our brain and our culture. That's why we get different interpretations depending on the country.
What's your opinion?***
*Instead of "write down that they're laughing" you can also say "express laughter in written form"
**Using the word "anecdote" is not wrong, but it's very uncommon. Nowadays, people tend to say "story" instead.
***What you said isn't wrong but I think it would be more natural to say "What do you think?"
Want to progress faster?
Join this learning community and try out free exercises!
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!
Start Learning Today
