Have you heard about Plato’s cave? I was 17 the first time I heard about it through my philosophy teacher and it had a big impact on me.
In this powerful story Plato realizes that humankind can think, and speak, etc., without (so far as they acknowledge) any awareness of his realm of Forms.
In this allegory there is a group of prisoners who have been chained their whole lives in a cave facing a wall. Behind them there is a fire. Between them and the fire there are some moving puppets. All they can see is their reflexion, unable to turn their heads to see the real thing. All they see and have ever seen is a mere representation of reality.
If a dog walks by between them and the fire all they will see is the passing shadow of a dog. So if a prisoner says: “Look! A dog!” What is he really talking about?
He really thinks he is talking about a dog (since shadows are all he’s ever known)... but in reality he is talking about a reflexion of the truth. He has never really seen the furry animal.
We all live in Plato’s cave. We can only talk, write and think with words we humans made up. Just shadows reflected on a wall. If you are an English speaker the word dog will automatically bring the picture of an actual dog to your mind. But the sound dog, the letters D - O - G are just random. There is no direct connection to an actual animal beyond what we have been taught since we were kids. If you read the word куче and you don’t happen to speak Bulgarian you will see nothing. A Bulgarian person will see a dog. Just like the one you saw in your mind.
We all speak shadows to reflect the world out there and inside of our hearts and minds. The problem is that it is incredibly hard to stop thinking in your own shadows (your language) when that’s all you’ve ever known. Particularly when each language casts its very own reflexion of the same reality.
Let me give you an example. You are standing in front of two doors. One door has a sign that reads “DOG”. The other one a sign that says “PERRO”. Both doors lead to the same room. In that room there is a dog. When you speak English you just use the English key to unlock the door. If you speak Spanish you use the Spanish key. Both lead to the same reality.
The issue with my students learning Spanish (even though this applies to any student learning any language) is that more often than not they try to use their native language key to unlock the Spanish door and the door won’t open. In Spanish nouns have a masculine and a feminine gender. In some other languages, like in English, the word dog has no gender, and in others the gender of the speaker (not the thing) will have an impact on how we refer to a noun. And so on. Different languages. Different rules. Different keys. ONE DOG.
You might think: DUH! But the truth is that, as adults, shadows are incredibly sticky and create an unbelievable resistance when it comes to learning new ways to talk about the world. If we really believe our shadows, our language, are not just a random reflection of reality itself, then it is going to be very difficult to accept that there are other doors leading us to the same dog behind that wall. And just think about how difficult it is going to be when we are not talking about a dog but more complex realities like feelings, religion and other ideas you cannot really pet.
Learning a second language is not for the narrow minded.
The sooner you understand your mother tongue is not made up of words written in stone but shadows reflected on stone the sooner you will learn a second language. Understand that your language is not the reference of what is right or wrong. There are many ways to get to that dog and your key is not going to open every door.
You cannot translate words. You can only seek ideas.
Be incredibly flexible and open minded to learn a second language. Let go of everything you learned. They are just shadows. Don’t be tricked by Plato’s cave and you will be just fine.
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