Running Header Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Running Header - Essay Example Language is the tool for expression of thought. This is the central idea whereby this paper is conceived, since we want to establish the role that language play in the process of thinking. My family have been blessed with opportunity and a particular fascination with travelling, my mother works for a magazine company and she writes articles about the places she visits while my father works for an executive corporation that practically has offices in almost all major cities in Asia. We do family trips every summer and this year we visited Shanghai, one of my memorable trips in the Far East. One of the things I immediately notice, the first day we arrived is that the city was "buzzing" with different kinds of noise. Their streets were as busy as the time square in New York, and most of the people drive bicycle to get them to their destination. I had difficulty going around town since most of them only speak their "native tongue" and there were few people who can converse in English. I had to cut my first day short and went back to our hotel to "catch some sleep". The next day was filled will "breathtaking" scenery from ancient China we visited temples and monasteries, a nd saw few artefacts and went insides old palaces with huge statues of ancient Important Chinese personality. It made me feel like I did "time travel", like I was in the time those dynasties and the emperors. I never thought I could relive and personally witness the evidence of ancient Chinese civilization, that I saw the things that were written only in the academic books I read in class. Now I understand what culture does to a country, I can now relate better to the lessons learn from the mistakes of the past. We returned home with rich memories of ancient China, I immediately framed all the still photos I took and hanged it in one corner of my room to constantly remind me of the knowledge I acquired during this trip. Language no matter how diverse and difficult and in spite of its diversity, play an important role in our critical thinking because it is the key to understanding, according to Philip Atkinson. "It is the expression of thought, an act of translating thoughts into words thereby refining understanding" (Atkinson. 2004). Language enables man to define the process of his thoughts and make sense of it. "Language is the 'software' that allows our brain to think the way it does, without language the cerebral cortex lies largely unused" (Kirby & Goodpaster. 1999). With advance technology and globalisation, language highlights the identification of a major medium of communication that is comprehensible to many, this will define the aims, goals and intention that the thought process wants to attain, it will clarify the subject matter to discuss and set aside the non-issues. Language can also be limiting in the sense that the capacity to ascribe a particular word to a meaning can sometimes be inadequate owing to the inability to completely convey the message it wants to convey (Chomsky. 2004). Language can also empower our thoughts in the sense that enables us to identify the very core of an idea, an