Theos-Talk Archives (May 2008 Message tt00610)

German would be impossible!  No one can understand it, least of all the Germans!

Chuck the Heretic


http://www.geocities.com/c_cosimano 


-----Original Message-----
From: Konstantin Zaitzev <kay_ziatz@yahoo.com>
To: theos-talk@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Fri, 16 May 2008 1:45 am
Subject: Theos-World Language problems






--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "prmoliveira" <prmoliveira@...> 
wrote:

> Just imagine, for argument's sake, that HPB (and her two Teachers, 
> since The Secret Doctrine was their "triple production") had written 
> the following passage in, let us say, Russian:

> "This "Be-ness" is symbolised in the Secret Doctrine under two 

> How many people in the world would be able to read it, let alone 
> understand it?

She could select any widely understood language, like Spanish or 
German. Writing right about these things you quoted she empasized that 
English is utterly unfit for philosophical literature, and that in 
German she could use term das Sein for Be-ness and need not to invent 
a new term.
Even if she wrote everything in Russian, the more saticfactory 
translations to the most of European languages could be prepared from 
it than from English, and maybe even the English translation would be 
better than the current English original.
An edidence of an American was spoken out here that even in the 
neighbouring states different words for the same things are used. For 
example, in Russian this situation is almost impossible, the language 
is strictly uniform all over the country; the regionalisms are slight 
and don't impede any understanding.
In 19th century the Ukrainian language, which is different, was 
considered a dialect, but later, both for the sake of Ukrainians who 
wanted to speak their language and for the sake of purity of Russian 
language it was declared a separate language which develops its own 
way. Yet it has in itself many dialects and the people of east and 
west of Ukraine sometimes hardly understand one another.
The differences in English have gone so far than even native speakers 
lost the sense of their own language. One Russian travelled over 
America. He spoke English fluently but with a Russian accent. In one 
of middle west states an American asked him:
— I see from you speech that you came from afar.
— Yes, I am, — replied the Russian.
— From the East Coast, perhaps?



 


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