A Journey Through the 6,000 Lanugages of Earth by Glenn Dixon Dundurn
There are 6,000 languages spoken on our planet, way down from the 15,000 there once was, but, dismayingly, much greater than the 500 Glenn Dixon thinks there will be. After finishing his MA in socio-linguistics, Dixon set his sights on the world - he wanted to understand and explore how language intrinsically shapes individual societies. Luckily for us, Dixon is also storyteller, so Pilgrim in the Palace of Words is immensely appealing to anyone with a yearning to travel, an interest in different cultures and a love of words. And bonus! There is enough adventure to satisfy even the most critical of armchair travelers.
Dixon was attacked by dogs in Turkey. In Belize, he encountered sharks in general - they “look more like cruise missiles” - and a reef shark in particular, with skin “ a lot like sandpaper”, learned never to camp under a coconut tree (duh!), and traveled many unhappy miles around the South Pacific on the ‘worst airline in the world.”.
But it is his understanding of linguistics that puts his observations about language and culture into a perspective which, coupled with a healthy dollop of natural history, makes Pilgrim in the Palace of Words a travel book with a difference. It is entertaining, readable and thoughtful. Be careful, he says. When in another culture, “translations are dangerous things.”. “Words aren’t always easily translated from one language into another... When we try to translate (complex philosophical ideas) into English, we are often at a loss.” For example, the Tibetan concept of suffering has not translated well. It is more like ‘hard to bear,’ or the “idea of dissatisfaction”.
Pilgrim in the Palace of Words also carries a warning. “Of the 300 aboriginal languages spoken in North America at the time of European settlement, 150 have disappeared completely ...”
Dixon’s website has has videos, podcasts, snippets of the audio book, and a fabulous slide show organized by book chapters, which serves only to tantalize the armchair travelers among us. http://www.pilgrim-in-the-palace.com/Pilgrim/Home.html
Glenn Dixon is a travel writer, musician, documentary film maker and expert in socio-linguistics. When taking a break from traveling the world, he lives in Calgary.
