Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons^™

Learning How To Speak Human, Roberto E. Bahruth

Literacy, Language, and Culture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Pearl S. Buck suggested so many years ago, through her character Ling Tan, the possibility of mutual understanding between people who could not speak each other's language. This is the essence of speaking human. Spoken through actions louder than words, ways of being that represent kindness, gentleness, peacefulness, a smile, eye contact, all deeply human gestures toward the other, they convey meanings that need not be translated.