[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-41124-en":3,"doc-seo-41124-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":90},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},41124,7971461741311,"Ophelia","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000253aff267980c6?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1779345379180704826",2,"Literature","The Power of Babel","The text narrates a childhood encounter with linguistic difference that becomes the origin of a lifelong obsession with foreign languages. After hearing relatives speak Hebrew, the narrator experiences shock and heartbreak, then channels curiosity into seeking instruction from a rabbi and learning letters through a flyer and children’s dictionary. The story continues with self-driven exploration across multiple languages and a growing realization that language learning involves more than substituting vocabulary, ultimately shaping the narrator’s path toward becoming a linguist.","\"MeWhorter's arguments are sharply reasoned,refreshingly honest,and thoroughlyoriginal,and befitting a book on language,they are lucidly and elegantly expressed.”  \n—STEVEN PINKER,AUTHOR OF The Language Instinct  \nThe POWER  \nBABELHINDI HEBREW YIDDISH DANISH GERMAN RUSSIAN INUIT NAVAJO!TAthwTCrEPQKr GonNCH    qiwT StouxniG     rSLISH网AGM CzEWMNcirodesEDPSE VBDISH DANISH GERMAN RUSSIAN INUIT NAVAJO SARAMACCAN HOPI SKEE COMANCHE MOHAWK SioUx BULGARIAN LATIN GREEK LITHUANIASIAN PoLISH ESPERANTO ENG      RENCH FARSI ARABIC SPANISH DMANDARIN CANTONESE JAPANELuAMESE URDU HINDI HEBREW Y  \nSANSKRIT TURKISH ITALIANCOMANCHE MOHAWK SiOUXROMANIAN MACEDONIANOLISH ESPERANTO ENGLISH FREIWAHILI TAGALOG CZECHENCH FARSI ARABIC SPANISHMANDARIN CANTONESE JAl作AMESE URDU HINDI HEBREWINUIT NAVAJO SARAMACCSKRIT TURKISH ITALIAN CHER《LGARIAN LATIN GREEK LITANIAN MACEDQNIAN PERSIANFARSL.ARABIC SPANISH山   TAGALOG CZECH MANDAAMESE URDI日INDI.HEBDANISH GERMAN RUsSiAN TiAN    Br    uRKISH    TA   ACOMANCHE MOHAWK SiouxROMANIAN MACEDONIAMH ESPERANTO ENGLISH FREAH           AGAl0G   CZEC9H EARSi ARABIC SPANISHMANDARIN   CANTONESESE RDU HINDI HEBREWSARAMA行TURKISH TALIAN CHERCLGARIANH FRESPANISHDUTCHENABREW YiDDARAMAC  \n# Introduction\n\nI fell in love for the first time at  \nfour years old.Her name was Shirley and we were both in a pianoclass.She wore burgundy overalls,which I for some reason foundimmensely charming (I seriously doubt if she actually wore theseoveralls every day as if she were a Peanuts character,but that's howshe is preserved in my memory);she had laughing brown eyes anda high-spirited yet intelligent demeanor.I was intoxicated and,as ithappened,we got along quite well.  \nI'm not sure of exactly what kind of trajectory I imagined us tobe on,but whatever it was,it was upward-until one day after a les-son when we went outside to join our respective parents.Watchingher joyously greet her family,I was shocked to hear that as soon asshe started talking to them,I couldn't understand what they weresaying!This was the first time in my life that I had ever known thatthere were languages other than English,and it remains the pro-foundest shock I have ever encountered in my entire life.Theywere clearly communicating,just as I was with my mother,but Icouldn't understand what they were saying!  \nFor me,this was not only shocking but heartbreaking,becauseI felt that Shirley's newly revealed ability cut her off from me,thatshe had gone somewhere I couldn't go.“What are they doing,Mom?”I asked frantically.“They're speaking another language,Jughead!\"she answered(\"Jughead”was a pet name).“What do youmean?Where did they learn how to do that?”I persisted.Momwent over and asked Shirley's relatives politely,“Excuse me,whatlanguage are you speaking?”\"We are speaking Hebrew,\"intonedone of them.Mom came back to me and said,\"They're speaking  \nHebrew.”“But why don't we speak Hebrew,Mom?”She answered,“Because we're notJewish.Can we go home now?”And so we did.  \nBut on the way home in the car,I was so frustrated that I criedlike the child that I was-partly because I felt that this revelationhad lost me the girl of my dreams and partly because I wasabsolutely dazzled by the idea that there were ways of speaking thatI could not understand,that there were ther ways to talk,that aperson could be able to talk in two ways,and that I had beendenied that ability by not being,well,Jewish (that's as far as I couldunderstand it at this point).  \nAs it happened,a Hebrew school met in the late afternoons inthe building where I went to school,and I became so obsessed withmy language deficit that I left a note on the blackboard for therabbi(as directed by my teacher)asking him how I,too,couldlearn Hebrew.He left me a flyer with the Hebrew alphabet on it(actually,for some reason,the alphabet as used for Yiddish),whichwas a princely thing to do considering that he could have justignored my missive entirely.With this flyer and a cute Hebrew-language children's picture dictionary that Mom du","cbCaitywB6vgpbt0","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitywB6vgpbt0","pdf",15119315,4,1,159,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Childhood encounter with language difference\n## Hebrew school and early learning materials\n## Expanding into multiple foreign languages","[{\"question\":\"What event triggers the narrator’s fascination with foreign languages?\",\"answer\":\"At four years old, the narrator realizes that Shirley’s family is speaking something other than English, which the narrator cannot understand.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the narrator start learning Hebrew?\",\"answer\":\"The narrator becomes obsessed with the “language deficit” and leaves a note to the rabbi, who provides a flyer with the Hebrew alphabet and learning support materials.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the narrator expand beyond Hebrew into other languages?\",\"answer\":\"The narrator uses a dictionary appendix with word translations into several languages and later teaches himself languages as a hobby, eventually pursuing linguistics professionally.\"}]",1783318879,245,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":85,"head_meta":87,"extra_data":89,"updated_unix":28},"the-power-of-babel","",{"@graph":36,"@context":84},[37,52,67],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,47,50],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":48,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":49},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":51,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-power-of-babel/41124/",{"url":51,"name":13,"@type":53,"author":54,"headline":13,"publisher":56,"fileFormat":59,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":60,"datePublished":61,"encodingFormat":59,"isAccessibleForFree":62,"interactionStatistic":63},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":55},"Person",{"url":41,"name":57,"@type":58},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-16","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":64,"interactionType":65,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":66},"ViewAction",{"@type":68,"mainEntity":69},"FAQPage",[70,76,80],{"name":71,"@type":72,"acceptedAnswer":73},"What 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