Language unfamiliarity creates a silence that enables new perception

Evidence

There is a kind of isolation being in a place where you do not know the language. Words do not interrupt your vision. Silence allows you to see differently. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again, 26

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s earlier work on silence in ‘One Square Inch of Silence’ — the productive silence of not knowing a language parallels the positive-presence-of-silence thesis. — connects to: Needs lacking adequate language may cease to be felt — Nina Eliasoph, “Close to home”: The work of avoiding…, 148
• SEED: Angle: ‘The translator’s refuge’ — how deliberate linguistic exile functions as a kind of perceptual clearing for writers crossing cultures.