Language is important for communication.

That sounds like a self-evident statement that isn't worth saying, but if you dig deeper into what language is, and how it works, and the implications of unclear language, the importance of the sentiment only increases.

For example, it blew my mind when I thought about this:

Language connects our brains.

When you read this blog post and voice the words 'out loud' in your internal head-voice, your brain is following the exact same process that mine did when I wrote this. Reading a book is actually reading the authors mind!

But here's the tricky bit: words mean different things to you and me.

They elicit different emotions.

They connect with different things.

So when you read the phrase "Language connects our brains" your understanding is different to mine because the concepts of "language", "connection" and "brain" are different to my concepts.

Stating that communication is important is probably another self-evident statement that perhaps doesn't need to be outlined. But here's an intersection between communication and language that seems to continually trip us up: Expectations.

Mismatched expectations end relationships. And relationships are foundational to all we do as humans on this planet.

It turns out that the way to communicate our expectations and match them up to someone else's, it to talk about it. For this to work well, I need to understand what you mean, and vice versa.

So, please don't forget: language is important for communication.