［Issue74］The most effective way to communicate an idea or value to large groups of people is through the use of images, not language.
［参考范本］I strongly agree with the author on the claim that image generally serves to be a better means of communication than language， and this is no exception when the audience is a large group. Though everyday we speak one or several languages to express ourselves， the Achilles heel of language makes it incompetent1 in certain critical case.
That Achillesheel is misinterpretation， a characteristic of language，particularly conspicuous2 when it comes to multi-language situations. Among countless3 misunderstandings in this way ever since people begin to speak， one heartbreaking tragedy can effectively support this claim. The story begins with one American boy who fell in love with a Japanese girl， but neither expressed their feeling for each other at that moment. One day when the boy was to leave the girl for a period of time，he left her a note with the word shine on it. The word shine，initially indicating her shining beauty as the boy later said，shocked the Japanese girl when she see it， and so despaired at the note that she committed suicide three days later. The reason， later discovered，is that the girl with poor English interpreted the word as shi-ne，which is go hell or die in Japanese. In the case nobody can deny the crime of language，since the young girl would not have perished were it not for this grievous misinterpretation. Therefore we see the harmful， in this case fatal， consequence that may be brought about by the Achilles heel of language.
Not only for inpidual. When it comes to the communication to a large group， as especially indicated in the statement， misinterpretation can be equally disastrous4. As a result of globalization， groups of complex constitution are common nowadays. For example，in corporations we can often see people from different nations or cultural backgrounds working together. Therefore misinterpretation becomes inevitable5 when an idea is expressed in the form of language. For people of different native language， translation is necessary yet possibly deviant， sometimes erroneous. Even for those of the same native language， misinterpretation is still possible in that they may have distinct interpretations6 of the same word according to their childhood， when their cultural background instilled7 them with such distinct explanation to their subconscious8. The more the people，the more perse the translation. In this sense， language is hardly capable of carrying ideas or values with no distortion. Thus， especially to large groups，language cannot be recognized as an effective means to communicate.
Now it is time to pay attention to the more favorable method， that is， the use of image. Referring to the love tragedy written above， I believe the result joyful9 if the boy had drawn10 a red heart， the universally acknowledge sign of love， on the note instead of the shine， or shi-ne. As a matter of fact， the differences between cultural backgrounds are irresistible11， yet image is little restricted by such differences and better accepted by the world. Another compelling example is the universally applied12 skull which stands for poisonous. It does not matter if a child know nothing about the English on a chemical-containing bottle， as he/she will learn precisely13 that the bottle is filled with poison the moment he/she sees the skull. Comparing with language， image is advantageous14 in this manner. Moreover， with the development of technology， televisions are already widely used for communication. The use of image is promoted by this use itself， as television is one modern form of organizing image. Hence image becomes more influential15 and fathomable16 universally comparing with language， by which image is proven to be more effective.
In conclusion， I believe image is better than language when communicating to a largesgroupsas misinterpretation of image occurs much rarely. It is advisable for all of us to frequently use image insgroupsto express our ideas explicitly17.
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