In the poem Wichita Vortex Sutra, Allen Ginsberg says

"O but how many in their solitude weep aloud like me. On the bridge over the Republican River almost in tears to know how to speak the right language, on the frosty broad road uphill between highway embankments, I search for the language that is also yours, almost all our language has been taxed by war. Radio antennae high tension wires ranging from Junction City across the plains, highway cloverleaf sunk in a vast meadow, lanes curving past Abilene to Denver filled with old heroes of love, to Wichita where McClure's mind burst into animal beauty drunk, getting laid in a car in a neon misted street 15 years ago, to Independence where the old man's still alive who loosed the bomb that's slaved all human consciousness and made the body universe a place of fear."

The part I'm concerned with is where he says "almost all language has been taxed by war", what do you think he meant by that? Do you think that language has really been formed mainly around war and politics of war? If so do you think you can maybe give me some reference to how you know this, it doesn't seem to far fetched to me, considering humans by nature probably have been at war since we've developed linguistics. I understand this was an anti-war song protesting the Vietnam war, and how the politicians were using words to hide the casualties of the war, and how Ginsberg used this poem to reclaim literature in a way for peaceful purposes. Just wondering if all language is really taxed in a way by war.

Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors.

In the poem Wichita Vortex Sutra, Allen Ginsberg says

"O but how many in their solitude weep aloud like me. On the bridge over the Republican River almost in tears to know how to speak the right language, on the frosty broad road uphill between highway embankments, I search for the language that is also yours, almost all our language has been taxed by war. Radio antennae high tension wires ranging from Junction City across the plains, highway cloverleaf sunk in a vast meadow, lanes curving past Abilene to Denver filled with old heroes of love, to Wichita where McClure's mind burst into animal beauty drunk, getting laid in a car in a neon misted street 15 years ago, to Independence where the old man's still alive who loosed the bomb that's slaved all human consciousness and made the body universe a place of fear."

The part I'm concerned with is where he says "almost all language has been taxed by war", what do you think he meant by that? Do you think that language has really been formed mainly around war and politics of war? If so do you think you can maybe give me some reference to how you know this, it doesn't seem to far fetched to me, considering humans by nature probably have been at war since we've developed linguistics. I understand this was an anti-war song protesting the Vietnam war, and how the politicians were using words to hide the casualties of the war, and how Ginsberg used this poem to reclaim literature in a way for peaceful purposes. Just wondering if all language is really taxed in a way by war.

Sorry for any grammar or spelling errors.

Me and my wife are from New Orleans and plan to move back in a couple of years. I am starting Pre-Med this fall and want to start learning other languages. New Orleans has a large Vietnamese community, so my goal is to learn Vietnamese down the road because most people that speak a second language in the United States speak either Spanish or French. I want to be different.
None of the colleges I am prospecting teaches Vietnamese, but one of them offers Japanese and Chinese (Manderin).
Personally I am more interested in Japanese, as I am infatuated by their culture and would love to at visit Japan a few times.
But if my ultimate goal is Vietnamese, would either language help me more with Vietnamese? Maybe one is more similar in linguistics, word roots, or characters.
And if anyone happens to have any tips it would be helpful. I have wanted to at least pick up a second language for a while, but my goal is to also look good to a Medical School and/or Hospital.

I'm a linguistics major, and I can speak Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Vietnamese, French, and of course English fluently, but I don't know what field of work I should get into after college. Any suggestions for jobs for someone like me?

Me and my wife are from New Orleans and plan to move back in a couple of years. I am starting Pre-Med this fall and want to start learning other languages. New Orleans has a large Vietnamese community, so my goal is to learn Vietnamese down the road because most people that speak a second language in the United States speak either Spanish or French. I want to be different.
None of the colleges I am prospecting teaches Vietnamese, but one of them offers Japanese and Chinese (Manderin).
Personally I am more interested in Japanese, as I am infatuated by their culture and would love to at visit Japan a few times.
But if my ultimate goal is Vietnamese, would either language help me more with Vietnamese? Maybe one is more similar in linguistics, word roots, or characters.
And if anyone happens to have any tips it would be helpful. I have wanted to at least pick up a second language for a while, but my goal is to also look good to a Medical School and/or Hospital.