Pictorial Language Fever

Pictorial language is the new black. It is all around us. You must
somehow have seen the yellow face smiling, or smirking, or crying.
When you text your friend in the morning, asking what they are
doing, they may simply reply you with a tiny coffee cup icon, and we
will know they are having their morning coffee.
There is an old saying, A picture is worth a thousand words.
Replacing some words with some adorable icons does really
rejuvenate our daily life, at least making the conversation less
boring that it should have been. Imagine when you are working
alone at the office, struggling with stacks of paperwork, suddenly,
your friend send you a flexed biceps emoji, and the productivity
doubled instantly. Pictorial language is used by millions of people a
day, in form of emojis, digital pictures and so. It really made our
days. People are obsessed for a reason, or maybe reasons.
Pictorial language keeps us engaged. There are thousands of
emojis with different meanings, and there are more for us to
download. We will never get enough, as every tiny icon gives us no
sense of dj vu. You may say, I know all the meanings of the
emojis, I have mastered it! However, I am making a statement that
you havent mastered it yet, as a series of emojis has its own
meaning. Now people have started to compose the whole message
by emojis, and ergo texting has become a game, instead of pure
communication.
Pictorial language can also act as a universal language which
facilitates the communication between races and nationalities.
Sometimes different regional language has its limitation. Yet, with
pictorial language, people having different mother tongue can now
communicate, as a part of this globalizing world, eliminating the
language barrier. Although the cultural background and public norm
can cause divergent interpretation towards emojis, the first
impression of human being is more or less the same. For example,
Africans and Americans will both feel jovial towards the smiley face.
A rose has its thorns, so does pictorial language. Nevertheless, it
does a great job assisting us in communication, yet it can be
exasperating when handled improperly.
Pictorial language can lead to diverse views towards the same
issue. Many cartoonists imply ironic meaning in their artwork,
satirizing politicians or celebrities. However, people with different
age group may get contrasting pictures, due to the variance of
family background or lucidly generation gap. In this way, the
cartoonist may fail in expressing his opinion thoroughly and
perspicuously via his comic strip.
Pictorial language also concomitantly creates hindrance in
language learning at infancy and adolescence. These two stages are
the period at which human learns the fastest. The expanding trend
of emojis may dwindle the intension and desire for them to learn a
language, and to put what they learnt into practice by daily usage.
They being uncertain of the spelling of a vocabulary, a relating
emoji may be used to replace that term, instead of looking up a
dictionary and spelling it. In this way, they will never remember the
spelling of the word, in their mind there will only be emojis.

Pictorial language has been in vogue, and seems that it will

linger. At the age of technology, there is a strong urge for us to
adapt to the ever-changing and fast-moving world. And I believe
once the new inventions are used in a fair manner, it will do us
immeasurable good.
Adrian Hung Lok 5CS 10
10th December, 14