Tricky Language

I have noticed that language has been brought up several times in chapters two and three of Invisible Cities. Marco Polo, at first, doesn't know neither the language spoken by Kublai Kahn nor the languages spoken in the cities he has visited. He tried very hard to learn Kublai Kahn's language but as seen in page 39: 

"... and yet when Polo began to talk about how life must be in those places, day after day, evening after evening, words failed him, and little by little, he went back to relying on gestures, grimaces, glances." (39)

Here is the issue with language. There has always been the idea that spoken dialects like ours can't describe ideas, situations, objects, etc. entirely and with very accurate perspectives. That is why there are so many languages: humans can not settle for one and continue to develop new tongues in order to get a better grasp on the description of things. The use of language depends on perspective; you will never find two people's description of an object the same. This is hinted at in the book when Marco Polo says:

"No one, wise Kublai, knows better than you that the city must never be confused with the words that describe it." (61)

Marco Polo says this because the description he gives and the words he chooses have nothing to do with the object (the city). He described the city of Olivia in one way, and when Kublai Kahn or anyone else travels to that city, they will draw their own conclusions about it and explain it in other ways. 


The perfect description does not exist. It is so hard just to find the words to write this, even harder for a poem or to explain how something works or how a person looks like. Language will always be an illusion; it doesn't exist but it helps us understand the world around us.