"Translations" opened at The Rep on Friday, and I was fortunate enough to be in the audience. The play was written by one of Ireland's greatest living playwrights, Brian Friel, and is set in Ireland during the 1830s.

Experiencing the play, I certainly learned a thing or two about Irish history, and let me tell you, it was not all fun. There were some tough times in ole' Ireland back in the day. So here's to all my Irish friends for being survivors! Which brings up the topic of drinking. It certainly appeared to be one of the major pastimes as evidenced in the play, and was portrayed as part of the culture. With a life as dismal as all that, you may as well drink. But still, there was a sense of celebration, of ritual, of reverence.

One of the main characters in the play, George, is an Englishman who finds himself in a new country that he is fascinated and attracted to, but feels alienated by the fact that he cannot understand the language and converse readily with the people. But he hangs in there, persists in trying to get his point across and finds that there is more than one way to communicate.

The English are coming. What's in a name? Why does it matter what language you use, what words you choose to describe a thing? The thing remains the same no matter what you call it, does it not? But does the thing itself even really matter? Or is what is important our interpretation of the thing? Our interpretations are manifested in language. Language is embedded with cultural interpretations. What happens when a whole language is lost? What if you refuse to use words at all? And what if the words that one man wrote down are echoed on, generation after generation after generation?

I guess this play raises a lot of questions. Like:

What happens when we all start singing the "Star Spangled Banner" in Spanish?

What happens if we just let people sing it in whatever language they feel like?

What happens if I only speak English in my house, even though I am able to speak Spanish? What of my son's heritage becomes lost?

I remember my grandparents speaking in German when they didn't want everyone to understand what they were saying. I understand very little German. What, besides language, have I lost?