Asimov's "Intelligence" does not touch on language once. The purpose of this selection was to open the eyes of the reader to the view of intelligence in the world. Our world has always viewed intelligence as the wealth of knowledge of academic things. Our society does not hold people with, lets call it "street smart", as those of high intelligence. Asimov wanted to point out that just because someone can score high on an academic exam does not indicate that they are intelligent people. Through personal experience I have found this to be quite a true statement, as many of my friends, while able to score remarkably on exams, could not do such simple things as changing motor oil. This is a prevalent observation throughout all of the world.
I failed to see where Asimov's "Intelligence" discussed language as a topic.
Something interesting that Sedaris observed about language was that "Understanding doesn't mean that you can suddenly speak the language"(295). What this states is that just because one studies and learns how to speak and translate a language does not mean they understand all the colloquialisms and subtle phrases that come with speaking the language daily. I myself took Russian in high school and at Binghamton, and only through speaking it daily with native speaking friends did I become fluent in the language. Sedaris points this out very well.
While Asimov did not discuss language, Asimov and Sedaris both made the point that simply learning is not enough. Real world experience is necessary to gain a greater understanding of anything.
Did you read this part? "Actually, though, don't such scores simply mean that I am very good at answering the type of academic questions that are considered worthy of answers by people who make up the intelligence tests - people with intellectual bents similar to mine? " Sounds like language to me. Wasn't the joke in Asimov a joke because of language?
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