Ask a Hungarian if he finds his language beautiful and he will laugh, telling you not to ask dumb questions. Ask an Italian to explain why he thinks that Italian is the most beautiful language and he will lecture you on the matter, hands waving proudly. You'll find the same with the Swedes and the Spaniards, the Basques... Something about their languages, their connections with them. A full-hearted understanding, a deep love for them. Ask an American if he thinks that English is beautiful...I'll just stop right there. Has it ever happened? Has there ever been a mechanic or housewife in this country who has considered English as something to be admired? Something beautiful? Is English beautiful?
Do you think that English is beautiful? How might the Basic Writer answer this question? I would expect some students to say that they find British English beautiful, or Scottish or Australian English maybe. But ours? Probably not. What does English lack? What do its speakers lack?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I never thought of that! Interesting point. I know that I love all words. I love that words can be manipulated to encourage different meanings (the basis of the that's what she said joke). I love that words can convey tone and connotations that certain words bring with them. All that aside, I think I am an exception from the masses. I'm not entirely sure what we're lacking in, aside from an amazing accent. I hate to write this, but I think language is undervalued here. I'll put it this way-when I told my extended family that I was going to become an English major, they were appalled. They didn't understand why I would do something I'm "not ever going to make money in".
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting to me too. I never asked this question. Well, only once I thought English could be beautiful when Isaiah and others read their poems last semester.
ReplyDeleteI think every language is beautiful phonetically and visually. I have studied three languages excluding Korean. Each of them, Japanese, Burmese, and English, has their own beauty. However, English has been the least beautiful language probably because this one has much more to do with my job, the reality. I don't know. For some reasons, English is rather practical and political than beautiful to me.
Ironically, I did not ask this question for my first language until I got to know more about it. I mean I could see the beauty of the language as I studied its system to teach it. I could not see this by just using the language for practical reasons.
And I would receive the same concerns or comments if I say that I would study Korean. "You will stay hungry!"
This holds true for any teachers in my country, I think. Many people say that I am not realistic only because I want to teach at school. They say the only nice thing is job stability.