Mexico is a metaphor. It was a metaphor for Traven and Kerouac and is a metaphor for me. Mexico makes me a whole person. In the same way, I have met many Mexicans that feel the same about the U.S.
There are those that claim the metaphor makes English the powerful language that it is. The metaphor allows us to relate ideas, concepts and abstractions to other ideas, concepts and abstraction. This opens up an infinite array of learning possibilities as we can relate the new to what we already know. This is an integral part of learning and cognition. And life…
I have also met a number of Mexicans that have learned English as their second language. Many of these folks claim learning English has made them smarter and more intelligent. That is probably true of learning any new language as it increases the learning and reserve capacity of the brain. The learning process apparently creates new links between neurons or brain cells creating new networks…a process we only are beginning to understand. It may be a century or two before we humans actually understand what is going on in our heads…
Others feel it is the very rich vocabulary that makes English such a powerful language. Estimates range from 500,000 to several million vocabulary words. Whatever figure you pick it is still a very high number. And of course as language evolves that number goes up.
Then, there are those that firmly believe that English is superior to other languages because of its rapid evolution over the past 1,000 years. With many overly sensitive groups this concept is a no-no and too ethnocentric and prejudiced. They don’t care if in fact it may be true and they don’t even want to listen to the reasons why. I know these morally superior folks will not like this, but hey, they don’t like a lot of things and as such have become as narrow-minded as the ultra conservatives I knew as a young boy. Extremists are consistently extreme…ha!
Rather than ignore what might not be popular though true, I think it is better we all know as opposed to not knowing. It makes no sense to go back to the Dark Ages. At least as I see it. So why don’t I just give you the basics and you can decide for yourself, unless of course you are one of those that don’t want to hear things that are not solidly within your current belief system or comfort zone.
We know that when we translate from English to Spanish we get about 20-25% more words. Many translators actually charge a ‘language differential.’ That is a fact I can confirm as I have gone through the ‘agony’ of translating from one language to the other. Languages don’t evolve with translators’ needs in mind and in many places languages just don’t match up.
We especially see that with some of the more complex tenses such as the conditional and subjunctive.
Around 1000 A.D. the clans or tribes in England stopped fighting each other and began to interact. The upward march of civilization. Consequently, there were a number of ‘languages’ spoken and naturally began to combine with each other. Part of this process was the creation of short-cuts or shorter ways to say the same thing. The theory was that humans naturally tend to go the easier and shorter route whenever possible, when we aren’t fighting each other.
By 1500 A.D. or so the basic process was complete and the new language evolved. Shakespeare’s language. It was rich in vocabulary but also filled with short cuts and ways to express complex expressions simply.
If you listen to any conversation in English you will hear a wide variety of tenses that we take for granted. But if you analyze these tenses and expressions, you will find they are anything but simple. Unlike some languages, English speakers use complex tenses in basic conversation. What does that say about English?
There you have it. The reason English and not Chinese or Russian is the official international language.
This simplistic explanation does not do the subject justice. There are some very strong arguments supporting this concept but I can honestly say having read then I am not completely convinced, though I also have to admit it does appear it could be true.
But I’m no expert and it’s best you decide for yourself, if you are one of those folks with a free and inquiring mind. If not, you are going to believe what you want no matter what.
I’ve always felt it is better for humans to know than not know but that is also your decision to make. I can’t decide for you. You have to decide if the short cuts allowing English speakers to say more with less is true or not. That might be really hard if you are a monolingual English speaker since you have a limited perspective.
Or perhaps also if you are
