aaleks wrote:Some of then maybe but many seem rather self-proud, if I may call it like that, in other words they are full of themselves. It might something to do with the status of English - it's a prestigious language.
I'm still pondering over why English is so prestigious. Someone will probably come along and school me - if you're going to do that, be kind, though
To me, English is just the language I use to communicate. It's isolated words. Sometimes it's word chunks. I listen carefully to the sounds I make now that I've started learning other languages. Sometimes my language is ugly. All those schwas can really get you down. But it flows and is natural. It grows as you grow. I suppose it's like a person. If we treat all people as equal in terms of their characteristics - not all evil, not all good, but rather the same amount of each with the same capacity for each - then languages are neither good nor bad, they just exist and are warped by the people that use them to become weapons. But since they're like people, they have uncanny ways of fighting back.
My language is an imperfect way of expressing my thoughts. Sometimes I use it wrong. I pronounce things weird according to standard. I wrangle words into things they "shouldn't" be. Everyone should have that opportunity, no matter where they come from.
And my language should be judged on how well it carries ideas, not that it has so many in it. (Thousands of research papers, good films.) Any other language could do that, and they do - in all different ways, orders, and forms. Mine is just one way. It's not the only way. And that's why I'm so curious about others' ways, even though they're all dying to know mine. I'm greedy to be fully expressive. I think they should be too. That means not losing their own way, or giving credence to just one.
