I studied Spanish in High School, and even what little college I actually attended. It's always been a fascination of mine, and I've continued my study of the language in my own time. Recently, however, I've had the desire to use it. I've rarely had to speak it, and I always clam up when the potential for conversation arises. I'd love to be confident enough to strike up a conversation with a native speaker. Also a fascination of mine has been Portuguese. The language is similar to Spanish in form, but very different in pronunciation. I've taught myself a handful of Portuguese words and phrases and spent a substantial amount of time learning the ins and outs of the language's quirky phonics. The language has a rich cultural history and the lexicon is a cornucopia of origins. Thirdly, American Sign Language (ASL) is a language I long to be fluent in. I've had a number of friends throughout my life who use ASL frequently and have taught me a lot. What a beautiful thing! To be able to communicate without speech.
I'm not sure where my appreciation for language comes from, but one thing I'm determined not to forget is that English is an amazing language that gets taken for granted by its native speakers. Of course, a language is something that grows and evolves over time, and can even grow into a region-specific dialects. That said, I think it is very important to preserve as much of the language as we can. How often have you seen this sentence: "Wut r u doin?" More and more, I see similar (and sometimes more severe) perversions of the English language. It makes me sad to think that some people don't know the difference between they're and their. I don't believe it's a product of poor education, but it's a result of the growing phenomenon of the way kids communicate with each other: texting, email, blogs, etc. Words have become approximated and their meanings expected to be interpolated. Are we witnessing a degeneration of our language? I'm sure we're all guilty of it. Most of us say "gonna," "wanna," and "k" (instead of okay). But we know that writing those words as we say them is... well, incorrect.
I always say that it must be frustrating to be learning English as a second language because of the examples we choose to elevate in our pop culture. Song titles and lyrics are littered with poor grammar and intentionally misspelled words (guilty!). I believe that there is a place for such "cutsieness" in pop-culture. After all, one of the wonderful things about our language is its flexibility and readiness to adapt. But let's draw the line! Let's take email and texting back! Let's use capitalization and punctuation the way they were intended! English is rich and full of expressivity. Instead of using smilies and various onomatopoeic expressions (like "ugh"), let's use English correctly! Let's use it to its full potential and stop using shortcuts when we write.
I'm not sure where my appreciation for language comes from, but one thing I'm determined not to forget is that English is an amazing language that gets taken for granted by its native speakers. Of course, a language is something that grows and evolves over time, and can even grow into a region-specific dialects. That said, I think it is very important to preserve as much of the language as we can. How often have you seen this sentence: "Wut r u doin?" More and more, I see similar (and sometimes more severe) perversions of the English language. It makes me sad to think that some people don't know the difference between they're and their. I don't believe it's a product of poor education, but it's a result of the growing phenomenon of the way kids communicate with each other: texting, email, blogs, etc. Words have become approximated and their meanings expected to be interpolated. Are we witnessing a degeneration of our language? I'm sure we're all guilty of it. Most of us say "gonna," "wanna," and "k" (instead of okay). But we know that writing those words as we say them is... well, incorrect.
I always say that it must be frustrating to be learning English as a second language because of the examples we choose to elevate in our pop culture. Song titles and lyrics are littered with poor grammar and intentionally misspelled words (guilty!). I believe that there is a place for such "cutsieness" in pop-culture. After all, one of the wonderful things about our language is its flexibility and readiness to adapt. But let's draw the line! Let's take email and texting back! Let's use capitalization and punctuation the way they were intended! English is rich and full of expressivity. Instead of using smilies and various onomatopoeic expressions (like "ugh"), let's use English correctly! Let's use it to its full potential and stop using shortcuts when we write.
1 comment:
The English language is amazing in it's range and nuance. I share your frustration with the frequent abuse of language, especially online. While it's fun for songwriters and authors to play with language, even give it some knowing abuse, it's sad to see the beating it takes. I'm amazed at how often I see "alot" instead of "a lot." That's all over the place. Their/they're mix-ups seem more frequent as well as a total confusion over possessive and plural forms of words. (You can't have "orange's for sale"!) The newest problem seems to be a total recklessness with capitalization. Proper nouns should be capitalized. I've seen too many things written where nouns are randomly capitalized, as are some adjectives here and there.
I was just chatting with a friend about this and I'm sure I sounded like an old codger. It's great to see someone young like you show a love of language. None of us are perfect. My spelling can be terrible at times. But we should all agree that language is a beautiful, important thing.
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