What Is English Language?

What is your say on "english" language?

• This question sounds a bit lame. But I am asking in a much deeper sense. Personally I love english. It is a beautiful language. But let us agree that every Indian struggles with his english based on his potential of making blunders. We also struggle with the accent (but I feel indians are more clear in pronounciation). Englishmen however tend to whisper or use a quite lower tone at regular intervals in their speech that makes perception difficult for a non-english speaker. And the biggest obstacle is vocabulary. Despite of sincere reading for hours, every day I come across a tonn of new words and I'm compelled to use a dictionery. Morover not every school in India preapares the students with perfect speech. So I have a few questions that I need a geniune answer to Q1- is there anything as "perfect english"?( I ask this b.coz us/uk/aus have difference of opinions on various concepts regarding english language) Q2- is it ok to judge a person only on his english speaking ability? (esp at interviews and formal events and corporate world) Q3. How can one master his vocabulary and speech ?(international standards) Q4. Is eloquence really important in english? Q5. Is english a language with unnecessary complexities? Q6. English needs to be roted before you can master it. How true or false this statement is? This being said I personally hate english for various reason 1. Idioms (wtf)?? They are so confusing(are they even necesary) 2. Phrases (again there are so many phrases) 3.acronyms Now the bottomline is I would enjoy a Shakespearean play much better if it were in simple english.

• Answer:

  Like every language in wide usage, English has its share of joys and pitfalls. To someone being introduced to English after being exposed to several other languages not even remotely similar, it can be intimidating, particularly pronunciation. The U for example is pronounced differently in 'put' and 'but'.  How annoying!  But introduce 'putt' and the confusion reaches a ridiculous level I have a problem with genders in Hindi, where even a tree or a pencil can be male or female.  How the hell does a new user know what the Hindi masters decided about a table hundreds of years ago?  And what about a remote control or an iPad?  How does anybody decide the gender of these things?  Extremely annoying.  I suspect that all languages have some quirks or the other. With English, the simplicity lies in having fewer characters.  The greatness lies in how easily it accepts words from other languages, like 'khaki' for instance.  Its vocabulary is immense and is the widely used medium for many scientific journals, research papers, and new standards in many innovative fields of work, so it can be a while before a lot of knowledge is passed on to non-English communities.  This is a pain. But it is relatively easy to find translators and translations to English, of any worthy piece of literature from anywhere in the world.  This is a huge benefit.  But unless there are a lot of consumers, very little could result in the other direction.  This denies a lot of non-English consumers access to a great deal of quality material.  Again, annoying. No, I do not agree that every Indian has problems with this language.  Many of us are proficient enough to even think in English, primarily! We're also good enough with it, that we can simply use it to serve our creative expression, our views, our feelings, and what not, to the extent that we're not even conscious of the language and the tools it offers. For example, I know I can intimidate a lot of native English (read monolingual) speakers if I want to.  But I know I am not the average English using Indian - I have a relatively high level of proficiency at my command. Let me tell you what I struggle with - having to dumb down in order to be understood, particularly in the USA, and often on the phone and it's not my accent, it's the unreadiness of the listener to process a sentence formed differently from what they're used to.  Strangely, people in smaller towns in the USA have no problem with this challenge! With British people, no problem anywhere!  In India, same problem - there are dumbasses who know a few words in English and can repeat them like parrots without ever learning how to hold a conversation, but many of them don't even have thought processes good enough to hold a conversation in any language.  Language isn't the only issue here. But what it tells me is that English is so widely spoken and used, that is has various subcultures - none more valid than any other, and none more original than any other.  India today must be the biggest English using nation on the planet, simply because its middle class alone is bigger than the population of the USA! But it is hard to get to a higher standard in English in India for a lot of people, because they're inundated with several other languages! There should be no reason to feel bad about this, as long as we find a way to communicate. - No there is no such thing as perfect English, but the Queen's English is clearest in purpose and usage, has the least ambiguity among all versions. - It is absolutely absurd and stupid to judge someone's ability through that person's English proficiency.  But in a largely English using corporate culture, it can be hard to put someone with suspect proficiency in a position where clear communication may be expected. - Mastery of vocabulary and speech comes from usage, practice and work.  It may be hard to find motivation in environments where one is not challenged to put in the work for this. - Eloquence is sometimes useful, but clarity is way more important. - English does have its share of unnecessary complications! - I'm not sure about how much rote learning is necessary, but it seems to have been ingrained in a lot many of us through this process. Bottom line for me - I absolutely hate Shakespeare, but I also absolutely hate writing that cannot differentiate between 'there' and 'their', or 'your' and 'you're'.  This is just laziness in my view, especially if English is your only bloody language.