“Whether language is a medium for thought or just for communication, its importance in our lives cannot be understated.” Gary Marcus, The birth of the mind.
My plan, as plans went, when I first came from Mexico to the United States of America, was to learn English well, to become fluent, then move to Canada to learn French. I wanted to speak three languages. Oh my, how things change!
In the last twenty or so years I have spent here, I have changed my mind about languages and I have been able to narrow the scope of my pursuit. The aim now is to speak and to write as effectively as I can in only one language.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t try. Once I became fluent in English, and since I had fallen in love with someone and leaving the US was not an option, I decided to take a French class at San Diego City College. I thought I had a gift for languages and taking that class proved me wrong. A couple of months later my brain was so confused as to what I was doing that I started to pronounce English like French, began to forget my Spanish, and I commenced to speak a few words in French… with an out-of-this-world accent.
It was FUN!
“No soy de aqui, ni soy de alla…Je ne sais quoi”
As I understand it, our ability to learn, use, and master a language is a gift of immeasurable proportions. What makes us human beings unique in the known universe is that ability along with the complexity of the languages we have mustered.
I didn’t know there were as many theories about how the ability for language may have developed among humans. To name a few: the language from gesture theory, the theory that it arose from the neural machinery that evolved to control our muscles, the theory that it came about as an accidental consequence of having bigger brains, the theory that language is en extension of our capacity for representing space, and my favorite, the theory that language evolved for the purpose of gossip.
Research suggests that, unlike previously thought, our ability for language depends on several areas of our brains, not just the Broca’s or Wernick’s areas. In order to use language we also rely in our capacities for hearing and seeing which engage those other areas of the brain. We also need our short term memory and our long term memory. I find it to be a fascinating subject which makes stronger my commitment to use language effectively.
I believe that a language is part of our heritage, a gift from our ancestors, and I take seriously the responsibility that comes with being given such a gift. Hence the reason it upsets me to no end to see a language bastardized, becoming polluted particularly by laziness or lack of interest in learning it better. When, for example, we write “b4” instead of “before”. When we misuse a word like “love” when we mean “like intensely.” When we stay with our limited vocabulary when there are thousands of words ready for us to use.
I know that languages evolve and I am quite fine with all that. Yet I think that the evolution of a language should be driven by the idea of making it more effective while maintaining a pristine beauty.
A couple of days ago, I was particularly irritated when I saw someone had written a message on a board in Spanish using the same “technique” that the internet and newer technologies have made popular—that of using numbers as parts of a word, like in my example above:” b4”. This person wrote “100to,” to mean “siento” “I feel.” Said person basically saved the typing of one character. Now, that is laziness!
Ok, maybe this person was just trying to be “kewl.”
I am sure I have failed or stumbled a few times while writing this blog. I am certain that some linguist or English major could read this and barrage me with the many mistakes I have made in trying to make my point; and I hope that person sees in me the drive, the desire, the commitment to learning and to making my use of the English language better, to improve upon what I know. I also hope such person will point out to me the ways in which I have erred because I learn more from my mistakes than I have ever learned by getting things right.
There are two statements I make often when I am around people:
“Your ability to use language precisely and effectively is at the core of who you are as a human being” and “I would rather fail while attempting to do something than being known as someone who doesn’t try.”
My plan, as plans went, when I first came from Mexico to the United States of America, was to learn English well, to become fluent, then move to Canada to learn French. I wanted to speak three languages. Oh my, how things change!
In the last twenty or so years I have spent here, I have changed my mind about languages and I have been able to narrow the scope of my pursuit. The aim now is to speak and to write as effectively as I can in only one language.
That doesn’t mean I didn’t try. Once I became fluent in English, and since I had fallen in love with someone and leaving the US was not an option, I decided to take a French class at San Diego City College. I thought I had a gift for languages and taking that class proved me wrong. A couple of months later my brain was so confused as to what I was doing that I started to pronounce English like French, began to forget my Spanish, and I commenced to speak a few words in French… with an out-of-this-world accent.
It was FUN!
“No soy de aqui, ni soy de alla…Je ne sais quoi”
As I understand it, our ability to learn, use, and master a language is a gift of immeasurable proportions. What makes us human beings unique in the known universe is that ability along with the complexity of the languages we have mustered.
I didn’t know there were as many theories about how the ability for language may have developed among humans. To name a few: the language from gesture theory, the theory that it arose from the neural machinery that evolved to control our muscles, the theory that it came about as an accidental consequence of having bigger brains, the theory that language is en extension of our capacity for representing space, and my favorite, the theory that language evolved for the purpose of gossip.
Research suggests that, unlike previously thought, our ability for language depends on several areas of our brains, not just the Broca’s or Wernick’s areas. In order to use language we also rely in our capacities for hearing and seeing which engage those other areas of the brain. We also need our short term memory and our long term memory. I find it to be a fascinating subject which makes stronger my commitment to use language effectively.
I believe that a language is part of our heritage, a gift from our ancestors, and I take seriously the responsibility that comes with being given such a gift. Hence the reason it upsets me to no end to see a language bastardized, becoming polluted particularly by laziness or lack of interest in learning it better. When, for example, we write “b4” instead of “before”. When we misuse a word like “love” when we mean “like intensely.” When we stay with our limited vocabulary when there are thousands of words ready for us to use.
I know that languages evolve and I am quite fine with all that. Yet I think that the evolution of a language should be driven by the idea of making it more effective while maintaining a pristine beauty.
A couple of days ago, I was particularly irritated when I saw someone had written a message on a board in Spanish using the same “technique” that the internet and newer technologies have made popular—that of using numbers as parts of a word, like in my example above:” b4”. This person wrote “100to,” to mean “siento” “I feel.” Said person basically saved the typing of one character. Now, that is laziness!
Ok, maybe this person was just trying to be “kewl.”
I am sure I have failed or stumbled a few times while writing this blog. I am certain that some linguist or English major could read this and barrage me with the many mistakes I have made in trying to make my point; and I hope that person sees in me the drive, the desire, the commitment to learning and to making my use of the English language better, to improve upon what I know. I also hope such person will point out to me the ways in which I have erred because I learn more from my mistakes than I have ever learned by getting things right.
There are two statements I make often when I am around people:
“Your ability to use language precisely and effectively is at the core of who you are as a human being” and “I would rather fail while attempting to do something than being known as someone who doesn’t try.”
