Uses of Language

At the Hoover Institution website is an article about George Orwell, his use of language, and why the preservation and use of the English language is important. The article is titled "Orwell's Instructive Errors" and was written by Liam Julian.

The article discusses what Orwell had to say in his essays about the use of language and also how Orwell himself used language in some of his writings. One of the essays referred to is "Politics and the English Language".

These two pieces are of interest for political reasons, but also for the use of both readers and writers.

I don't agree with everything Liam Julian said. For example, in the following paragraph he seems to think right-wing extremists are the same as conservatives, which is assuredly not true.

It is, certainly, not only denizens of the left who theorize and euphemize their way out of inconvenient situations. The staunchest apologists for the worst elements of British Empire were conservatives, and now, as in Orwell’s time, it is conservatives who lean most heavily on theory to explain away indigence and squalor as inevitable in a free society and thereby rid themselves of responsibility to alleviate the burdens of the impoverished. Certainly America’s foremost racists are found on the right, and they have all sorts of theories. And yet such justifications — whether of racism, imperialism, neglect of the poor, or even creationism — currently have but parochial appeal. The left is in power now, and so it is that today’s most influential and worrisome euphemizing comes from the left.

Regarding racism in particular, it is people like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and, yes, Barack and Michelle Obama who keep racism most alive in America. They are not found on the right in America. Nonetheless, the article has some interesting things to say about the uses of language.

A Break from Politics--Theology and Languages

Time for a break from politics. I find politics very interesting and believe that it is important for us to keep up with current events and participate as citizens in the political process. On the other hand, I have other interests and want to write about those sometimes.

Take theology. I am curious about it. What is it that people do when they "do theology"? I have been searching around the internet for some basic information about it. In a sense, it seems almost like math, where you use proofs to present/defend a point/doctrine. Is that what it is?

In my searches for information and instruction, it seems that the websites I find are directed toward "doing theology" for a specific religion. So what if that religion is not mine and I do not believe some of the same things in quite the same way? I can't use some of the "givens" that they use. What do I do then?

I do not have any ambition of doing a lot of theology, so perhaps it is enough to just read about it and learn what the different types are and what their purpose is. Still, it is interesting and I would like to know more about the mechanics of it, if only so that I can read theology more intelligently. If any of you out there have any suggestions or links, please feel free to put them in a comment.

How about languages? What languages do you speak? Do you think it is important, as a foundation, to learn Latin? How about Greek and Hebrew? Do you study more than one language at the same time? Does that make it more difficult or is it helpful? I speak English and am interested in reviving my Spanish, which I studied in several classes in grade school, high school, and college, then let whither away. I have books and CDs to study from. In addition, there are more and more native speakers around with whom I could practice. That makes it the most practical language for me to (re)learn. I am interested in Latin and never had the chance to study it. Many of our words come from Latin, so it seems to me that it would be useful in understanding meanings.

Comments?

Popularity of Languages

I was wondering about which languages are spoken most around the world. Which are studied most in learning a second language? I did a little quick research using the trusty Google search engine.

In a 2003 news article, The Minnesota Daily newspaper reports that "More U students opt for less popular languages." Enrollment in classes has increased for Dutch, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Korean, and Latin. They looked at enrollment trends outside the most commonly taught languages, which are English, Spanish, French, and German.

Here's a page from the National Virtual Translation Center which shows charts and graphs of the most used languages on the internet. "...English is the most popular language of the Internet with Chinese in second place. The remaining 8 top languages are all below 10%. Of these, the three Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) account for 36% of Internet users. The six European languages (Spanish, German, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Dutch) account for 28.7% of the total Internet population."

A 2004 news article in The Daily Pennsylvanian (the independent newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania) also talked about the different languages the students are interested in studying, including American Sign Language.

This is just a small sampling of some of the information out there about which languages people are interested in learning. The page about languages used on the internet was a bit of information I hadn't expected to find, but enjoyed reading nonetheless.