Why English?

By

Gordon Richiusa

     In today’s world, English (a language spawned on a tiny island from a conglomerate of conqueror’s languages, including German, Swedish, Spanish, Latin, Greek, French and others) is fast becoming the Language of the World, due primarily to one thing: The relationship of technology to natural language development dynamics. This process and the value of studying it, can be seen specifically in the proliferation of personal computers, and the fact that personal computing and the Internet itself were born in the United States.

     If you think about it, the language of the Internet and social network sites (even the many acronyms used in email and texting) are based in English and give us a quick and clear picture of how this particular language has developed. In other words, English is becoming the Language of the World because it is the language of the Internet, but it is also the language Of The People, based partly on the concept that the ability to communicate freely is one of our most sacred rights as human beings.

     U.S. citizen, Jhoon Rhee, listed as one of the 203 greatest immigrants in United States history, alongside such legendary figures as Albert Einstein, writes in his autobiographical/philosophy book TRUTOPIA that most of his own 21 Miraculous Achievements are directly or indirectly related to his desire to proficiently speak, read and write English. He points out that his desire to learn English and the freedoms offered by living in the United States are at the core of most of the great inventions and discoveries of the 20^th Century. Rhee's personal, miraculous achievements are no exception.

     The free communications website, Vision-Revision (originally written for Apple Corporation to launch the new Macintosh computers) and Jhoon Rhee’s book, Trutopia have in common the fact that they were both written in English. They both also acknowledge the responsibility of all systems, strategies and pursuits (leaders, teachers and inventors, or speakers in languages other than English), to work toward the unifying concept of human communication, one of the Universal Principles that have been called by many names, but which we call, The Five Principles of Everything.

     To illustrate the broad applicability of these five principles and their relationship to larger concepts such as comunication, we offer this specific advice to ESL students: Do yourself a favor and read, write and speak English as much as possible. When you are with family and friends from your homelands, try to encourage everyone to speak in the language you are attempting to master. If you only think about English while you are in an English class, you will not have the opportunity to move forward to fluency of thought with the language. Make friends with those whose language you are trying to learn. There is no better way to learn the subtleties of a language, then by observing and imitating the nuances of those who speak that language as their first language, in a relaxed environment.

To those who are native English speakers we have this advice: Consider how lucky you are to have been blessed with learning English as your first language! There are indeed many freedoms and blessings of living in the United States. Speaking English is just one that most of our forbearers (from a multitude of cultures and origins) knew the value of achieving. Many immigrants in the past (and most today) know that the first order of family business when migrating to the U.S. is to assimilate the language of English. Every skill can be improved, however. The best way for you to master the English language is to help others learn to speak, read and write the language by your own example. The better you are at these skills, the better you will be able to teach them. The better you teach what you know, the better you will learn. In other words, for your own sake, tutor others to improve your English.

     My grandparents, and my wife’s grandparents were Italian immigrants and, like many others from the Old Country, did not allow their children to speak Italian. This is true of many of the older generations of immigrant Americans. However, many of my generation feel that something was lost in the translation. We must be careful not turn our back on those values that produced a successful assimilation! Discipline, respect for others (especially elders) and the belief that the good of the “family” was greater than the good of the individual, are all pointed to as things that we may have lost (or are in danger of losing) by focusing solely on our base, individual survival needs.

     I am told that when someone knows many languages, a point comes where they no longer think in any one of them.  The eventuality is that the multi-language speaker thinks in a symbolic, Human Language. I am sorry that is not the case with me, personally. I am a terrible student of other languages, even though I have lived in Mexico, and have visited countries where other languages are spoken, my great weakness is that I am unable to follow my own good advice. As an English teacher I have the self-defeating bad habit of trying to translate every thought into English before any other language comes out of my mouth. This is exactly the wrong thing to do, and I therefore am a horrible Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese and Italian language student. Luckily for me, English is both my original and my target language.

     The process by which Modern U.S. English language dialects develop is a bottom-up process, rather than a top-down one. In times of old, language (and particularly the writing of it) was the prevue of the elite, upper castes. Priests and those who tried to raise themselves upon the ordinary often did so by virtue of the fact they could read and write. Even today there is an “official” language (and dialect) for many countries. The measure of an individual’s status is often measured by the choice and phrasing of their words. In England, royalty and highborn commoners alike, prefer what is known as: The King or Queen’s English. In the U.S. however, it is not uncommon for one native born, English speaking individual to say to another from a different geographic location (but still within the United States), “You talk funny,” or ask, “Where’d you get that accent?” Today, we see this “bottom-up” creation more clearly, because technology allows us to experience the results of our language development processes more quickly. The influence of a common usage (slang or acronym for instance) can become “official” much more easily.

Remember, Jhoon Rhee’s originally wrote his book and promoted it in English (his second language), in the United States (his adopted country). He later translated his inspirational text back into his first language, but conceived his entire book in English, where he created the following Trutopian Pledge: When I am truthful, my heart is beautiful. When my heart is beautiful, people love me. When people love me, I am happy.

     From this pledge (as well as where and how it was conceived) we can infer certain conclusions, not the least of which is that words, especially well conceived U.S. English words, are powerful. Jhoon Rhee knows this and he knows that his story also illustrates how creativity and honest introspection are our most important tools for success in any endeavor.  The message is two-sided. While, there is no better place in the world to pursue creativity and personal freedom, than the U.S., it is not enough to just use ones words skillfully. Words must be used to express truth, and being truthful means much more than tricking others into believing your words. By extension, self-deception, believing that “the means always justify the ends,” is by far the worst sin one can commit.  In education, it follows that the pursuit of truth is our ultimate objective. Saying we can pursue truth implies that it is possible to pursue deception.  Just as assuming the existence of beauty implies the potential for an interpretation of ugliness, we make the judgment that the pursuit of unhappiness is not a worthy one.

     In my first novel, the mystery and suspense turns on the interpretation and English translation of the word, Shidoshi. It is a story that relies on an innate interest in language and how it molds our perceptions. The conflicts are intended to be universally human, as the story makes clear that every language is developed within the same dynamics. Humans around the world have the same basic needs, desires, strengths and weaknesses. Shidoshi is a book about how the original Japanese meaning of a word becomes the fuel for the misguided pursuit to misdirect, to control and limit others, through disinformation and misinformation.

     More importantly, I wrote the novel to illustrate what can go wrong when The Five Principles of Everything are not adhered to in the development of a Life Strategy. In other words, in the end, we must be careful not to be dazzled by words. Just because something is written or said aloud in a clever way, doesn’t make what’s being said or written true.

Truth must always be simply measured and recognized by common folk as well as the erudite and elite, by how well it conforms to and promotes the common good (beauty and happiness). To answer the original question, “Why English?” we need look no further than the innovative technologies and ideologies that have been created in an atmosphere founded on improving our social interactions, within the framework of being honest with ourselves.  The ultimate choice to use English for my novels, or this website are based in a knowledge of my own, personal weakness as well as my love of the language of English.  Jhoon Rhee’s reasons for using English for his book are different, but the answer we both give to the question, “Why English?” is the same as we would give to the question, “Why learn anything?” The answer in both cases is: Learning in any language, within the framework of raising the bar for the whole human race, is its own reward.

A pdf of this article is available in the files of this Wiki. Why English.pdf