The Joy of Language

So, I’ve recently been watching a whole lot of interviews with the one and only Stephen Fry. Not sure how the YouTube algorithm got the idea to serve these videos up in my suggestion but hey, I’ll take it! One of the things that has always amazed me about him is just his exquisite an consummate command of the English language. As someone who has dabbled in a bit of writing and blogging, this mastery of language is something that I have always aspired to reach but, let’s face it, will likely be beyond my grasp, especially since I’m not a native English speaker. 

It got me thinking though, which is never a good thing. When I was in school, a massive effort was put into ensuring that things like grammar, syntax and the other systemic aspects of language were drilled into me and my fellow students nearly non-stop, whether that was in my native German or later in English. This make sense of course, a language forms a certain framework and you need to get that framework up before you can worry about making it look good. However, the aesthetic aspects of language were never touched upon in the classes I took. It was always just the mechanics, followed later by that most useless aspects of language education: Interpretation. This aspect of my German classes was always the most tedious to me, especially since the syllabus and reading list would invariably include works that could charitably be described as unwieldy, intractable, standoffish, not to mention completely lacking any sense of style or elegance. Granted, it’s hard to get teenagers to be interested in anything that doesn’t involve alcohol, fun, the opposite sex, or other similar matters, but seriously, some of the books I was forced to read in school were nearly enough to put even an avid bookworm like me off reading for good. And even now, twenty years later, looking back from a hopefully much more mature perspective, I still don’t understand why some of them were included, apart from maybe some need to celebrate a certain sense of literary superiority.

I personally find this more than a little depressing. Language is the one thing that binds all humans together. We all speak it or communicate with it in some form or another and it forms perhaps the greatest cohesive force in human history. If anything, it should be celebrated, cherished and nurtured, rather than being reduced to the bare mechanics and rules of it. Even in school, people should be exposed to the richness, wonder and wit that is inherent and unique to each and every language spoken on this planet. In retrospect, I’ve been lucky insofar as that I was not only raised bilingual from age 12 onwards, but also grew up in a home where both the spoken and written word were cherished. Neither of my parents ever graduated from school, but they both shared a deep love for reading and for debate, my dad in particular, and managed to kindle that same passion in me. Now granted, unlike Stephen Fry, I wasn’t exposed to the flowery and vivacious wit of Oscar Wilde or the great British poets like Tennyson. The “classics” for me consisted mostly of the likes of Heinlein, Asimov and most of all Arthur C. Clarke. Yet, whilst certain literary “critics”, a term which makes me shudder at the sheer pretentiousness associated with it, may turn up their noses at these “mere” science fiction writers, even they, Clarke in particular, displayed an elegance and clarity in his writing that I find lacking in most contemporary books. It was their books that I immersed myself into after school, their writings which kept my own love of reading and writing alive over those years in school, a love that would eventually see me launch my blogs.

Yet this joy of language, this joy of writing, of speaking, seems to be disappearing more and more. I fully understand that certain situations and environments require clear and concise communication, especially in the workplace. However, we as a society seem to be willingly curtailing ourselves and our linguistic abilities more and more. Being well-spoken and articulate is increasingly seen as a detriment, rather than being a positive, let alone admirable trait. Careful articulation is seen as hesitation, whilst the use of figures of speech, metaphors or indeed any form of linguistic ornamentation is seen as a dead giveaway for a spoofer or a conman. And woe betide anyone who dares to weave scientific terms or phrases from other languages into their own works. I mean, people like that can’t be trusted, n’est-ce pas?

In my eyes, this trend towards ever more simplified and concise language is not just sad to witness, but indeed presents a real danger to us as a society. One of the great success stories of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the introduction of compulsory primary education in most countries, later followed by a widespread adoption of secondary education. It was the increase in literacy that flowed from this that fuelled the increased political participation that would become a hallmark for most western societies in the post-WW-1 era, from universal suffrage to the implementation of social security networks in many civilised countries. In many ways, this increased literacy has helped to hold leaders at all levels to account to a much higher degree than was the case in the past. Politicians who once would have been able to hand wave away their failings with some flowery phrases more often than not found this tactic to be utterly useless in the face of an increasingly well-read electorate, whilst citizens, activists and community leaders were able to express and enunciate their own ideas, concerns and grievances in such a lucid and empathetic manner that over times, their demands became impossible to ignore. 

All of this progress is put at risk when we turn our backs to the artistic aspects of literacy. By turning away from the creative power inherent in each and every language on this planet, by ignoring the enormous aesthetic potential inherent in reading and writing, by condemning any sense of ornamentation, flourish or creativity, we do not only impoverish our own minds, we run the very real risk of sabotaging the progress we have made since the beginning of the 20th century. When we abdicate our linguistic skills, castrate our language to the pure mechanical aspects, we cede the field to those elements who seek to turn back the wheel of time and progress and who wish to revert society to a state where only a select few were even able to comprehend the language of our rulers. And make no mistake, such efforts are in full swing, one must only take a cursory look at the composition of many parliaments in the western world to see evidence of this.

Yet, it is not all doom and gloom, and I certainly don’t want to end this blog post on such a dark note. For unlike in many other fields, fighting back against this trend does not require you to organise, march, or liberally covers social media with long but ultimately unoriginal combinations of expletives and four letter words, though you are of course welcome to do all three. Instead, all it takes is for you to pick up a book and start reading. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Beckett or Baldacci, Wilde or Weir, whether it’s Hunger Games, Harry Potter, the Three Body Problem, or whatever else catches your fancy. Unlike what some would make you believe, it doesn’t even matter how you read it. Hardback, paperback, audiobook, ebook on your phone, tablet or an e-reader, whatever works for you is fine. The important thing is that you read, immerse yourself in whatever world that book is leading you to, that you enjoy and savour the style, the finesse that the author has infused their work with, and that you keep reading.

That’s it. That’s all there is to it. With this one simple action, you’ve started pushing back against the increasing stylistic deforestation of our language, against the dumbing down of public dialogue and for the preservation of the progress we’ve made in the past century.

Welcome to the resistance, recruit!