A few days ago, my professor told the class something very interesting: that when she was young, she felt like her first language (Romanian) wasn't the one she was meant to speak. She learned several languages and all felt incomplete to her until she learned English, and then something clicked.
As a literature professor, she said that it makes sense that English would be the right fit for her since English is made up of many other languages (Anglo-Saxon, Greek, Germanic, Latin, French, etc.). With other languages, such as her first, there is either a limited vocabulary (like with Latin) or a restricted number of ways in which those words can be used (Romanian is a very formal language).
What I mean by the latter is that some languages, like Italian, have a formal and informal way of saying "you," and those words can only be used in certain settings. English may only have the one way of saying "you," however it's not the word itself that is formal or informal, but the way in which you use it. That's what makes the lanauge different, and I think that's one of the reasons why she liked it.
English has a word count that is ever-expanding; it also functions very effectively as a spoken and written language, and it is somewhat easy to understand.
Her declaration was really interesting to me. I don't usually feel any sort of pride in the fact that I speak English, but I've also never felt that something was lacking. So I suppose that's a good thing! It made me wonder if I felt I was supposed to speak another language. I'd say the answer is no. I've always liked British slang, but obviously that's not different language.
(Picture from Flickr)
