Why Do English Words Seem So 'Chaotic'? Turns Out It's a Global Culinary Melting Pot
Do you ever find memorising English words particularly painful?
One moment you have simple, straightforward words like house and man, and the next you're faced with seemingly 'advanced' words like government and army, not to mention the countless 'anomalies' with no discernible rules for spelling or pronunciation. We often assume that as an 'international language', English should be 'pure', but why does learning it feel like navigating a complete mishmash?
This is where the misunderstanding lies. We have a huge misconception about English.
In reality, English is far from a 'pure' language. It's more like an all-encompassing, Global Culinary Melting Pot restaurant.
In the Beginning, It Was Just a Humble Local Tavern
Imagine this 'English restaurant' when it first opened: it was just a Germanic tavern serving homely local dishes. The menu was incredibly simple, featuring core, fundamental words like man (人), house (房子), drink (喝), and eat (吃). These words form the very essence and foundation of English.
Even then, this little tavern had already started 'borrowing' from its neighbours. The powerful 'Roman Empire' restaurant next door introduced more fashionable items, so the menu expanded to include 'imports' like wine (葡萄酒) and cheese (奶酪).
The 'French Head Chef' Who Changed Everything
What truly transformed this restaurant was a 'management buyout'.
Around a thousand years ago, a highly skilled 'French Head Chef' with sophisticated taste, along with his team, grandly took over the little tavern. This was the historically significant Norman Conquest.
The new managers were French-speaking nobility, who disdained the rustic local fare. Consequently, the entire restaurant menu was completely overhauled.
All the sophisticated vocabulary related to law (justice, court), government (government, parliament), military (army, battle), and art (dance, music) was almost entirely replaced with ornate French.
Then came the most interesting phenomenon:
The animals farmers reared in the fields still went by their original, older names: cow (牛), pig (猪), sheep (羊).
But once these animals were prepared as culinary delights and served at the noble table, their names immediately 'upgraded' to fashionable French terms: beef (牛肉), pork (猪肉), mutton (羊肉).
From then on, the restaurant's menu became multi-layered, offering basic fare for common folk and gourmet dishes for the nobility. Vocabulary from two languages simmered together in one pot for centuries.
Today's Global Culinary Menu
After thousands of years of development, this restaurant has continuously introduced new ingredients and dishes from 'kitchens' all over the world. Statistics show that today, over 60% of English vocabulary consists of 'foreign imports', with truly 'homegrown' native words becoming the minority.
This isn't a 'defect' of English; on the contrary, it's its greatest strength. It's precisely this all-embracing 'fusion' characteristic that has led to its immensely vast vocabulary and incredibly rich expressive power, ultimately making it a global language.
A New Perspective to Make Learning English Enjoyable
So, next time you're getting a headache from memorising words, why not try a different approach?
Stop seeing English words as a jumble of disordered symbols to be learnt by rote. Instead, view them as an international menu, and try to discover the 'origin story' behind each word.
When you encounter a new word, try to guess:
- Did this word come from the humble 'Germanic kitchen' or the ornate 'French culinary department'?
- Does it sound simple and direct, or does it carry a hint of 'aristocratic flair'?
When you start learning with this 'exploratory' mindset, you'll discover a fascinating history hidden within seemingly unrelated words. Learning will no longer be tedious memorisation, but an exciting adventure.
In the past, linguistic fusion took centuries, sometimes even requiring wars and conquests. Today, each of us can effortlessly connect with the world and create our own fusion of ideas.
With tools like Intent, you no longer need to wait for historical shifts. Its built-in AI translation feature allows you to have real-time conversations with anyone, anywhere in the world, instantly breaking down language barriers. It's like having a personal translator, enabling you to freely embark on any cross-cultural exchange.
The essence of language is connection, both in the past and in the present.