Why Do English Words Seem So "Disordered"? It's Because English is a "Global Fusion" Restaurant!
Have you ever felt that memorizing English words is an especially painful task?
One moment you're learning simple, direct words like house and man, the next it's seemingly "advanced" terms like government and army, not to mention those "oddball" words with completely irregular spelling and pronunciation. We often assume that English, as an "international language," should be "pure" and consistent, so why does learning it feel like a hodgepodge?
That's precisely where the problem lies. We have a huge misconception about English.
In reality, English isn't a "pure" language at all. It's more like an all-encompassing "global fusion" restaurant.
Initially, It Was Just a Humble Local Tavern
Imagine this "English restaurant" when it first opened its doors: it was merely a Germanic tavern serving local home-style dishes. The menu was very simple, consisting of fundamental native words like man (person), house, drink, and eat. These words form the core, most basic part of English.
Even back then, this tavern had already started "borrowing" from its neighbors. The powerful "Roman Empire" restaurant next door introduced more fashionable items, and soon the menu included "imports" like wine and cheese.
The "French Master Chef" Who Changed Everything
What truly transformed this restaurant was a "management takeover." Approximately 1000 years ago, a highly skilled "French master chef" with exquisite taste, along with his formidable team, grandly took over the tavern. This was the historically famous "Norman Conquest."
The new managers were French-speaking nobles who looked down on the original "rustic" local dishes. Consequently, the entire restaurant menu was completely rewritten.
Almost all high-level vocabulary related to law (justice, court), government (government, parliament), military (army, battle), and art (dance, music) was replaced with ornate French terms.
The most interesting phenomenon occurred:
Animals raised by farmers in the field still went by their original old words: cow, pig, sheep.
But once these animals were prepared as delicacies and served at noble tables, their names immediately "upgraded" to fashionable French terms: beef, pork, mutton.
From then on, the restaurant's menu became multi-layered, offering basic dishes for commoners and sophisticated ones for nobles. Vocabulary from both languages stewed together in one pot for centuries.
Today's "Global Fusion" Menu
After thousands of years of development, this restaurant continuously introduced new ingredients and dishes from "kitchens" around the world. Statistics show that today, over 60% of English vocabulary consists of "foreign dishes" (borrowed terms), while truly "homegrown" native words have become the minority.
This isn't a "flaw" of English; on the contrary, it's precisely its greatest strength. It is this all-embracing "fusion" characteristic that has made its vocabulary immensely vast, its expressive power incredibly rich, and ultimately allowed it to become a global language.
Change Your Perspective, Make Learning English Fun
So, next time you find yourself frustrated with memorizing words, try a different approach.
Don't treat English words as a pile of disorganized symbols to be rote memorized. Instead, view it as a "global fusion" menu and try to discover the "origin story" behind each word.
When you encounter a new word, take a guess:
- Is this word from the humble "Germanic kitchen" or the ornate "French culinary arts"?
- 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 that a vibrant and fascinating history is hidden between seemingly unrelated words. Learning ceases to be dry memorization and becomes an enjoyable adventure.
In the past, linguistic fusion took centuries, often even requiring wars and conquests. Today, each of us can easily connect with the world and create our own intellectual fusion.
With tools like Intent, you no longer need to wait for historical shifts. Its built-in AI translation feature enables real-time conversations with anyone from any corner of the world, instantly breaking down language barriers. It's like having a personal translator, empowering you to freely initiate any cross-cultural exchange.
The essence of language is connection, whether in the past or present.