notes for a eulogy of English
... B OR GES was a bad writer, it was too baroque, too affected, and, despite himself, was pedantic ...
He himself considered a bad writer and, no doubt, was right.
note in his work, can not fail to be noticed, as I read the poor man ... That is a serious flaw ... But I'm not going to wear today, to discuss their creations ...
The other day, leafing through a Monterroso, an author fairly medium. He spoke briefly, but commendable, the Argentine.
What came to surprise me was that Monterroso said that for him (as for many other Latin American authors of his generation), Jorge Luis Borges had restored confidence in the possibilities of English and then extended by telling that language "so tight, so concise, so elegant ..." Borges - "through his travels around the English and German" - remade.
But I never doubted the greatness of English, and I have no qualms whatsoever in asserting the superiority and grace of my language.
... Is English?, What I can say in English?, is a language I do not like. I remember as a child, I objected strenuously to learn, years have passed and I managed to stay triumphantly ignorant of English.
... Is German?, German I think something worse: it is ... too guttural ...
ever felt a desire to learn Arabic, as is known, had and still maintains a significant presence in English.
.... In any case, back to what this: I have never doubted the greatness my language, that people do not know about is something else.
Based on the foregoing, we, the American-born Hispanic, who were more stringent and we should be careful about it, as we are exposed to contamination from common English. (And being as we are now, who dictate the rules of language.)
Do not get me wrong, linguistic loans forzozamente not bad, sometimes even (I grant) is required, more is a serious mistake to use any foreign word (whether it comes from English or other language) the equivalent existing in Castilian. (Aside from being the worst taste and custom of ignorant generally believed to be sophisticated, taking possession of phrases and turns of others ...)
I finally leave the following quote on English:
"I speak English with my dog \u200b\u200bin German to my horse, my soldiers Dutch, Italian men and women in French, but English, English is to talk to God. "
C ARLOS I OF PAIN V E OF GERMANY * A
__________ * Born in Ghent, Flanders (now Belgium), the future Charles I of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor, on arriving at the possessions he inherited from his grandfather Fernando de Aragon, better known as Ferdinand the Catholic, with his large Flemish guard if he could speak only English ... Was to learn later.
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