To me, English is beautiful. Dutch is my first language. For a long time, it was my only language, and that produced many frustrations as I grew up. Early on, I couldn’t interact with my English friends at the Feast of Tabernacles or watch popular movies without subtitles. Later, it could have prevented me from going to summer camps or from talking to visiting students and ministers. If I hadn’t learned English, I wouldn’t be where I am at right now.
Admittedly, I did not always enjoy learning English. When lists of vocabulary words were hoisted at me in high-school, I dreaded the arduous process of memorizing what all these words meant. Learning lists upon lists of exceptions to rules just frustrated me. I thought: Why can’t English just be consistent? English is not consistent grammatically or phonetically. It doesn’t make sense! But the benefits of learning English outweighed my complaints. It was the only language I was motivated to learn during high school. German and French both had such complex grammar rules—and none of their rules seemed to make sense to me either.
I am very grateful today that I learned English. Not just because I can speak to my English friends or watch English movies or that I could attend summer camps and even Herbert W. Armstrong College. The main reason I am grateful to know English is because I think the English language is beautiful. Let me show you what I mean.
The Author of Language
The first spoken words recorded in the Bible are God’s: “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). Language existed before man, but man was allowed to participate in its development. Adam, for example, was tasked to name the animals (Genesis 2:19). When God spoke to his people—the Israelites—He used Hebrew, the inspired language of the Old Testament.
But Hebrew was not the only language God was actively involved with. At Babel, God actually contrived a variety of languages in order to scatter rebelling mankind to their separate regions across the earth (Genesis 11:9). Finally, however, God will unite all mankind under one language in worship of Him (Zephaniah 3:9). But how does English fit into this story?
When beholding Babel, God said that with one language, man would be able to accomplish anything he set his mind to. Given mankind’s evil intentions, He put an obstacle to their plans by confounding their languages (Genesis 11:6-8). In a 1962 article titled The Biggest News Fulfilling Prophecy, Herbert W. Armstrong wrote: “Up until our modern time, this has slowed technological, inventive, and mechanical development to a standstill, virtually. But, in the past 100 years, modern science has burst forth upon the world. People are now learning one another’s languages. Today I can travel in the various nations of Europe, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia — around the world — and everywhere in hotels, in stores, in airplanes, people understand English.”
Why English?
Think of the impact that English has had on the world we live in. English has become Earth’s lingua franca—opening up international business and trade. It has driven the development of science and technology all over the world, filling the pages of more than half the world’s technical and scientific periodicals. English is also the language of diplomacy, and the language of pop-culture. English accounts for about 60 percent of all internet consumption.
But beyond all those feats, English is the language God used to preach the true gospel to the world (Matthew 24:14). English is the language of Mr. Armstrong’s thundering voice that many would hear over the radio, starting in 1934. English is the language that filled the pages of the Plain Truth magazines that started circulating the same year. This was the beginning of a worldwide work. It required a worldwide language.
God made sure the man He used in this work was thoroughly educated in the use of the English language. When working for the Merchants Trade Journal, Mr. Armstrong learned how to wield the English language effectively. His boss explained to Mr. Armstrong that the reading or hearing vocabulary of any person was much greater than their speaking and writing vocabularies. So Mr. Armstrong set out to develop the ability to learn to use the largest variety of words readily comprehensible by most people when read or heard. On top of that, he developed a distinct and effective style of writing. Armed with the English language, Mr. Armstrong was ready to be used to speak to the world.
What is so special about English? The main reason lies in its unrivaled variety. The Oxford English Dictionary contains some 600,000 words, with estimates for the whole language mounting to over a million. The German dictionary lists 330,000 words, and Le Grand Robert has merely 130,000 French words. English was able to accumulate such a wealth of words by donations from its neighbors. Eighty percent of English words are foreign born. English has words in common with virtually every European language: German, Yiddish, Dutch, Flemish, Danish, Swedish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. It also has borrowings from Arabic, Hindi-Urdu, Bengali, Malay, Chinese, the languages of Java, Australia, Tahiti, Polynesia, West Africa, and the aboriginal languages of Brazil.
The English language is much like the American continent before it was settled by the English speaking peoples: its vast planes lay ready to be explored, and from every mountain side freedom rings. English became the language of liberty. In the book The Story of English, English is called “the language of the many, rather than the few.” English, of course, is not a pure language, but the book continues: “Its genius was, and still is, essentially democratic.” In Churchillian style, one could argue that English is the worst language except for all those other languages that have been tried from time to time. There are many vulgar words in the English language which has allowed English authors to express a multitude of perverse ideas—English certainly isn’t perfect. But English does allow for freedom of expression.
Mastering English
I am by no means a master at English. But English is merciful to the inexperienced. Its simplicity, flexibility and variety allow even a Dutchman the liberty to English. If I don’t know a certain verb, I can just noun it. And because many of the English words are Dutch borrowings, listening and reading the language is quite easy.
Listening to and reading English is the most straightforward way to expand your vocabulary. Lately I have made it a point of asking about words I don’t quite understand if they come up in conversation. It is the verbal equivalent of looking up words in the dictionary; once you bite the bullet of embarrassment, you start to expand your vocabulary quite quickly.
But to really master English, Shakespeare is probably our best teacher. There was a time when many Englishmen didn’t understand the many Latinate words that fill English vernacular today. Latinate words are usually more conceptual, many of them arrived on the English shores with the Norman invasion in 1066. Even int the 16th century—the time of Shakespeare’s birth—they were mostly used by the nobility that had descended from these Normans. Words like sophisticated were only for the sophisticated. But God—having big plans for the English people—saw the need for their education. In an article titled Shakespeare and the British Empire, Mr. Flurry writes: “I believe God had a hand in the life of William Shakespeare for that purpose.”
If we study Shakespeare, we are learning from a man who had a vocabulary twice the size of an educated man today. And moreover, this man used his genius to teach. In Macbeth, for example, he teaches us what the Latinate word incarnadine means:
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.
Incarnadine?! From the context we can learn that this means to color something red. More specifically, it is referring to a bright crimson, or a pinkish-red. Shakespeare uses plain words of Anglo-Saxon origin—red, in this case—as well as the vivid imagery of blood in order to expand the vocabulary of the common Englishman. Shakespeare worked hard to imbue the common man with the language of nobility.
The Tongue of The Wise
“The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright” (Proverbs 15:2). The great liberty that the English language affords us also comes with the responsibility to use it for the right purposes. The Bible explains we have to use our freedom for God’s purposes (1 Peter 2:16). The English language is stained with many curse-words, and within its expansive vocabulary there are many ways to manufacture lies and deceits. Moreover, English is often used to promote the rebellious spirit of today’s age. How vital it is that we learn to control our tongue!
Isaiah 50:4 gives an excellent reason to learn the English language: “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” When the time comes, God can use the vocabulary you have been building to uplift others. We may not yet see the purpose behind the words we are learning, but “in season” God can use them to help those that need it. The larger your vocabulary, the more God will be able to use you.
This article barely scratches the surface of why English is a beautiful language. You will only really start to see it as you start using it. As I have grown in my ability to express myself, English has appeared all the more beautiful. I hope you feel the same way as you find more ways to express your thoughts. A whole continent of words lies before you; it is up to you to take it from sea to shining sea.