Ah, Bill Bryson- it's always a pleasure to read your work. Intelligent, funny, gently informative- a rare combination. Mother Tongue details the colourful evolution of the English language, or should I say this continued evolution...
Although published 21 years ago now, there are still many aspects of it that are relevant. However, there are many words around these days- chav, etc- that I daresay might not have been understood in the early nineties. Bryson explores how terms like this enter public consciousness to such a degree that there comes a time when you can't remember them NOT being there! At the moment, I am transcripting my grandad's life story from tapes that he recorded in the early 90's, and he often uses terms that are not in use today, such as 'the pictures' for the cinema. Who knows what the English language will be like towards the end of the 21st century? My grandchildren will probably be using words and terms that I don't understand...probably mostly related to imminent technology that I couldn't imagine in my wildest dreams.
Bryson explores all aspects of English, from the origin of names, swear-words, different dialects between and within countries, and of course, of the language itself. The present-day prevalence of English is misleading- it is more of a recent language, and more of a conglomorate of other langauges, than you might first assume. He even manages to make the explanation of grammar (a word that makes any English student shudder- or is that just me?) fun for the reader. The different dialects between and within countries was obviously one of the more interesting parts for me, having lived in Australia for a year and acquiring a Canadian boyfriend. It's crazy how people who speak the same language cannot understand each other; Patrick and I must have at least one linguistic misunderstanding every few weeks. Of course, I know of a few North-Americanisms from watching American films and comedies, but I honestly had no idea that words such as 'gutted', 'jumper', 'zebra crossing' and the greeting 'are you alright?' were so distinctly British. I knew that sweets were 'candy' in North America, but who knew they were 'lollies' in Australia? One of Britain's greatest assets- and frustrations for outsiders, probably- is our vast array of accents. 'Dinner' and 'lunch' mean one and the same in the North and South of England respectively; the former is the South's evening meal, which is called 'tea' in much of the North. Confused? Me too! But I LOVE the rich diversity of English dialects; it makes our tiny, often unpopular country all the more interesting and three-dimensional.
One thing I have learnt from traveling is the arrogance of the English when it comes to language. We just let other nations speak English rather than try to speak in their language. I have asked in travellers what they think of this; they just shrugged and said English was the 'travelling language'. They were probably being polite, but this context made reading Mother Tongue all the more fascinating for me. Why is English the language that everybody speaks? If it was not the main language of the USA- a huge global presence both politically and in the media- would everybody still feel the need to learn English? A tentative debate, especially among (the few) patriotic Brits. The reason the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand speak English is because of British colonisation, but ironically, I think the English language would have found it more difficult to survive without these nations. Our reliance on fellow English speakers was really brought home to us in China, where often nobody spoke English; we couldn't even find an English-speaking policeman in Beijing after the tea-scam incident. The Chinese characters meant that we couldn't even GUESS road-signs or shop names...thank god for train times being shown in regular numbers at train stations, or we'd never have gotten anywhere. I'm ashamed to say that this was the only country in which we used our Lonely Planet phrasebook everyday. In other Asian countries, learning 'hello', 'thank-you' and 'goodbye' was enough; their proficiency in English allowed us to be lazy. After the experience in China, I've definitely learnt that we should NEVER just 'assume'' that people will understand us...there's no reason why the majority of Chinese (people involved in business aside) should learn English. If they want to, that's fantastic, but by no means should it be expected of them for our benefit.
I apologise for mostly rabbiting on about my own experiences with English instead of the book, although this is by no means a reflection of the book's quality; Bryson's enthusiastic writing just accentuated my passion for language. His love for English is truly infectious, and he has half-inspired, half-put me off teaching English as a foreign language! It is a daunting, exciting prospect- Mother Tongue makes you realise just how complex English is- but I'm determined to try it at some point. I would love to read an updated version of this book, to see Bryson's opinion of the future of English right now. My prediction? After traveling Asia and managing to speak English pretty much everywhere (apart from China), I believe that tourism and the media will ensure the survival of English for a good few years to come. Saying that, I also hope that the English-speaking world will wake up out of their language laziness and start learning other languages too...this can only enhance empathy, understanding and friendships between nations.
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