The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Is English vulgar?

If you go back 20 years, some Britons do admit that, because the only real language of elegance is French. Since the end of the 17th century, French has replaced Latin as the language of Western international diplomacy, and the upper class in Europe is proud to speak French.

There was even a time when Russian noblemen over the age of 18 were not eligible to marry if they could not speak French. In the novels of Russian writers such as Turgenev, a little French is mixed in from time to time, just like a few English words when Chinese people speak.

But the situation is different now. When the Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1918, neither US President Wilson nor British Prime Minister Lloyd George knew French. They insisted on using the text of the treaty in English, which has since been used in diplomatic documents with equal authority to French.

French is not as highly regarded as it once was, after France suffered heavy losses during World War I due to the expansion of American and British power. Although some pretentious British nobles still use French to show their existence, most nobles agree with their own country's language from the bottom of their hearts.

Prince Albert was very unhappy, with a gloomy face and did not speak.

Originally, Earl Spencer had already gone far away. Hearing Zhou Hexuan's argument, he immediately ran back with his wife. He wanted to see how Zhou Hexuan would make a fool of himself.

"Why do I say English is a vulgar language?"

Zhou Hexuan didn't seem to see the angry eyes around him, and smiled, "Because English vocabulary is too chaotic and lacks systematic development and evolution. For the time being, we divide English into three periods: Old English, Middle English, and Modern English."

"The real Old English should be called Celtic, which was invented by the Celts on the British Isles. The Old English I'm going to say now is Anglo-Saxon to be precise, in the 5th century AD, Anglo The peoples, Saxons, and Jutes invaded Great Britain, and the dialects of the three Germanic tribes merged into Old English."

"By the end of the 6th century AD, priests brought Christianity to England, so a large number of new religious words appeared in Old English. By the 9th century, Britain was invaded by the Scandinavians again. These Vikings brought a large number of Scandinavian vocabulary."

"The beginning of Middle English stems from the Norman Conquest. The Duke of Normandy brought a large number of French words. Among the English you speak today, one-third of the words come from French. At that time, French was an aristocratic language in Britain."

"Modern English began during the Renaissance, when a large number of Greek and Latin words were incorporated into English, and Britain's global colonization also brought countless new words."

"Why do you say that French is elegant, but English is vulgar? In fact, early French was also vulgar, until Prime Minister Richelieu established the French Academy, hired hundreds of top linguists, and spent 55 years compiling French dictionaries after two generations of hard work. After systematically sorting out and standardizing various ancient Greek and Latin vocabulary, jargon terms, folk slang, and local dialects, and formulating detailed grammatical rules, French has become the most standardized, clear, and accurate language. "

"However, the source of English is more complicated than that of French, but this kind of standardization has not been carried out until now. From a linguistic point of view, English must be vulgar, and sometimes even ambiguous, so it is not suitable as a formal legal text. If French is likened to a high-achieving student who graduated from the University of London and has received systematic education, then English is like a grocer's apprentice who has become a monk halfway through."

These words left many nobles speechless, and even Earl Spencer, who was going to see Zhou Hexuan make a fool of himself, didn't know how to refute.

Zhou Hexuan is a scholar, and what a scholar says is well-founded, unless you can refute it with more professional words.

Prince Albert suppressed his anger and said, "However, although English... English is not as systematic as French, it does not hinder... daily learning and usage."

"On the contrary," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "in English, sheep is sheep, but mutton is mutton. From the analysis of writing and pronunciation, there is no connection between the two. When foreigners learn English, they will encounter such a situation. Confused, and especially difficult to remember. An Englishman with no social experience may not even know that mutton is meat from a sheep because of the irrelevance of words. There are many such examples, such as chicken and eggs, For example, pigs and pork. Why did this happen? It is very simple, because sheep are raised by lowly farmers, but mutton is eaten by noble nobles. At that time, the common people spoke English, and the nobles spoke French, and the two languages ​​were completely different. As a result, the English vocabulary is divided. There are also words such as 'amateur', 'surgery', 'director', etc., which do not conform to the pronunciation and spelling rules of English at all, because these are all French vocabulary. English, really is an extremely Bad language."

Earl Spencer became more and more unhappy, and suddenly interrupted: "No matter how bad English is, it is ten thousand times better than Chinese. I have heard people speak Chinese, and it is like a primitive man talking. I heard that your Chinese characters, They are still using square pictographs, which have been eliminated by the West for thousands of years, and cannot be typed with modern typewriters.”

Zhou Hexuan didn't answer directly, because before the Chinese input method of computer was invented, he had no way to refute the other party. Zhou Hexuan evaded the truth and asked with a smile: "Mr. Earl, can you speak Chinese?"

"No." Earl Spencer answered sharply.

Zhou Hexuan asked again: "Excuse me, can you write Chinese characters?"

"No." Earl Spencer continued to shake his head.

"Then you are still talking shit!" Zhou Hexuan sneered.

Earl Spencer said angrily: "Mr. Zhou, please don't curse people, and answer my question directly."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "I have a deep understanding of English, so I dare to say that English is bad. And you know nothing about Chinese and Chinese characters, what qualifications do you have to make such a judgment? It's like a farmer laughing at a blacksmith, What's the use of saying that you have made iron? Iron can't be used to fill your stomach. You can question Chinese characters and Chinese, but please learn to speak Chinese and learn to write Chinese characters first."

"I..." Earl Spencer thought for a long time, and said illogically, "Could it be that I ate a meal in a restaurant, and I can't say that the chef's cooking tasted bad?"

Zhou Hexuan retorted: "Did you really eat it? You just glanced at the dishes. I can speak French, English, German, Russian, Japanese and other languages. How much do you know? What qualifications do you have to discuss language with me?" The problem? You are just a little earl, your title and wealth are no different to me from the garbage in the hands of beggars on the roadside!"

Contempt, undisguised contempt for a nobleman, but Zhou Hexuan has such qualifications.

Not only Earl Spencer was angry, but other nobles were also upset. But this is the prince's ball, they can't use their power and status to suppress people, and they can't speak the truth, so they can only hold back and let Zhou Hexuan be arrogant.

People are cheap, as long as you have the capital to be arrogant, the more arrogant you are, the more you will be valued.

Back then, Gu Hongming scolded many foreigners in Europe and America, but the foreigners were happy, just like Shaking M, and each of them sought after Gu Hongming even more.

Right now, there are quite a few nobles who think that Zhou Hexuan has the ability and temper, which is the character that a top scholar should have. They gathered around one after another, showing their aristocratic demeanor, instead of blaming Zhou Hexuan for his rudeness, they took the initiative to chat with Zhou Hexuan.

The future King Albert of England obviously broke out with his M attribute. He waited for a long time beside Zhou Hexuan and said, "Mr. Zhou, can I... can I talk to you alone? After the ball, I hope... I hope you can Stay... stay."

Vivien Li was worried that Zhou Hexuan would cause public anger, but the situation changed so quickly that she couldn't understand it at all. She stood there with a bewildered expression, and looked at Zhou Hexuan with only fanatical admiration.