Friday, February 12, 2016

Stephen Fry on English Vocabulary.

Interesting article on English vocabulary. Do you agree?
http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2010/06/counting_words

I will keep the final comment:
"We could go on in this vein for quite a while, but that will do for now. If I had to give a short answer to the question "does English have the biggest vocabulary?," I'd say "Who cares?" English is a rich and beautiful language, not least because England has been conquered by Vikings and Normans, and has happily been open to foreign influence through its history. We know more of its wonderful rare words because English has been written for over a thousand years, and its many dialects are well described. That's good enough for me.  We shouldn't need it to have the biggest vocabulary—which can't be defined in any sensible way—to enjoy it."

1 comment:

Silvia Montufo Urquízar said...

I totally agree. We cannot learn ALL words anyway!