If we go back 20 years, some British people do admit that the only truly elegant language is French. Since the end of the 17th century, French has replaced Latin as the language of Western international diplomacy, and the upper classes in Europe are proud to speak French.
There was even a time when Russian aristocrats over the age of 18 were not eligible to get married if they could not speak French. The novels of Russian writers such as Turgenev would mix in a little French from time to time, making it look like Chinese people jumping around when talking.
Several English words are the same.
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 English text of the peace treaty. From then on, English began to be used for diplomatic documents and had the same validity as French.
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Due to the expansion of the power of the United States and Britain, France suffered heavy losses during World War I. French is no longer as respected as it used to be. Although some pretentious British aristocrats still use French to show their presence, most aristocrats
They all identify with the language of their own country.
Prince Albert was very unhappy and said nothing with a gloomy face.
Earl Spencer had already gone far away, but when he heard Zhou Hexuan's remarks, 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 seemed not to notice the angry eyes around him, and smiled: "Because the vocabulary of English is too confusing and lacks systematic development and evolution. For the time being, we can divide English into three periods: Old English, Middle English and Modern English."
"The real Old English should be called Celtic. It was invented by the Celts on the British Isles. The Old English I want to talk about now is Anglo-Saxon to be precise. In the 5th century AD, Anglo-Saxon
The 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 Britain, and a large number of new religious words appeared in Old English. By the 9th century, Britain was invaded by the Scandinavians. These Vikings brought a large number of Scandinavian people.
Scandinavian Vocabulary.”
"The beginning of Middle English stems from the Conquest of Normandy. The Duke of Normandy brought a large number of French words. One-third of the English words you speak today 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 integrated into English, and Britain's global colonization also brought countless new words."
"Why is French said to be elegant while English is vulgar? In fact, early French was also very vulgar until Prime Minister Richelieu established the French Academy and hired hundreds of top linguists. After two generations of hard work, it took 55 years to compile a French dictionary.
, systematically organized and deleted various ancient Greek and Latin vocabulary, jargon terms, folk slang, and local dialects, and formulated detailed rules. Only then did French become the most standardized, clearest, and most accurate language.
.”
"However, the sources of English are more complicated than French, but no such standardization has been carried out until now. From a linguistic point of view, English must be vulgar and even sometimes ambiguous, so it is not suitable as a formal legal text.
If French is compared to a top student who graduated from the University of London and received a systematic education, then English is like a grocer's apprentice who became a monk halfway."
These words left many nobles speechless. Even Earl Spencer, who was prepared to see Zhou Hexuan make a fool of himself, had no idea 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 put away his anger and said: "However, although English... English is not as systematic as French, it does not... hinder daily learning and use."
"On the contrary," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "in English, sheep is sheep, but mutton is mutton. From the perspective of writing and pronunciation, there is no connection between the two. When foreigners learn English, they will encounter this situation very
It is confusing and particularly difficult to remember. A British person with no social experience may not even know that mutton is meat slaughtered from sheep because of the irrelevant vocabulary. There are many such examples, such as chickens and eggs.
For example, pigs and pork. Why does this happen? It's very simple, because sheep are raised by lowly farmers, but mutton is eaten by noble nobles. At that time, civilians spoke English and nobles spoke French. The languages of the two were completely different.
This has caused the division of English vocabulary. There are also words such as 'amateur', 'surgery', and 'director', which are completely inconsistent with the pronunciation and spelling rules of English, because these are all French vocabulary. English is really a very
Bad language.”
Earl Spencer became more and more unhappy as he listened, 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 primitive people speaking. I heard that your Chinese characters,
They are still using square hieroglyphs, which have been eliminated in the West for thousands of years and cannot be typed using modern typewriters.”
Zhou Hexuan did not answer directly, because before the Chinese input method for computers was invented, he had no way to refute the other party. Zhou Hexuan avoided the truth and asked with a smile: "Mr. Earl, can you speak Chinese?"
"No." Earl Spencer replied neatly.
Zhou Hexuan asked again: "Can you write Chinese characters?"
"No." Earl Spencer continued to shake his head.
"Then you're still talking nonsense!" Zhou Hexuan sneered.
Earl Spencer said angrily: "Mr. Zhou, please don't curse and answer my questions head-on."
Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "I have an in-depth understanding of English, so I dare to assert that English is bad. But you know nothing about Chinese and Chinese characters, how qualified are you to make such an assertion? Just like a farmer laughing at a blacksmith,
What's the point of making iron? Iron can't be used to fill your stomach. You can question Chinese characters and Chinese language, but please learn to speak Chinese and write Chinese characters first."
"I..." Earl Spencer thought for a long time and said something illogically, "Can't I say that the chef's cooking tastes bad after I ate food from a restaurant?"
Zhou Hexuan retorted: "Did you really eat it? You just took a look at the dishes. I can speak French, English, German, Russian, Japanese and other languages. How many do you know? What qualifications do you have to discuss language with me?
The problem? You are just a little earl. To me, your title and wealth are no different than the garbage in the hands of beggars on the roadside!"
Contempt, unabashed contempt for a nobleman, but Zhou Hexuan has such qualifications.
Not only Earl Spencer was angry, but other nobles were also unhappy. But this was the prince's ball, and they couldn't use their power and position to pressure others, and they couldn't reason with each other, so they could only hold back and let Zhou Hexuan be arrogant.
People are just cheap. As long as you have the ability to be arrogant, the more arrogant you are, the more people will take you seriously.
At that time, Gu Hongming scolded many foreigners in Europe and the United States, but the foreigners were happy, just like shaking their heads, and they pursued Gu Hongming more and more.
At present, there are many nobles who think that Zhou Hexuan has the ability and temper, which is the character that a top scholar should have. They gathered around him one after another, showing their noble demeanor. Not only did they not blame Zhou Hexuan for his rudeness, but they took the initiative to talk to Zhou Hexuan.
stand up.
The future King of England, Albert, clearly showed off his M-ness. He waited beside Zhou Hexuan for a long time and said: "Mr. Zhou, can I...can I communicate with you alone? After the dance, I hope...I hope you can
Stay...stay."
Vivien Leigh was originally worried that Zhou Hexuan would cause public anger, but the situation changed so quickly that she could no longer understand it at all. She stood there with a confused look on her face, looking at Zhou Hexuan with nothing but fanatical admiration.
