Can One Language Be Considered Better Than Another?
TOK Language essay
11. Can one language be considered “better” than another?
Outline.
Areas to talk about
Culture
- Language you grew up with or the language that your parents speak is probably the most important to you and takes privilege over other languages
Personal beliefs and interpretations
- You decide by yourself whether or not you think a language is better than another
History
- Through history English has become a worldwide language, this doesn’t necessarily make it a better language, but it does have a higher status than other languages
Personal examples
- My first language is Dutch this is the most important language to, although I do believe that English in some ways is the better language it’s a much more controversial
language and I also speak it fluently so I can express myself
Some basic ideas
Show the different points of view, how can it be better and why can’t it be better than another language.
Every language is unique in its own way. With language its really hard to say that one is better than the other, because it’s a matter of opinion, although some language can be favored over another. Take English for example, its one of the world most known languages and considered very important. History helps us explain why people consider languages better than others. Every culture considers their language better than another and this is understandable, this is what they grew up with and it is most important to them. Me for example have always that its important to speak Dutch at home since that’s the language I grew up with, its also the language where I can best express myself so I think its better than English just because I have a better understanding of Dutch.
So languages in some ways can be considered more important than others, because they are more worldwide. But I think through culture and personal beliefs a language can be ‘better’ than another to that individual. It depends greatly on how the person feels about the language, if you can express yourself better in French than in English than probably French is considered better to you.
11. Can one language be considered “better” than another?
Outline.
Areas to talk about
Culture
- Language you grew up with or the language that your parents speak is probably the most important to you and takes privilege over other languages
Personal beliefs and interpretations
- You decide by yourself whether or not you think a language is better than another
History
- Through history English has become a worldwide language, this doesn’t necessarily make it a better language, but it does have a higher status than other languages
Personal examples
- My first language is Dutch this is the most important language to, although I do believe that English in some ways is the better language it’s a much more controversial
language and I also speak it fluently so I can express myself
Some basic ideas
Show the different points of view, how can it be better and why can’t it be better than another language.
Every language is unique in its own way. With language its really hard to say that one is better than the other, because it’s a matter of opinion, although some language can be favored over another. Take English for example, its one of the world most known languages and considered very important. History helps us explain why people consider languages better than others. Every culture considers their language better than another and this is understandable, this is what they grew up with and it is most important to them. Me for example have always that its important to speak Dutch at home since that’s the language I grew up with, its also the language where I can best express myself so I think its better than English just because I have a better understanding of Dutch.
So languages in some ways can be considered more important than others, because they are more worldwide. But I think through culture and personal beliefs a language can be ‘better’ than another to that individual. It depends greatly on how the person feels about the language, if you can express yourself better in French than in English than probably French is considered better to you.