Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" Works For Pretty Much Every Other Language Too1/29/2016
George Orwell. Photo via signature-reads.com "If you've been following us on the blog here at Pantera Language Studio, you've probably noticed we're political junkies. Don't ask us why - politics can be a disappointing and often maddening process that no one seems to like. But perhaps our fascination with politics can be tied to our love of languages. After all, politicians everywhere in the world, whether in the east, west, left, or right, are all masters of using their own native languages (and sometimes others as well) to shape public opinion to suit their ends. No one understood this better than George Orwell, widely regarded as one of the greatest political thinkers of the 20th century, who died exactly 56 years ago last week. Political speech is a recurring theme of his, which he depicts with chilling precision in his dystopian novel, 1984. But his most direct attempt at tackling just what can be so frustrating about the way politicians speak can be found in his celebrated essay, "Politics and the English Language". Though the essay is long, it manages to cover a lot of ground - its technical nature has gained it recognition by both political scholars and style guide enthusiasts alike. Orwell begins by examining five sentences at random, picking apart unnecessary elements of these sentences. He gives advice to writers and speakers, some of which is specific to the English language (i.e. don't use too many Greek or Latin-based words as they often come off as needlessly complicated), and other advice that might apply to speakers of other languages as well. So far, nothing very political. But about midway through, Orwell launches into the political domain, coming out swinging with a bold statement: "In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing." Orwell criticizes the general vagueness he perceives in political writing, but above all, the intentional vagueness in describing atrocities and negative events. He points to the British occupation in India, where he offers this searing critique: "Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets: this is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called transfer of population or rectification of frontiers. People are imprisoned for years without trial, or shot in the back of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in Arctic lumber camps: this is called elimination of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to name things without calling up mental pictures of them. Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism. He cannot say outright, "I believe in killing off your opponents when you can get good results by doing so." Probably, therefore, he will say something like this: Interestingly, he recognizes that his observations may apply to other languages as well. "I should expect to find - this is a guess which I have not sufficient knowledge to verify - that the German, Russian and Italian languages have all deteriorated in the last ten or fifteen years, as a result of dictatorship," he notes. Finally, he closes with six main rules to abide by, for anyone willing to try to make political writing a bit more bearable: "(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Now that the horrors of Orwell's era - British colonialism, World War II, and the Cold War - have largely passed, today's politicians mercifully have a few less evil deeds to sweep under the rug. Nevertheless, the political turns of phrase Orwell decries in his essay are still alive and well, and not just in English. Take the recent escape and capture of brutal drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in Mexico. In the Mexican newspaper La Jornada, columnist Gustavo Esteva skillfully deconstructs the language used by Mexican politicians, who already have a reputation for misspeaking (for an English machine translation of the article, click here). Esteva writes: "It's true that the way the government is destroying our language only serves to discredit it further. The recent example of 'El Chapo' is a perfect example of this process. Social networks and political cartoonists were quick to mock the rhetorical excesses of authorities. 'It has been recognized that many still have doubts, and this helps,' says the Archbishop of Oaxaca, 'since this means there has been a loss of credibility. There is much talk of 'slip ups' to refer to events that in truth are incompetent work, rip-offs, and trickery by authorities. A highly respected Government official took it upon himself to say: 'There is no criminal outside the reach of the government of Mexico'... when everyone in the country knows that criminals like Ulises Ruiz or the Acteal killers roam the streets freely, and that 97 percent of crimes go unpunished. And in this era of complete government incompetence, he added 'The governability of this country is guaranteed.' Habitually discrete ambassadors, who listen to these and other ridiculous statements, break out in applause, sing the national anthem, cheer on the Mexican authorities and swear that this will completely change the outlook for the government and the country. Sic. That's what they say. The capture of a criminal, which was supposedly the outcome of 'an intense and careful process of intelligence and criminal investigation' - even though it actually appears to have happened thanks to whistle-blowing by an unnamed woman - has changed the outlook for the entire country!" Looking at this text, there's surprisingly little that gets lost in translation. English speaking readers might not know much about the Archbishop of Oaxaca or the Acteal killers, but if they've been paying attention to politics anywhere, they're sure to recognize the exorbitant claims and grandstanding by the country's politicians.
But though Orwell's perceptive essay may apply in many languages, maybe even all languages, Politics in the English language is still living up to the principles he laid out back in the 1940s. Next week, voting begins in the Iowa caucuses in the US presidential election, and there has been no shortage of spin, showmanship, and promises made by the candidates that will in all likelihood turn out to be false. This is bad news for people in the country, or any other country whose politicians routinely deceive for their own gain, who are expecting their politicians to deliver. But at least it gives plenty of good material for a new generation of political writers, writing in English or any other language, to pick over. Let's hope they keep Orwell's observations in mind. Pope Francis greets a crowd at the Vatican. Photo: Wikimedia It's the tour that's said to make or break Pope Francis's papacy. Last weekend, the Pope touched down in Cuba, a country whose half century long standoff with the US he famously helped to bring to an end. Today, he heads to the United States. But for many, one of the most remarkable aspects of his trip to the states doesn't have to do with any of his religious edicts or bold stances on international politics. It's the fact that he's daring to speak to people in English.
Yesterday, the Huffington Post reported that, before his arrival in the US, the Pope made a video directed to his admirers in Philadelphia. "I look forward to greeting the pilgrims and the people of Philadelphia when I come for the World Meeting of Families,” the Pope said. “I will be there because you will be there! See you in Philadelphia!” It was an unremarkable statement, except for one thing: it was in English. The Pope has been notoriously shy about speaking English. He is, of course, a native Spanish speaker. And his training in the Catholic Church, coupled with his Italian lineage and the similarities between the Spanish of Argentina and Italian, have made him feel right at home speaking Italian. He has a working knowledge of other European languages as well, expressing a particular fondness for German. But English has always proved elusive. This is something of a rarity among popes. Francis's two predecessors were legendary in their multilingual prowess. The National Catholic Register reports that Francis's predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, was fluent in seven languages. And Pope John Paul II was reported to speak a whopping 12 languages. This may be due to the former popes' European upbringing, where multilingual skills are particularly important and play a larger part in the culture than most other regions of the world. Pope Francis, on the other hand, is sheepish about his English proficiency. "What has always caused the most problems for me has been English, especially the phonetics," he admits to the Register, ascribing this issue to the fact that he is "tone deaf." Ironically, English has been most necessary for the Pope not on his travels to the Americas, but during his visit to South Korea. There, he issued a few unscripted remarks to a group of children in English. This may have been less intimidating for the Pope since the children were not native speakers; non-native speech tends to be easier to understand for others who are not native to a given language. For his current trip to the United States, on the other hand, the Pope plans to spend little time speaking in English. While only four of his speeches in the country are to be given in English, 14 of them - including his speech to the UN, considered to be his most important during the trip - will be in Spanish. It's hard to say what the effect of this will be on the American public. In the primary race, the Republican field has been marked by a nativist streak, most notably Donald Trump's call for the construction of a massive border wall between the US and Mexico. Other well-known Republican figures, like Sarah Palin, have demanded that all immigrants in the country "speak American." The Pope's heavy use of Spanish may raise the ire of those on this side of the political spectrum, who already expressed frustration about his Laudato Si, in which he urged for greater action on climate change. On the other hand, The Atlantic's Priscilla Alvarez thinks that using Spanish may be a way to shore up slipping Catholic faith among Latinos in the US. With any luck, this will be a chance for the Pope to take his English speaking skills to the next level. But it's not just an opportunity for the Pope to learn English - it's also an opportunity to raise Americans' enthusiasm about learning Spanish as well. Francis has shifted the debate on so many issues, perhaps it's time for him to use his influence to help lift the stigma surrounding foreign languages for so many Americans. |
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