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The Adventure of English The Biography of a Language Melvyn Bragg 9781559707107 Books

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The Adventure of English The Biography of a Language Melvyn Bragg 9781559707107 Books

Really interesting study which helped me understand why and how the English language is so flexible, subtle, and rich in synonyms compared for example to French where l'Academie Francaise officially resists adoption of any new words from UnFrench cultures. (I live in France). It's one of those books I shall have to read again, particularly the early chapters which are the most interesting. The pace unwinds a bit in the last couple of chapters but it's still a good read.


Tags : The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language [Melvyn Bragg] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. A history of the English language traces its evolution from a gutteral Germanic dialect around 500 A.D. to its modern global form,Melvyn Bragg,The Adventure of English: The Biography of a Language,Arcade Publishing,1559707100,General,Linguistics - Etymology,English language;History.,English language,History,LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES Linguistics Etymology,Language Arts Linguistics Literacy,Linguistics,Literary Criticism,Literary Criticism General,Non-Fiction,Reference,ScholarlyUndergraduate,United States,Language

The Adventure of English The Biography of a Language Melvyn Bragg 9781559707107 Books Reviews

An outstanding and riveting survey of the rise and flowering of English from its beginning to the present day. I am generally acquainted with the political, social and religious history of America and Europe but this book fills many gaps. To boot, it is extremely well written, contains many quoted examples and is very well organized. While not footnoted, i am not an academic, and am therefore not inconvenienced. Scholars undoubtably already know many of the sources and there is always Google and academic search engines.

Highly recommended.
On the whole I very much enjoyed this book. To study the English language in this manner is very much like peeling back the onion in which we are able to discern insights which connect us to our ancestors who bequeathed us language, culture and values. As a retired US military officer, I have had opportunities to interface with my British counterparts which I found to be most interesting. In such circumstances I quickly learned that it is important to listen carefully and to ask questions to verify that both parties are correctly discerning the other. As a British friend of mine put it, this is the challenge of communication between native speakers ( US and UK)......consider the communication challenges for those who use English as a second language with other second language speakers. One significant shortcoming of the book is it's failure to consider and discuss the Philippine experience with the English language. The Philippine population now exceeds 100 million, and English is one of two official languages. English is the medium of instruction in Philippine schools. A recent BBC program cited the Philippines as the world's budget instructor for teaching English to those desiring to acquire English skills in an affordable manner. It is for this significant omission that I rated the book at 4 stars.
Language feels innate. It flows almost effortlessly, giving voice to our innermost aspects that can often feel entirely untranslatable. For native speakers, English is the miraculous software that came installed with the hardware. Melvyn Bragg's THE ADVENTURES OF ENGLISH is not a textbook larded with wonk, it's a professional word lover's exploration of English's history - from Anglo-Saxon, to Latin, to French, to the Internet - that has produced the energetic, evolving argot now employed around the world. THE ADVENTURES OF ENGLISH is a quality overview, even if the author admits his lack of true expertise, while peppering the book with his layman's interpretation of academic research.

Studying the origins of any language offers ample opportunity for boring material. It's a territory populated with etymologists, philologists, and archaeological grammatologists - not exactly the most lively bunch. Bragg avoids these hazards. He tells a story, touching on all the key moments in the evolution of English. The arrival of the Saxons, the Danes, the Normans, and the Americans - all of it carrying the story forward. As we read, we watch the language become more familiar with each passing century, words and syntax added as English advances. A weakness shows itself when Bragg simply fills his pages with lists - e.g. a list of common words derived from foreign sources. It's filler and easy to skip over.

The book's strength centers on the author's true passion for how this unique, malleable technology called English came into being. He's is not a dogmatic prescriptivist. Bragg welcomes contributions from all comers - give me your tired, poor, and huddled lingos. He entirely avoids any disparagement of American contributions to the language (a rare act of graciousness from an erudite Brit), and he never once suggests that things have taken a step back. To understand English is to understand that there is no such thing as True English, and there never will be. It's a growing organism with branches grafted from sources as antipodal as India and Los Angeles.

This is a user-friendly introduction to a dense, complex subject. Bragg's anecdotes and clarity of thought create an entry point for any reader looking to learn more about the lingua franca of everyone from William Shakespeare to Jay-Z.
For the average reader the first 50 percent of the book is very tough going. There are many pages in archaic English that are simply mind numbing and impossible to understand. I almost gave up on many occasions but always believe the writer has a reason. And so with perseverance I found the second half to be educational (I did learn something) and quite entertaining. Those with a specific interest in English will doubtless get more though likely will know most of what is discussed already. I do feel a personal satisfaction in having completed the book - a bit like an assignment and will now be very hard to move onto something lighter.
Melvyn Bragg's The Adventure of English The Biography of a Language is an entertaining and informative romp into the history, transformations and vicissitudes of English

As Bragg correctly points out, English went through a number of radical transformations while it was the language of England. When it became the language of America, Australia, and, to an extent, India, the entire scope of English changed. It transformed from a series of dialects on a small European island, to a world language.

The adventure in the title is journey from the English spoken by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, to that of the internet, the global economy, and the currency and marker of education and advancement on every continent.
Really interesting study which helped me understand why and how the English language is so flexible, subtle, and rich in synonyms compared for example to French where l'Academie Francaise officially resists adoption of any new words from UnFrench cultures. (I live in France). It's one of those books I shall have to read again, particularly the early chapters which are the most interesting. The pace unwinds a bit in the last couple of chapters but it's still a good read.