The Heart of a Language

When I learn a language, I’ve found that grammar rules, vocabulary lists, or set phrases are far less important than finding the “key” to the language. This key is the fundamental, deep-seated characteristic – the true heart of the language. How does it actually work? What is its core principle for transferring information? Once I find and understand that key, everything else falls into place, and learning becomes significantly easier and more intuitive.

The Key to English: A Barbarian’s Simplicity

For me, the moment English “unlocked” was when I realized that it is, with a bit of healthy exaggeration, a primitive, barbaric language. It applies one solution to everything: a single, rigid sentence structure (Subject, Verb, Rest of Sentence, Period) that it repeats endlessly.

• Wulfstan is a great warrior.
• Wulfstan likes beer.
• Wulfstan burnt the village down.
• Wulfstan got a lot of gold.
• Wulfstan is happy.

Regarding English tenses, which are said to number around 10-15, the key was realizing there are essentially only two: present (what I’m doing) and past (what I did). The rest are just expansions of these core ideas. The future is merely a collection of more-or-less accurate estimates of what I think will happen or what I plan to do – using “will + infinitive” for a general opinion or “going to + infinitive” when I have a prepared plan. Once I grasped the heart of English, the language stopped being a problem.

The Key to Spanish: The Verb is King

Spanish, which I’m learning now, works completely differently. Its key is the verb. In Spanish, the verb is king, and all other words are its subjects. The verb tells you who is doing something, when it’s happening, and in what mode (reality, wish, command). The gender and number of adjectives and articles act like glue, only confirming and acknowledging the verb’s rule.

• El castillo es blanco. (The castle is white.)
• Las volutas son mágicas. (The scrolls are magic.)

Because the verb contains all this information, I can afford a flexible word order without losing the sentence’s meaning.

• El lobo come la carne. (The wolf eats the meat.)
• La carne la come el lobo. (The meat, the wolf eats it.) – The meaning remains clear.

The principle for past tenses is similar to English – it’s about the perspective on the action. Am I focused on what happened (Indefinido/simple past) or what it was like (Imperfecto/past continuous)? The future is almost identical: “ir a + infinitive” for a plan, and the simple future tense for a general estimate or spontaneous decision.

The Key to Czech: The Punk Anarchy of Endings

Czech (my native language) is, from this perspective, total punk anarchy. Verbs are as powerful as in Spanish plus the forms of pronouns, the endings of adjectives and nouns tell you exactly what is the subject, what is the object, whether its plural or singular and what the action pertains to. In English, and to a large extent in Spanish, I have to stick to a certain word order to understand who is doing what to whom. Not in Czech.

• Mladík píše básně pro svou milou. (A young man writes poems for his beloved. – Standard)
• Básně píše mladík pro svou milou. (It’s poems the young man writes for his beloved.)
• Pro svou milou píše mladík básně. (It’s for his beloved the young man writes poems.)

So, if English is a language of barbarically fixed word order and Spanish is a language where verbs rule, then Czech is a language of absolute freedom in word order that is, however, obsessed with the question of whether something has been completed. The verb carries most of the information (like Spanish) but also includes information (through verbal aspect) on whether the action was a process or a completed result.

• Včera jsem štípal dříví. (Yesterday I was chopping wood. – Imperfective aspect, emphasizing the process.)
• Včera jsem naštípal dříví. (Yesterday I chopped the wood. – Perfective aspect, emphasizing the result.)

—

Every Language Has Its Own Flavor You have to feel a language. Each one tastes different. It’s an amazing (and sometimes demanding) ride. And in my opinion, it’s absolutely worth it.