Language as an art

The linguist Steven Pinker says that when it comes to language, “we have an instinct to acquire an art”.

And that’s exactly what a language is- an art.

Language is an organic product of socio-cultural trends.

Many of us who learn a foreign language want to think of it as something that can be understood through a formulaic approach.

We think the building blocks of language- prepositions, verbs, nouns- are sent through consistent and predictable algorithms of grammar and syntax, to make logical sentences.

Those who do become fluent a foreign language are often disappointed to find that this simply isn’t true.