by George Orwell
Copyright 1949 by George Orwell
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The first time I had read this story was 18 years old.
Those days, I had been in Tokyo to take entrance examinations of universities. "New Speak" is suggested in this story. It is an idea makes language system (English) be easier. For example, conjugation of "take" is "take - took - taken". It is "take - taked - taked" in "New speak". At the first time I had read this story, I hoped it would be real. Because I was not good at English and I had marked not so good results in many exam. 10 years has passed from that... These days, mass media in Japan is so careful for "distinction words". Some of well-informed person call its situation "Word-hunting". And they are much concerned about the future of it. Why? They say "The control of words will make width of expressions be smaller". I think it is right. Why "Ingsoc -English Socialism, the motto of government in "NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR"-" enforces "New Speak"? Because they thought it would make width of expressions be smaller. After some decades, will Japanese publishers be like the world of "NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR"? I never hope it... By the way, the other thing that I felt fear at reading this story is "Past can be changed by changing data or information". But I don't have ability to write and explain it to you in English... |
