‘# 72 Superficial knowledge. He who speaks a bit of a foreign language has more delight in it than he who speaks it well: pleasure goes along with superficial knowledge’
‘# 96 A little knowledge. A little knowledge is more successful than complete knowledge: it conceives things as simpler than they are, thus resulting in opinions that are more comprehensible and persuasive.’
Friedrich Nietzsche, 1878
Did Nietzsche ever struggle to buy a bus ticket on a foreign holiday with his limited yet pleasurable command of a foreign language? How did he ever find his way back to his hotel? What happened when he ordered the disgusting offal on the menu he couldn’t understand? Does this little sentence deserve more consideration? Probably.
It perhaps could be argued that the early days of learning a language are the most pleasurable. After all, progress is relatively fast as we are starting with little knowledge and maybe low expectations. Headway is more discernable and tangible than at any other time of learning giving extra satisfaction and encouragement. Then comes the long apprenticeship of the intermediate learner, where advances appear to grind to a halt. Where the beginner can communicate precisely what they need to say in a specific, the intermediate who wants to say more is frustrated by their inability to express themselves fully, though they possess more of the tools to do so. They know more, but not enough.
What is more, it is so difficult to express your personality truly in a second language; the twists of humour or sarcasm which might be so reliant on accent and intonation or even missing vocabulary. Maybe without total mastery of the language you even misrepresent yourself to others.
It seems that the quotes above are derivations of the ‘ignorance is bliss’ cliché. And of course there is an element of truth in this. However, surely there is more satisfaction in progressing as far as one can and fulfilling potential than there is pleasure in a limited command of the language. On what basis Nietzsche bases this opinion we don’t know; perhaps though it is the second quotation here which suggests little knowledge actually results in more persuasive and simple opinions. Certainly having a little knowledge simplifies things to their essentials. More knowledge results in more complexity and more nuances. Thinking like this you can see how knowledge might be a burden; trying to make sense of something too complex; thinking too deeply about things. Life certainly must be simpler with less knowledge.
So Nietzsche raises some interesting ideas, yet the desire to learn (as other thinkers have suggested) probably outweighs the pleasure lost as a result of more knowledge. And hopefully, pleasure can be gained along the way while learning new things; and the most pleasure through fulfilling potential. It doesn’t seem helpful to be as pessimistic as Nietzsche regarding knowing so much, though it is an interesting idea worthy of more thought.
10 June 2009
