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superoeuvre: luxuryailments: I study English everyday. How much do YOU study Korean? or chinese or japanese or any of the other languages whose speakers are also required to learn english while americans can hardly be fucking bothered to acknowledge that other languages EXIST the other day some of my students told me that they continued to take english classes in school even after they’d stopped taking chinese (like chinese lang, chinese lit, etc.) i find something deeply wrong with that In the Philippines it is mandatory to learn English in schools as at the same time regional languages are dying—my mother’s mother tongue, Kapampangan, is already marked as a dying language, is feared to risk dying completely by as early as 2027 if not sooner. All this because of the legacy of western colonization which implements a colonized mindset that regards those who speak English as better equipped than those holding on to old customs such as a regional language. MEANWHILE, I do think there is a fucked up way America (yes, precious “melting pot” America) places a premium on certain “cool” or “interesting” accents as has been pointed out is of COURSE relegated to a romanticized European-ness which I can’t stand because it is so fucking arbitrary and revealing of ingrained prejudices. If I tell a person (usually white) that I don’t care for French, there is a shitstorm of a response, like they can’t even begin to FATHOM why I feel that way. If someone mentions that they don’t like a particular Asian language, people nod their heads in agreement and I can’t help but begin to shut them down because your ass is showing, dude. There IS something deeply wrong with the way language is dealt with in America, they way America and the Western world pushes English upon other nations in very conscious and colonizing ways. The fact that people can’t see this, who defend America without realizing the very real issues at hand, are missing the point entirely even when it’s presented in a rhetorical question that’s only goal is to cause reflection and discussion, not defensive trite banalities, and I don’t have enough time to educate a fool who refuses to listen. Are we even speaking the same language?

superoeuvre:

luxuryailments:

I study English everyday.

How much do YOU study Korean?

or chinese

or japanese

or any of the other languages whose speakers are also required to learn english while americans can hardly be fucking bothered to acknowledge that other languages EXIST

the other day some of my students told me that they continued to take english classes in school even after they’d stopped taking chinese (like chinese lang, chinese lit, etc.)

i find something deeply wrong with that

In the Philippines it is mandatory to learn English in schools as at the same time regional languages are dying—my mother’s mother tongue, Kapampangan, is already marked as a dying language, is feared to risk dying completely by as early as 2027 if not sooner. All this because of the legacy of western colonization which implements a colonized mindset that regards those who speak English as better equipped than those holding on to old customs such as a regional language.

MEANWHILE, I do think there is a fucked up way America (yes, precious “melting pot” America) places a premium on certain “cool” or “interesting” accents as has been pointed out is of COURSE relegated to a romanticized European-ness which I can’t stand because it is so fucking arbitrary and revealing of ingrained prejudices. If I tell a person (usually white) that I don’t care for French, there is a shitstorm of a response, like they can’t even begin to FATHOM why I feel that way. If someone mentions that they don’t like a particular Asian language, people nod their heads in agreement and I can’t help but begin to shut them down because your ass is showing, dude.

There IS something deeply wrong with the way language is dealt with in America, they way America and the Western world pushes English upon other nations in very conscious and colonizing ways. The fact that people can’t see this, who defend America without realizing the very real issues at hand, are missing the point entirely even when it’s presented in a rhetorical question that’s only goal is to cause reflection and discussion, not defensive trite banalities, and I don’t have enough time to educate a fool who refuses to listen. Are we even speaking the same language?

(Source: koreanstudentsspeak, via jessilla)