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I was going to write an article on this but I see it's already been talked about.
I was talking to a couple of friends of mine saying that, as a native English speaker, I am in a privileged position in this world in a host of ways...of course in my own country, but in terms of literature, music, films, employment and education internationally and travelling. Imagine if I was a monoglot in Vietnamese. Since the vast majority of Vietnamese speakers live only in Vietnam, it would be very difficult for me to travel alone without learning English, the global lingua franca. That would apply to most languages. I didn't really think about it until I saw all those French, Chinese, Japanese tour groups, and wondered why a lot of older Europeans stick to tour groups, as opposed to younger ones. Or Asians for that matter. It's something that is taken for granted.
On the other hand, English being global makes one feel they lack something that belongs to their culture, since English seems removed from a specifically English or British national identity. Like a 'language of their own' that binds them to their ethnic group.
There are advantages to speaking and maybe even to being born anglophone but I don't see the privilege that supercedes everything else.
To me the really privileged people are the Scandinavians who have a high level of domestic assurance for their languages and cultures (and the enrichment, fulfillment and satisfaction that goes along with that) in addition to a high proficiency in English which they can use internationally.
Plus their high level of bilingualism as a starting point gives them an openness that broadens their horizons to other cultures and spurs many of them to learn third or fourth languages or more. The Dutch are like this to some degree as well.
I was going to write an article on this but I see it's already been talked about.
I was talking to a couple of friends of mine saying that, as a native English speaker, I am in a privileged position in this world in a host of ways...of course in my own country, but in terms of literature, music, films, employment and education internationally and travelling. Imagine if I was a monoglot in Vietnamese. Since the vast majority of Vietnamese speakers live only in Vietnam, it would be very difficult for me to travel alone without learning English, the global lingua franca. That would apply to most languages. I didn't really think about it until I saw all those French, Chinese, Japanese tour groups, and wondered why a lot of older Europeans stick to tour groups, as opposed to younger ones. Or Asians for that matter. It's something that is taken for granted.
On the other hand, English being global makes one feel they lack something that belongs to their culture, since English seems removed from a specifically English or British national identity. Like a 'language of their own' that binds them to their ethnic group.
This reminds me of that years ago someone (a non-American!) told me that since I was born in the USA that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. Being born in the USA and having English as my native language are advantages these days but I don't think that makes me privileged. But usually it does make it easier when one travels around the world and basic conditions in the USA do tend to better than many other countries even for people who don't have much money.
Fluency of English is overstated in places like Scandinavia and the Netherlands. While there are those who are truly proficient, most speak at a level equivalent to a child entering middle school. This is still impressive, but means that they miss out on a lot going on that native English speakers pick up on. The fact that most of those 'fluent' Scandinavians and Dutch are still unable to detect subtitles of the English language that native speakers can.
For example, you won't find many Swedish comedians performing in Atlanta, because their grasp of the language (while usually pretty decent) is still not that of a native speaker. They often "don't get it" and what is equally important is that they can be unaware of this. I think of relationships with people from Scandinavia and the Netherlands and this is something that doesn't happen when socializing with say an Australian or a Scot. Because of this, they have much more difficulty being actual contributors to that global English culture and instead tend to be consumers. They have the advantage of being ready consumers of global English culture, but they are still at a disadvantage since they are not native speakers.
English going global was one of the worst things to happen to native speakers, there is a real bigotry against the English language and its speakers and it is accepted, the disparaging. And linguistics would be so much better off if mainland Europeans were forced to speak a language from another family for a change (which has never ever happened except for maybe some German guy on youtube speaking Thai)
English is certainly treated like a privilege in places in Quebec. I think the idea that learning another language means losing your native language is nonsense. The fact that English is a global language doesn't make it any more or less important than other languages. In places like Canada, where bilingualism is a bigger part of our culture than any individual language, I think the anti-bilingual stance is beyond foolish.
Didn't think such a thing was possible but, leftists get more and insane. They can't even hear themselves anymore, completely tone deaf to how insane they sound....
Didn't think such a thing was possible but, leftists get more and insane. They can't even hear themselves anymore, completely tone deaf to how insane they sound....
The anti-concept of so-called "language privilege". Or anything privilege really. X privilege, insert whatever particular polysyllabic blah blah blah into X you wish....
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