I was scrolling through my Facebook feed this morning when I came across this headline: I, of course, had to stop and read the article as it had to do with languages--a topic I find fascinating. I also skimmed through some of the comments, and initially, I took umbrage to the comment (written in awkward English, with an unclear meaning) of Jesus Bermudez Perez and the following clarification of Alvaro Dominguez Virues. Then, I remembered that a lot of English speakers are complacent about learning other languages and do expect and rely upon others to learn English in order to facilitate global communication.
Therefore, the comments of these two men, although exaggerated (afterall, many native English speakers are indeed bilingual or multilingual) and not necessarily kind, may contain some truth. And if considered in the right frame of mind, these comments can raise awareness as to how people in other countries and cultures, who have had to work hard to learn English in order to be able to participate in the global conversation, may be feeling towards the general language learning complacency of some English speakers. What can we do as native English speakers to improve relations with our global neighbors? How can we show them we aren't lazy, and that we do respect them?
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AuthorI'm Holly. I love learning languages! I speak English, Spanish, French, and Chinese. I am currently learning Arabic, Hindi, and German. Archives
December 2016
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