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[chibi_totoro]

What brings me out of LJ hibernation? a post from someone on my friends list.

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his post: assimilation english. official language. now. it's not racist, it's not hurting immigrants, if anything it is helping them succeed and grow in our country, which is 100% fine with me. but if you're gonna come here

Comments

[loftygoals]

while certainly useful if everyone in the country spoke the same language, the best reason for promoting that situation would be in order to unify our country instead of having outcasts. but, assume everyone DID, in fact, speak english for a minute--think of all the dialects? soda, pop, coke? bubbler, drinking fountain? southern drawls and east coast whines--there is no such thing as one unified english. the trouble with everyone not speaking the same language, however, is that it contributes to "othering." that is to say, the less like you someone is, the easier it is to think of them as not quite as human, or not the same in terms of rights and such. language is a key contributing factor to this perpetual situation, but even if we were to have a unified language, people would still find ways to separate themselves out to make themselves more "unique"--at least in a culture like ours which is highly individualistic.

on my own little rant, i'd like to encourage that everyone in this country should, at the very least, learn how to finger-spell in sign language. it's all the difference in the world between being able to communicate with someone who's deaf and not. you don't even need to learn a new language. just 26 letters.

[loftygoals]

ps--diane, good to see you back on lj. when're you coming back to madtown? and would you still mind burning those T&S cds?