I speak 4, besides American English, at various levels of proficiency, but I’m an American-born son of immigrants who splits time between the US and EU (my wife is Dutch). I also enjoy linguistics and etymology.
Even though this is anecdotal, every daughter and son of an immigrant diaspora that I personally know, like me in the US, speaks multiple or at least 2 languages.
I argue this meme refers to an issue largely for Americans of European descent. Since a very young age, I noticed “white” people in America seem to be scared of “new” or “foreign” things. One of them is learning a language, trying to speak it in public with a native-speaker, and getting corrected for mistakes which will happen, including self-styled “leftists” and “liberals” (the American definition).
I categorize this specific phenomenon, this fear of embarrassment, as another facet or aspect of what some of my black colleagues back in the States refer to as “white fragility”.
Those people who look down on “Americans” should talk to more of us who aren’t of European descent. Perhaps, that may give some depth to your perception of us, or of what our capacity for a global perspective and living as part of a global community is.
I mean I don’t think most black Americans know a foreign language either, because most of them aren’t part of an immigrant diaspora. And IIRC, this phenomenon happens to some extent in most predominantly English speaking countries. Most foreign language learning is a matter of practicality more than a desire to expand knowledge or something, and most non-immigrant Americans don’t have any particular reason to learn one.
I’m a citizen of the United States.
I speak 4, besides American English, at various levels of proficiency, but I’m an American-born son of immigrants who splits time between the US and EU (my wife is Dutch). I also enjoy linguistics and etymology.
Even though this is anecdotal, every daughter and son of an immigrant diaspora that I personally know, like me in the US, speaks multiple or at least 2 languages.
I argue this meme refers to an issue largely for Americans of European descent. Since a very young age, I noticed “white” people in America seem to be scared of “new” or “foreign” things. One of them is learning a language, trying to speak it in public with a native-speaker, and getting corrected for mistakes which will happen, including self-styled “leftists” and “liberals” (the American definition).
I categorize this specific phenomenon, this fear of embarrassment, as another facet or aspect of what some of my black colleagues back in the States refer to as “white fragility”.
Those people who look down on “Americans” should talk to more of us who aren’t of European descent. Perhaps, that may give some depth to your perception of us, or of what our capacity for a global perspective and living as part of a global community is.
I mean I don’t think most black Americans know a foreign language either, because most of them aren’t part of an immigrant diaspora. And IIRC, this phenomenon happens to some extent in most predominantly English speaking countries. Most foreign language learning is a matter of practicality more than a desire to expand knowledge or something, and most non-immigrant Americans don’t have any particular reason to learn one.
Dude, I think it’s pretty common everywhere for immigrants and their families to speak multiple languages.
Yes, I’m well aware.
I still think the meme should have “White” in front of “Americans” in its caption.
Congratulations on erasing the 15% of black Americans, clearly a group that’s too privileged to even be mentioned
Black Americans clearly speak two languages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5X3cu1B87k
?
I think it’s less about being afraid of speaking a different language, and more about not wanting to put in the effort to learn it.