I wonder if native English speakers know this: that many non-native speakers around the world have to learn English even if they don't want to, and have to speak it even when they'd rather not.
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@hongminhee To a (much) lesser extent I feel similarly about my native dialect vs the nation's standard and dominant dialect. I can pass as a reasonably good speaker of the latter, but there is always a certain level of effort involved. And I feel like the effort is not well appreciated.
@hongminhee I'm pretty sure part of this due to colonialism and racism, you tend to hear of English and French being touted as "international languages", but never hear of any of the east-Asian languages being referred to as such.
Other's also included Arabic, Russian and Spanish, apparently: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_language#:~:text=English%20is%20the%20foremost%20world,formerly%20been%20a%20world%20language.
@thisismissem Yes, it's certainly true that every “lingua franca” is related to empires or imperialism. In East Asia, Classical Chinese was the lingua franca for a long time, which is not unrelated to ancient China's position in the region.
I used to love learning English when I was younger, but as I've gotten older, reading and writing in it has become more and more of a hassle.
@hongminhee I’m curious to know more about this. In Singapore, we’re supposed to be bilingual in school but I’ve always preferred English. Chinese/Mandarin? Hated it in school and was such a huge burden. Now I need to use it again to get my children past the school system.
@houfu In Korea, it's actually the opposite. While we're also pushed to learn English in school, it's extremely rare to use it in daily life before getting a job. Some professions are heavily exposed to English, but many don't require it at all. Meanwhile, English proficiency also functions as a sort of class marker in Korea, so many Koreans live with a sense of shame about their English skills.
@hongminhee @houfu I was much more sensitive to language issues when I was a teenager. Before the College Entrance Examination, graduates admitted to a Shenzhen-based, trendy university launched a campaign at my high school. A chapter of their verbose words boasts ‘English is our native language’ and how they proudly cope with Korean professors in English. In the answer session, I screamed my question in English and added ‘I think it is respectful to speak the native language of opponents. ’
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