Harsh but well deserved hahaha
I'm currently trying to learn Spanish and my goodness gracious. It would have been easier as a child!
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2026
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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 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.
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I travel a fair bit and one of the most embarrassing things is that I'm monolingual. Something like 4-5 BILLION people are 2+ languages. And then there's me from a rich nation with a solid education, trying my best to speak the local language, just to have the other person step in with perfect English out of pure sympathy.
But, hey, people love that you make the effort. It's like the joy of seeing a 3 year-old count to 10...except you're an adult trying to say, "Could I have two, please?"
"Oh! That was very good!"
3 year-old grin on my adult face
Something like 4-5 BILLION people are 2+ languages.
If I had to guess, I'd say this number is way smaller if you don't include people who speak English as a second language.
I grew up in California, and moved to New Mexico. I should have taken Spanish in high school, instead of French.
Most people who speak more than one language also speak English, so I don't really NEED to learn another language. Also, I don't talk to people much.
That meme: "You speak English because it's the only language you know. I speak English because it's the only language you know. We are not the same."
Well, okay, thanks.
¿Qué?
Not really.
Yes really. I watched Arrival three times, each time making it worse. That's the whole plot, unfortunately.