:tito-laugh: lmao those able-bodied neurotypical cisgender heterosexual upper middle class white suburban American nuclear families who, due to immediate material conditions created from two centuries of lingual-cultural oppression, have only been taught a single language, inadequately, thanks to their deteriorating educational system caused by racist tax systems which crumble under global economic duress.
due to immediate material conditions created from two centuries of lingual-cultural oppression
Implies "and were not born into multilingual families who were forced onto these circumstances due to capital's debilitating force", but maybe I wasn't giving enough details, so my bad if it was unclear.
I’m not really trying to pile onto whatever back and forth you’re having. This is just where I happened to ask the question. It’s confusing me that the reason people are acting like we don’t speak more languages is that we don’t have good enough formal education. I thought it was because we have significantly less linguistic diversity because of all the genocide and colonial culture. Like I need to drive for over 24 hours straight before I’m in an area where the majority of people don’t speak English as their first language. And even in the county I grew up in where like a third of people speak Spanish, our towns and schools are still so segregated that I spent the first 15 years of my life having spoken to an ESL person.
It’s confusing me that the reason people are acting like we don’t speak more languages is that we don’t have good enough formal education.
I think this misconception stems from west-EU people focusing on white middle class people and seeing language as a "fun skill" to pick up on in highschool, not understanding the class based historical intricacies to it as you described.
I think that is the most common or at least the most visible experience, yes. There are school districts here where the policy is that if a child doesn’t speak English, they are not to speak another language in the classroom, other students are not allowed to translate, and the tests and assignments they receive must be in English. But these kids, again, tend to be segregated out of nearly-all-white schools and just end up as the quiet kid in the back and no one bothers asking why they “refuse to participate”.
The most effective means of learning a language is immersion. You can supplement with other techniques to speed up, but without it it’s pretty much impossible to reach fluency. It’s how every human being forever has learned their first language. See o it would make sense that the #1 predictor of speaking multiple languages is just the number of languages spoken around you
that's absolutely not what either you or the meme were making fun of
OK, restating
:tito-laugh: lmao those able-bodied neurotypical cisgender heterosexual upper middle class white suburban American nuclear families who, due to immediate material conditions created from two centuries of lingual-cultural oppression, have only been taught a single language, inadequately, thanks to their deteriorating educational system caused by racist tax systems which crumble under global economic duress.
In the rest of the world, do the majority of people who speak multiple languages learn them from formal classes? Because that’s not how it is here
Implies "and were not born into multilingual families who were forced onto these circumstances due to capital's debilitating force", but maybe I wasn't giving enough details, so my bad if it was unclear.
I’m not really trying to pile onto whatever back and forth you’re having. This is just where I happened to ask the question. It’s confusing me that the reason people are acting like we don’t speak more languages is that we don’t have good enough formal education. I thought it was because we have significantly less linguistic diversity because of all the genocide and colonial culture. Like I need to drive for over 24 hours straight before I’m in an area where the majority of people don’t speak English as their first language. And even in the county I grew up in where like a third of people speak Spanish, our towns and schools are still so segregated that I spent the first 15 years of my life having spoken to an ESL person.
Oh I thought you were adding onto the bit or w/e.
I think this misconception stems from west-EU people focusing on white middle class people and seeing language as a "fun skill" to pick up on in highschool, not understanding the class based historical intricacies to it as you described.
I think that is the most common or at least the most visible experience, yes. There are school districts here where the policy is that if a child doesn’t speak English, they are not to speak another language in the classroom, other students are not allowed to translate, and the tests and assignments they receive must be in English. But these kids, again, tend to be segregated out of nearly-all-white schools and just end up as the quiet kid in the back and no one bothers asking why they “refuse to participate”.
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The most effective means of learning a language is immersion. You can supplement with other techniques to speed up, but without it it’s pretty much impossible to reach fluency. It’s how every human being forever has learned their first language. See o it would make sense that the #1 predictor of speaking multiple languages is just the number of languages spoken around you