Is English Nativity a Blessing or a Curse? - SPEAK 'MURRICAN

[Dick Justice]

If you're posting on the farms then, statistically speaking you were born and raised by English speakers to an English speaking society. English is far and away the dominant language by pretty much all measures and serves as the lingua franca for more people in more places than anything else. That being said, is it actually good to be born a native English speaker? As I see it there are basically three categories of people:

1. People who learn English as their first language
2. People who learn another major language such as French, German, Russian, Hindi, etc. as their first language.
3. People who learn a minor language as their first language and by necessity have to learn another language to engage with the wider world.

Trying as best as possible to divorce the linguistic aspects what do you think is the best circumstance in which to be born? The answer seems obviously to be #1, the dominance and prestige of English allows it the greatest value and utility of any language yet that fact is what gives me pause. Relatively speaking English is so good that most English speakers remain monolingual. The benefits of multilingualism are many and well studied, but as anyone who's tried knows learning a language is really hard. Without a strong incentive most give up or settle for a few levels below basically functional (try talking to a white American in Spanish!). On the flip side there's no better way to become well acquainted with all the slang, nuance, and idiosyncracies of a language than to grow up with it, and having that native level familiarity of English is itself a huge boon. The ideal state appears to be English-native polyglots, but those also appear to be rather thin on the ground.

On the opposite side we have #3. Nobody outside your village, region, country knows your language and in the increasingly global world, old men running the, you basically have to learn either English or another major language to be successful. You will in all probability study your chosen second language heavily from a young age and achieve proficiency very early allowing you to reap the benefits of multilingualism early have a significantly easier time learning your third, fourth, etc. languages should you choose to do so. Of course learning is still difficult, you'll likely never have that native level familiarity in anything but your worthless minor language.

Then awkwardly nestled in the middle we have all the other major languages. There's a very good chance that you'll pick up English or another major language at some point in your life, but also an equally good chance that you don't. It's something of a crapshoot and seems to be largely contingent upon the country in question so...

This's just my interpretation, but all things considered do you think it's blessing or a curse to be born as a native English speaker? If not this what's the optimal condition?

E: Changed title to clarify question.

 

[Imperialist #348]

wat yu fackin say guvna? lookin to git bottled erh? me and big baz ere wil sort you out eh? then we'll ave a little sonter down to da pub for a pinyt or too!

 

[SIGSEGV]

>Is English a Blessing or a Curse?
No. It's a language you fucking exceptional individual.

 

[Medical Hawaii]

Blessing.

Besides being arguably the most dominant language, especially at least in the world of business and trade, its linguistic characteristics are sourced from a variety of different languages and as such has little uniformity in orthography (edit: which often makes it a bitch to learn)

 

[Friendly_AI]

Learning any language isn't that hard if you have enough time, resources and dedication. It also helps if you have a good understanding of linguistic concepts in general and good abstract and logical thinking. Also, a good memory and an ear for music could be quite helpful.

Of course, the dominant language speakers have less incentive to learn anything else. So it will be interesting to see if any other language will become a lingua franca in our lifetime.

 

[Daddy's Little Kitten]

Why would it be a curse? It opens a lot of doors.

 

[Whatsup bud?]

If onle we kuld hav fonetik speling lik uther langwijez

 

[Observerer]

English is the dominant language in the world. This gives nativespeakers an advantage in global affairs, this is a blessing. However you don't get to shit talk foreigners laughing at their fat disgusting bodies, because the likelyhood that they understand you is too big. I however get to laugh and talk shit about fat American and British pigs because my language is spoken by a population the size of South Carolina and therefore I mostly get away with it. So I guess it is a curse as well.

 

[Sexy Senior Citizen]

In today's interconnected society, there has to be a common language that can be used to facilitate communication. If it's not English, then it'll be Mandarin Chinese. If not that, it'll be Japanese, or German, or Spanish, or one of several others.
So, I'd say it's a blessing.

 

[Medical Hawaii]

If onle we kuld hav fonetik speling lik uther langwijez

You can mostly thank French for that, we kept most of the native spellings in words borrowed from French

 

[Whatsup bud?]

You can thank French for that, we kept most of the native spellings in words borrowed from French

I have a dream of a world where spelling bees are unnecessary.

 

[Jewelsmakerguy]

Why is it a curse? Sure, it can get grating when you get people who barely speak English stinking up the internet and real life, but that's something you can easily avoid if you know what you're doing.

 

[Medical Hawaii]

If onle we kuld hav fonetik speling lik uther langwijez

I have a dream of a world where spelling bees are unnecessary.

Perhaps that's what Mark Twain was thinking of when he wrote this "argument"* for a complete overhaul of English spelling

plainlanguage.gov | A Plan for the Improvement of Spelling in the English Language

Plain language makes it easier for the public to read, understand, and use government communications.

www.plainlanguage.gov

*this was a satirical piece

 

[Crankenstein]

>Is English a Blessing or a Curse?
No. It's a language you fucking exceptional individual.

Wai yoo hef tu bii mehd? Eez onleh powst.

I think it's a great language. There are few languages in which you can explain the exact same thing a million different ways.

Perhaps that's what Mark Twain was thinking of when he wrote this "argument"* for a complete overhaul of English spelling

plainlanguage.gov | A Plan for the Improvement of Spelling in the English Language

Plain language makes it easier for the public to read, understand, and use government communications.

www.plainlanguage.gov

View attachment 1513128
*this was a satirical piece

It would be good to add some letters and take a select few away.
Like the Russian ж usually in English is sometimes shown as zhe, but the most used version is in words like plesure or leisure
Or ц which makes the sound like in Tsunami
Or ш Which is the sh sound
Among others.

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

Bismarck said that the most important fact of the modern age is that the United States speaks English.

The United States is a global monster and homogenizer. Global English proficiency is the road to one world government, and therefore one world tyranny. All empires have their day, but if one were to somehow stay the global hegemon for forever then, through the forces of free trade and international communication, they would absorb all other nations in the world.

This subject reminds me of Francis E. Dec, particularly when he says: "ETERNAL FRANKENSTEIN SLAVERY, OVER-ALL PLAN through “ONE WORLD COMMUNISM” top secret code word), meaning WORLD-WIDE ABSOLUTELY HELPLESS AND HOPELESS SIMPLE LANGUAGE MONGREL MULATTO APOIDIC NIGGERS."
The keywords in that quote being "simple language mongrel mulattos." It is the plan of the world elite to homogenize the world and introduce one world language, and we as conservatives and reactionaries must fight against this, and as a consequence fight against the English language.

All lingua francas are bad, but English is particularly bad because we live in an era of stupid free trade. Free trade is an evil that homogenizes the world, and free trade has a language; English. This mongrelization of the world must be stopped. The English global tyranny might at first seem to benefit America, however you'll be sorry when your race and traditions are wiped out by the monster that you amerishits created.

Also, learning a second language is good because it helps you mentally.

 

[Melktert]

American English and Afrikaans are the only good languages.

 

[Medical Hawaii]

American English and Afrikaans are the only good languages.

Why Afrikaans though

 

[Melktert]

Why Afrikaans though

My home language

 

[Medical Hawaii]

My home language

English was easy to learn for you, then, I assume?

 

[some Sketchy dude]

The optimal choice is to be born in 'Murica and to speak only 'murican. It's not like you wrote this in Oxford English after all