"In many tongues, Alaskans debate English as official =

language" (fwd)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=3DUS-ASCII


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 1998 00:52:49 +0200
=46rom: Anna & Heike Boedeker <boedeker at netcologne.de>
To: salishan at tincan.tincan.org
Subject: Re: "In many tongues, Alaskans debate English as official  =
language"

At 14:43 01.10.98 -0700, David Robertson wrote:

>The quote at the end, from a leader of the English - only movement,
>says it all, perhaps: =20
>
>"They're not going to be able to speak Yup'ik in Germany."

but they neither will be going to have too much fun w/ the way many =
people
in Germany -- not to speak of the Romania -- are *radebreching* (speaking
broken English).

>If Yup'ik is neglected unto death, nobody will be able to speak Yup'ik
>anywhere. =20

these are words of wisdom & truth... <sigh>

>Humm.  Personally, I'd rather be forced to speak Chinook Jargon.  It's
>prettier, and easier to learn.

:-)  (though actually I hate being forced to no matter what... and i also
hate having to translate each & everything for them poor monolinguals...)

>Anyhow, why can't we make every language "official"?  I'm not following
>these folks' logic.

amen to that. well, actually possible reasons are like, they're too lazy =
to
learn such a "challenging" language (though i personally am not sure i
found learning German or French easier than learning Inuit or Cree), or
also forcing one's interactional etiquettes (including, but not limited =
to
languages) on others is a common submissiveness ritual.

it is bitter that they haven't come to the insight that communication is
not a one-way street...

bitter to them...


best,

heike