Why Do So Many White People Speak Non-White Languages?
Cultural appropriation is a real issue, okay? One of the worst cases of this is in the realm of second languages. Caucasians love to appropriate cultures through language as a way to intrude on the lives of those who might not speak their language. It’s seen as “fun” or “interesting”.
For those of you into anime, I’m sure you’re aware of the weeaboo problem. Some white anime fans love to appropriate Japanese hair styles, musical tastes, and even the Japanese language itself. This is one blog that demonstrates the problems of non-Japanese people learning Japanese.
Spanish is another issue and tumblr has had this debate before. You see so many white kids at high school or college who are proud to be able to speak Spanish. Why not speak a European language like German instead of appropriating the culture of minorities?
19 comments
Spanish is a European language, dumbass. Go tell Central and South America it's a "legacy of colonialism" so they can't speak it anymore. See how that goes over.
Wait, what?
Oh, right, tumblr.
Uh because it's good manners to at least learn a bit of the language in a nation? Also America is coming increasingly more bilingual as the decades goes by so a lot of white Americans are learning Spanish because they kind of need it for the foreseeable future. And Spanish is a European language you dibshit, granted Spanish in the Americas is a bit different from Spanish in Spain but the point still stands.
Is latin a white language, tumblrtard? Is Ukrainian? Russian perhaps?
Where is the fence, the line here? Where do you draw it? Cause every time you try to, you give it all up to the racists and tribalists, by default.
“For those of you into anime, I’m sure you’re aware of the weeaboo problem. Some white anime fans love to appropriate Japanese hair styles, musical tastes, and even the Japanese language itself.”
Oh, I’m convinced Japan is actually doing a rather good job exporting said things to just about anywhere they will go, all on their own, in fact most of their buisnessfolks would probably tell you to politely shut the fuck up and enjoy the entertainment.
First, like @Lucilius said, Spanish is a European language. You know, that country called Spain, where they also speak Spanish? Yeah, that’s where it came from. Second, we have this country that we share a border with that is loaded with Spanish speakers. We also have people who have lived on this land for generations (Chicanos) that were speaking Spanish here long before English was spoken. It is only right that both of us share at least a little bit of each other’s languages.
Also, define “white” language. I mean, according to *BummerDummer, as a Slav, I’m not even white. So is Russian a “white” language or is it something else? What about Italian and Irish? And Greek?
*Yes, I know this person and BummerDummer are not the same, I just wanted to illustrate how dumb the concept of whiteness vs non-whiteness is.
The Japanese word 'Hentai' is in the Oxford English Dictionary: therefore is officially part of the English language.
So is the Indian word 'Juggernaut', bitch .
First, Spanish came from Spain, an European country. And there were several cases, even before today, of non-whites speaking German (African and Pacific colonies).
Secondly, why should it be forbidden for someone to show interest to other cultures? After all, there were cases of languages preserved because missionaries, linguists and ethnologues were able to take note of some language and write down their features before they diseappeared.
Spanish is a white European language, muy loco. If you want a non-white language, try Yolngu, or any other of the Aboriginal languages. Or maybe Fijian, Samoan or Tongan, even the Jamaican dialect of English.
As for using Japanese words, I’d rather they were peaceful ones like emoji, sudoku, sakura - rather than kamikaze.
In the US, speaking Spanish is a practical skill given that there's millions of people who speak it as their first language. Politically, Latinos are becoming a very important demographic as well.
I also want to visit Latin/South America and being able to speak Spanish will help me if they don't know English. There's also faux pas to navigate.
God I hate shit like this. Do I have to trace my genetics to check what languages I'm allowed to learn or what? How does people learning other languages hurt a single goddamned soul? How does my learning Japanese hurt their culture? And I'll bet if someone said they don't want to learn "non-white" languages, this fucking moron would be baying for their blood.
Okay, but....I don't want to learn Gaelic and German. While I think both languages are beautiful, the most common languages near me are English and Spanish, and my Spanish is rusty...need work on that.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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