Fiona 
One of the first things I complained about on Fedi was about how a lot of developers in large US based tech companies are monolingual and how that shows in a lot of their products, in that they kinda assume you only know one language. So this isn’t exactly something recent.
One thing I’ve noticed that a lot of people based in the US seem to treat people that are “bilingual” as marginalized group and talk about them as if they were facing issues. Obviously that’s an insane proposition on the face of it, since knowing more languages is essentially never a disadvantage (okay, except when it means you have to endure cringe posting from even more linguistic backgrounds).
But I think I’m beginning to understand that when people talk about “bilinguals”, they are not talking about people who speak two languages, they are talking about people whose native language isn’t English and who are not fully proficient in English. I understand that that group is facing issues and marginalized in large parts of the US, but the issue they are having is not that they are bilingual, it’s that they are bad at English!
This in turn seems to have further cemented the notion over there that people have one preferred language that they are fully fluent in and would prefer to not see anything else or at least have it translated for them. (See e.g. all the bullshit youtube is pulling.)
So let me get something clear: I am bilingual, arguably trilingual if we count Dutch¹, and at least between German and English I basically never want a translation (unless as a starting point when I’m translating for someone else) and with Dutch never unasked! That’s what knowing multiple languages, as is common among Europeans, means! When you use that word, you are talking about people like me who are potentially so fluent that they have their entire relationship in their second language and often think in it!
If you want to talk about people who speak the primary local language only at a low level, say so! Don’t use words that mean something else as racist Euphemisms!
And stop with the fucking insane assumption that people want texts translated without getting asked!
¹ If we go by what my Abitur says you could even argue quattrilingual, but the notion that I know Latin is a complete lie!
#MonoLingualDevelopers #Racism
One thing I’ve noticed that a lot of people based in the US seem to treat people that are “bilingual” as marginalized group and talk about them as if they were facing issues. Obviously that’s an insane proposition on the face of it, since knowing more languages is essentially never a disadvantage (okay, except when it means you have to endure cringe posting from even more linguistic backgrounds).
But I think I’m beginning to understand that when people talk about “bilinguals”, they are not talking about people who speak two languages, they are talking about people whose native language isn’t English and who are not fully proficient in English. I understand that that group is facing issues and marginalized in large parts of the US, but the issue they are having is not that they are bilingual, it’s that they are bad at English!
This in turn seems to have further cemented the notion over there that people have one preferred language that they are fully fluent in and would prefer to not see anything else or at least have it translated for them. (See e.g. all the bullshit youtube is pulling.)
So let me get something clear: I am bilingual, arguably trilingual if we count Dutch¹, and at least between German and English I basically never want a translation (unless as a starting point when I’m translating for someone else) and with Dutch never unasked! That’s what knowing multiple languages, as is common among Europeans, means! When you use that word, you are talking about people like me who are potentially so fluent that they have their entire relationship in their second language and often think in it!
If you want to talk about people who speak the primary local language only at a low level, say so! Don’t use words that mean something else as racist Euphemisms!
And stop with the fucking insane assumption that people want texts translated without getting asked!
¹ If we go by what my Abitur says you could even argue quattrilingual, but the notion that I know Latin is a complete lie!
#MonoLingualDevelopers #Racism
Fiona