3 ms·

Doesn't every country have official languages that they teach and conduct business in? There are very few groups who still speak their native languages after be

Doesn't every country have official languages that they teach and conduct business in? There are very few groups who still speak their native languages after being assimilated into the US. Tibetan is still being taught in schools there along with mandarin. Wouldn't it be hard to integrate into the business community if you didn't speak the official language of business in a given country?

whimsicalism 5y ago
It's just definitional stretch, which is basically inevitable when you have a word like "genocide." People want to make some odd simile to the holocaust when obviously assimilation is not at all close in magnitude to that horror.
giraffe_lady 5y ago
No definitely not. The majority of people and the majority of countries are multilingual. People conducting business in a language other than the one spoken at home is possibly even the norm, worldwide. And many places have regionally varying languages within a country. Even in "monolingual" countries this is true to some extent. Most of the people likely to be in here right now are are in countries clustered along one side of the spectrum, that we are a minority and an outlier.
technobabbler 5y ago
The US does not have an official language. We just default to English. There are bilingual schools, especially in bigger cities. It's typically conservatives who don't want bilingualism. Within major immigrant hubs, bilingualism and code-switching are very common, especially in multigenerational households. And most modern immigrants come to America willingly, seeking a better quality of life. Among the forced assimilations (Native Americans, Blacks), yeah, they lost a lot of culture. Many other countries are multilingual and to some degree multicultural. Few are as homogenous as East Asian countries. > Wouldn't it be hard to integrate into the business community if you didn't speak the official language of business in a given country? Uh, so offer free Chinese language schools and economic opportunities. It doesn't require kidnapping them and putting them in concentration camps.
- mushbino 5y ago
  We have compulsory schooling in the US with mandatory English. If kids don't go to school, they and their parents can go to jail. Also, you do realize the whole concentration camp thing is mostly propaganda to apply pressure to a geopolitical rival, right? The US has been doing it for the entirety of its existence.
  - technobabbler 5y ago
    That's still not an official language. What's your point? That forced assimilation is OK because they learn a useful language? It's basically their version of manifest destiny and native boarding schools. Brainwashing in either case. The US has been doing what its entire existence? Propaganda, camps, both? And so what? Doesn't make it right for either country. The US and China are both evil in their own ways.

whimsicalism 5y ago

It's just definitional stretch, which is basically inevitable when you have a word like "genocide." People want to make some odd simile to the holocaust when obviously assimilation is not at all close in magnitude to that horror.

giraffe_lady 5y ago

No definitely not. The majority of people and the majority of countries are multilingual. People conducting business in a language other than the one spoken at home is possibly even the norm, worldwide. And many places have regionally varying languages within a country. Even in "monolingual" countries this is true to some extent. Most of the people likely to be in here right now are are in countries clustered along one side of the spectrum, that we are a minority and an outlier.

technobabbler 5y ago

The US does not have an official language. We just default to English. There are bilingual schools, especially in bigger cities. It's typically conservatives who don't want bilingualism. Within major immigrant hubs, bilingualism and code-switching are very common, especially in multigenerational households. And most modern immigrants come to America willingly, seeking a better quality of life. Among the forced assimilations (Native Americans, Blacks), yeah, they lost a lot of culture. Many other countries are multilingual and to some degree multicultural. Few are as homogenous as East Asian countries. > Wouldn't it be hard to integrate into the business community if you didn't speak the official language of business in a given country? Uh, so offer free Chinese language schools and economic opportunities. It doesn't require kidnapping them and putting them in concentration camps.

mushbino 5y ago
We have compulsory schooling in the US with mandatory English. If kids don't go to school, they and their parents can go to jail. Also, you do realize the whole concentration camp thing is mostly propaganda to apply pressure to a geopolitical rival, right? The US has been doing it for the entirety of its existence.
- technobabbler 5y ago
  That's still not an official language. What's your point? That forced assimilation is OK because they learn a useful language? It's basically their version of manifest destiny and native boarding schools. Brainwashing in either case. The US has been doing what its entire existence? Propaganda, camps, both? And so what? Doesn't make it right for either country. The US and China are both evil in their own ways.