• @UnderpantsWeevil
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    2 months ago

    You can go to literally any city in Earth and find many English speakers.

    I’ve traveled to numerous cities in Europe and East Asia and visited many places where little to no English was spoken.

    You can usually find a handful of people in a major business center who specifically cater to foreign visitors, if you’re willing to spend extra for the privilege. But get outside the center of Paris or Berlin or Malmo or Shanghai or Tokyo, and its very easy to find yourself amid a sea of people who have no idea how to understand you much less respond.

    Yes, there are call centers in Manila or Taipei where tens of thousands of people have to speak English for their jobs. Yes, the entire staff of the The Palm in Dubai is fluent. No, that’s not really helpful if you’re out in the suburbs of Brussels or living as a student in Seoul. If you need to call a plumber because the sink of your flat in Palermo sprung a leak, there’s a very good chance you’re going to be explaining the problem in Italian or in very elaborate hand gestures.

    • @RubberElectrons
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      32 months ago

      If it comes to your life, you really may need to learn another language. It happens anyway, move to a new place with a reasonable population of foreign language speakers and you’ll start picking up some words here and there.

      I don’t know your situation, just wish you luck, and remember to forward that same welcoming other communities may share with you to others in the future. You may not be the only one intent on escaping.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
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        22 months ago

        If it comes to your life, you really may need to learn another language.

        Sure. But then moving from Berlin to Krakow isn’t necessarily going to save you from the imperial march.

        Also, not a trivial thing to accomplish. It’s a bit like telling a 40 year old who has never learned to swim to brush up real quick before we push you off the side of the boat.

        I don’t know your situation

        I mean, for the most part I’m fine. This is all hypothetical, right up until it isn’t. But “you should just learn an extra language maybe?” isn’t what I’d call a practical response to the problem of a fascist local government.

        • @RubberElectrons
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          2 months ago

          Yeah, it’s definitely not trivial, but not impossible, and the relocation may even be a temporary situation. I only suggested taking the leap regardless because that seemed to be your trend, “I’d like to leave but perhaps the language barrier is too intense”, to paraphrase.

          And you’re right that it won’t stop the march. I don’t intend to give up my country to fascists. Some people, just due to physical ailments etc, may need to leave vs fight and that’s ok too.

          • @UnderpantsWeevil
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            12 months ago

            Yeah, it’s definitely not trivial, but not impossible

            I’d go so far as to say “incredibly difficult, expensive, and time consuming to do well”.

            Some people, just due to physical ailments etc, may need to leave vs fight and that’s ok too.

            Oh, absolutely. Know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em.

            I just see a lot of fascist tendency building up in English-speaking corners of the world. That 1.5-2.0B English speakers figure isn’t a great solution when it just means moving from Fascism HQ to Franchise Fascism. The spots with the most English speakers - India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the UK, and the Philippines are plagued by some deeply reactionary domestic situations.

            It’s a tight spot to be, is all.