Comment on Cool Japan 🌸

• Serinus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  Do you believe that anyone existing in America must speak English

  Yeah, eventually. If I’m going to live in a country indefinitely, I’m going to try to learn their language. If I’m in France for more than a year, I’m going to try to learn French. I’d expect the same of friends and family. It’s not racist to expect people living in a place long term to be able to converse with the locals.

  If they’re working here for just a summer or two and spending most of the year in another country, no.

  and only English?

  No?

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  • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    Yeah, eventually. If I’m going to live in a country indefinitely, I’m going to try to learn their language.

    We’re not talking about eventually or indefinitely we’re literally just talking about visiting a restaurant for a meal

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    • Serinus@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Sorry, you asked a question that could have been seen as different from that context, so I was very explicit.

      No, for just visiting you don’t need to learn the language. If you plan to stay long term, you should learn the local language.

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  • Goodeye8@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    So shouldn’t all Americans speak (or at least learn) native American languages? You know, on the account that English isn’t native to America. Neither is Spanish for that matter. Nor French.

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  • diffaldo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    They are even racist to their own… Also you seem to be cursed. So you need to watch the video.

    So you need to watch the video.

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• wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  America is a country founded upon immigration, so it’s not a comparable example. In broad terms, Japan is historically a fairly homogenous nation ethnically, culturally, and linguistically (and yes, I know those are very broad terms, I’m talking relative to North American countries like the US and Canada).

  If the 1600s-1700s had gone differently, and North America remained predominantly populated by Native peoples speaking Native languages, then yeah I’d say it’s totally within their rights to expect visitors to either learn the local language and attempt to integrate, or be left out of certain parts of society such as restaurants that want to cater exclusively to people who speak Algonquin or whatever.

  Show up in Algiers and try saying “Sorry, I don’t speak Arabic. Do you have a French menu?”

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• bitjunkie@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

  I’m not an expert on Japanese culture, but I don’t think they have the “melting pot” cultural identity that America has had historically.

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  • RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

    So it’s not xenophobia if you’ve been consistently xenophobic from the start.

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    • wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

      Was it xenophobia for Algeria to reject French-speakers?

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      • RickyRigatoni@piefed.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago

        Are you seriously trying to say colonialism and tourism are the same thing

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