"Your English is so good!"

September 28, 2022 12:57 AM

Who Speaks English? When one considers that English is also an official language in Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, among other similarly fast-growing African countries once colonized by Britain, one begins to understand that the future of the English language itself is profoundly bound up with the future of the African continent. (The same, by the way, is true of the French language.)
posted by cendawanita (2 comments total)

As a fellow British Commonwealther, let me just state for the record the fact that i have to pay almost RM1000 to get an IELTS certificate to prove my fluency, a certification that is only valid for two years before I'm even eligible to apply to a UK university, is bullshit.

And the fact that American universities refuse to accept that as a valid proof of fluency and requires one to cough up even more money for their own tests? Hah.
posted by cendawanita at 12:59 AM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

A recent example of this hegemonic thinking that caught my film nerd attention: Nigerian films fail eligibility criteria for Oscars 2023

Not enough non-English dialogue used, you see. Never mind it's the official language of the country.
posted by cendawanita at 1:02 AM on September 28, 2022 [3 favorites]