I was once grilled as a grad student by another—very left-wing—student I'd just met about whether Welsh was "a luxury". I've also been reminded that people matter, not languages. There's a strange blind spot on the left about the importance of languages to people.https://twitter.com/zoesqwilliams/status/1224266549508366338 …
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Right. Of course it matters that individuals have food and shelter, and these things come first. But once that's said, we must consider how crucial culture is to individuals and to communities. People need community, and community is built with culture.
I grew up surrounded by Plattdütsch (paternal grandparents) & Hochdeutsch (mother's side). I would get beaten by my mother & aunt if I spoke low German. I'm still quite uncomfortable in my "mother's tongue" & often dare not speak freely in other languages. Language matters.
