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Domínio do inglês / English rules

No café, a caminho do trabalho, vi três homens a tomar um café ao balcão e um deles tinha as palavras SHOW NO LOVE cortado no cabelo.

Ontem, estava no metro ao lado de alguém com uma tatuagem no pescoço: BE BRAVE 

E semana passada vi uma mulher com uma t-shirt que dizia BITCH – I DON'T CARE

O português é a língua materna de 95% das pessoas que vivem em Portugal (segundo o Ethnologue).

Porque é que pessoas escolhem o inglês, em vez da língua materna deles, para estas declarações ao mundo?

Talvez parte da minha surpresa com a proliferação do inglês na pele e na cabeça seja egoísmo: não sinto que os outros tenham o mesmo direito que eu à minha língua materna.

Numa entrevista para discutir o seu novo livro, The Rise of English: global politics and the power of language, Rosemary Salomone questiona se 'o inglês pertence realmente a nós, aos australianos, canadianos, britânicos e americanos... Ou pertence ao mundo? Ter-se-á tornado neutro... libertado do colonialismo britânico, do imperialismo americano ou do soft power americano em Hollywood?'

A drawing in biro of a person with a tattoo on their neck

In the cafe on my way to work I saw three men with the company logo on their fleece jackets. They were having a coffee at the counter and one had the words SHOW NO LOVE shaved into his hair.

Yesterday I was in the metro next to someone with BE BRAVE tattooed down their neck.

And last week I saw a woman with a t-shirt declaring BITCH – I DON’T CARE

Portuguese is the first language for 95% of those living in Portugal (according to Ethnologue). Why do people choose English, rather than their maternal language, for these statements to the world?

Maybe part of my surprise at English proliferating across skin and scalp is my own selfishness: I don’t feel others have the same rights as me to my mother tongue.

In an interview to discuss her new book, The Rise of English: global politics and the power of language, Rosemary Salomone raises the question of whether ‘English really belongs to us, to the Australians and Canadians and Brits and Americans … Or does it belong to the world? Has it become neutral … unleashed from British colonialism or American imperialism or American soft power in Hollywood?’

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