About Privilege and Disadvantage in Language Learning

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I think in many situations what and how many languages a person knows is connected to the level of privilege and underprivilege that they experience. To illustrate, think of...

  • The child of the ultra rich or semi-aristocracy who is educated in foreign boarding schools in London or Switzerland and spends their summers with extended family in another foreign country.
  • The expatriate child from a developed country who has spent a significant time of their youth in a foreign country through their parents work.
  • The 1st or 2nd generation child immigrant to a western country who speaks a different language at home than the one that is taught in schools.
  • The minority or aboriginal ethnic group whose minority language isn't recognized in some ways by their country.
  • The student from a developing country wishing to further their education or expand their job prospects in an English speaking country.
  • The working immigrant to a foreign country who has to learn a foreign language in order to properly do their job.
  • The refugee who has spent years living in irregular living situations who has to learn the language where they live or seek to live.

There are many situations of privilege and disadvantage that effect how many languages someone knows. In some circumstances someone learns a language through no real effort of their own, in some circumstances the languages someone does know isn't valued or respected in the country where they live, and in some circumstances the person has to learn a foreign language in order to live and improve their living situation in a new country.

I think it's helpful to reflect on the level of privilege one has experienced and how it has effected their ability to know multiple languages. This helps us to not compare ourselves to others who may have had better circumstances than ourselves, and it's important to realize that learning a language purely as a hobby is among one of the privileged situations to learn a language one can be in.

What do you think?

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