Untitled

I almost scrolled past this

European accents (and in general white people accents) are commonly perceived as attractive and endearing, while accents from basically any other part of the world are considered to be signs of laziness and disrespect and get routinely made fun of.

My whole family is Korean. My sister and I have grown up in the US so we can pretty much speak English. However, our parents speak very broken English. It makes me mad though because my mother has taken ESL classes at our local university and my father graduated from the University of Washington with a PhD in mechanical engineering, yet I constantly see them being made fun of by their coworkers or other people in general because “they’re too lazy to try to understand English.” My mom has spent countless nights crying whilst taking her classes because of the stress wishing she could speak half as fluently as I can. If you don’t know what it’s like trying to learn English as a second language, then you have no room to talk.

 rainbow-ginger-butterfly:

As someone who’s been trained to teach English to non-English speakers, allow me to inform you that English is an eldritch Frankenstein-esque abomination of borrowed words and mismatched grammatical rules.

Structurally, English is as convoluted and obtuse as any aspect of governmental bureaucracy, and it’s similarly societally entrenched in a way that makes people believe, and even insist, that’s just “the way of things.”

Here’s the facts: English is fucking hard. English doesn’t make logical sense. English is weird and horrible and inconsistent and makes common use of unusual phonemes that most adult speakers of other languages have to be mechanically taught to differentiate from similar sounds that are distinct in the English language. Without mechanical introduction and proper instruction, a lot of people cannot actually hear the difference in sounds you are mocking them for.

In some languages, [p] and [b] are indistinguishable. This is why you heard that gentleman say he would like a “can of Coke or Bebsi” with his order. It has nothing to do with laziness.

In some languages, [l] and [r] are indistinguishable. This is why you’re an asshole for going “me rikey” like the substitution is somehow comical. You’re a dick, and also most likely racist.

In the vast majority of languages, [θ] and [ð], known to English speakers as the voiceless (thing) and voiced (there) versions of the th sound, respectively, straight up does not even exist. This is why she says “teef” or “toofbrush,” why he keeps saying “ze” or “de” in place of “the,” and why they said “sank you very much” when you held open the door for them. 

There are sounds in English that a hell of a lot of speakers of other languages cannot teach themselves to recognize and recreate without assistance.

And, y’know, even if you get the screwy grammar and troublesome pronounciation down, English is a language in which very slight changes in intonation and word stress can completely change the meaning of a sentence. 

Like so:

But how are you doing? (Flamboyant pleasure to see someone, eagerness to catch up.)

But how are you doing? (Deflection from inquiries about self, moving conversation in a new direction.)

But how are you doing? (Concern, request for further or more accurate information.)

These are all totally different statements.

It’s incredibly easy to come across in a way you did not want or intend to when you’re not familiar with the particular ways in which saying something can change what it means to other people. 

Don’t you ever give people shit for not achieving or approaching fluency in English.

Repeat after me: English is a terrible fucking language and speaking it does not make me tangibly superior to anyone else in literally any way.

PSA this is super important. As a child of an immigrant I will maim anyone who is snarky about English, fuck your English.

(via phuckindope)

dear christian (and really any other) girls who have had sex before marriage,

i know many people in the church have told you that you will no longer be desirable. i know that many have told you that you will probably cheat on your husband now. i know you are told to feel ashamed and to hate yourself. we are taught that it was our fault even when the man forced himself on us (like the guy who took my virginity) i was taught to hate myself when my “purity” was stolen from me. and even if your’s wasn’t stolen, you still don’t need to feel like dirt. you are worth more than gold, love.

i’m here to tell you that you are still worthy of love. you are still beautiful. you are not damaged goods. you are not defined by your past. you are beautiful and i know where you’re at. there is grace. love is greater than any amount of shame that you could ever experience. i’m sorry the church has told you (us) that we’re a crumpled up rose that no man will want. jesus wants us. and you know what? some man may never want us, but jesus is enough. jesus is more than enough and i believe that if he has given you the desire for a husband, he will give you a husband who loves you fully and unapologetically. you are worth more than “virginity” and “sexual purity.” jesus makes us pure and beautiful. you are loved and you are more.

sincerely,

the girl the church told to wear a scarlet letter

^

yes

new favorite post on tumblr

Christian youtuber- www.youtube.com/hananyanaftali

My biggest fear is that one day my kids will be crying alone to themselves at night and I wont know about it

Bob Goff (via tblaberge)

i should save this for later

I have to save this for later

FOR LATER

Anyone who cares about education in America should watch this.

(via gudinoxlupita)

Vía linaje-escogido (via linaje-escogido)

French Press Mornings

seriously it’s 2013 where is this??

2013 and we can’t even electronically synthesize big macs out of nothing. We’re basically living in a dystopia.

it’s 2015 where is this?