Someone just left me a message in Dutch. I won’t publish it because the person was not nasty or impolite so I don’t want to tie their name to this post as if they had said something that triggered one of my rants. With that said, I wanted to go on record as to why I write in English:
1) I cannot write in Dutch properly. I mean, sure, I can scribble basic shit and manage to present a very simple argument. My reading comprehension in Dutch is really good, though (I cannot, for the life of me, understand why I can read complex stuff and not manage to translate the same skill into complex writing, but that’s neither here nor there).
2) I also write in English because when I started writing about life, politics and social issues in The Netherlands, I felt that people could get away with a lot of reprehensible bullshit because there was no public scrutiny of Dutch politics. The Dutch LOVE to have opinions about “how things are in other countries”, however, because so few people outside the country speak Dutch, they didn’t have to experience the same level of exposure for the racist, xenophobic and nonsensical shit that goes on in the country. In my limited capacity, I thought I could contribute to remedy that.
3) Writing in English allows me to build alliances. I can interact with people outside who understand. People with whom I (we) can compare experiences and build a shared history (i.e. the history of the immigrant, the history of those who are foreign, the history of those who are Othered, etc etc).
4) I struggle with the Dutch State imposition of forced language assimilation. Because my level of Dutch will never match my skills in Spanish or English, it is that I believe the State puts me in a place as subordinate by forcing me to learn the language (and use it at all times) or else risk deportation (yes, for those outside The Netherlands, this is the letter of the law), so I resist by creating a space where I won’t have my discourse dumbed down by the State. I write in my terms and with the depth (or lack of, as the case might be) that suits me.
All of this is a long winded way of saying: I resist through language. It’s the one tiny thing afforded to me. I speak Dutch to my Dutch friends because I want them to feel comfortable around me and because I understand that this is the language of the land and I live here and participate in civil life, so I abide by the social contract. But not in my writing because really, it’s the only place where I can be free from State mandated rules. And honestly, that’s the only reason why I write stuff on the internet.
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