random niche hill ill die on is that i think all languages should be called whatever they call themselves in that language. if it's español en español it should be español in english. what the hell is a spanish anyways.
It is just impractical. And philosophically dubious.
English simply doesn't have the sounds present in the word "Español". Look up the transcription. Sounds /e/, /ɲ/, /a/ are not present in English. Is it really the same word if you mangle it and replace those sounds with similar ones from English? And this is an example from romance language. Words from less related languages will be translated even worse.
And even if you do, historical development of languages will lead to those words drifting even more apart, resulting in differences not unlike present today.
And, of course, why? Something something colonialism? I fully support anticolonialism, but that's bullshit and doesn't change anything in a meaningful way
Phonetics are incredibly relative. English doesn't have a "palatalised nasal-alveolar-fricative", or whatever string of terminology is proper for the spanish 'ñ' sound, but "español" could be realised well enough with the English 'ny', as in, say, 'New York'.
That's the 'New York' of British English, by the way. American English doesn't pronounce a palatal approximate preceding the long 'u' sound, and in Irish English 'new' doesn't contain a long 'u' at all—because, of course, pronunciation is accent-dependant.
OP didn't mean this literally. They speak from a strong belief in the importance of cultural education and the applied respect for/engagement with world cultures, through the use of native language, for example. This idea is incredibly common, and derives I assume from the global history of language bans as a tool of oppression.
So, yes: 'something something colonialism'. Scores of languages have been crippled or lost by colonial "assimilation", and engaging with other cultures through language is a simple and meaningful way to show allyship and respect.
I'm Australian: In my country we learn and use aboriginal languages to acknowledge the continual history of our country and its indigenous peoples. In my country, accepting and embracing aboriginal languages is a massive part of reconciliation. My country and its people live through this issue every day, which is why I'm rambling on about it, and why I support OP's stance on this topic.
Take this: the instrument 'didgeridoo' is commonly associated with aboriginal culture. It's from Arnhem land in northern australia, and its proper name is 'yidaki'—which it has been for thousands of years. "Historical development of languages" doesn't butcher cultural sincerity, the wilful appropriation of native terms does.
I could tell ur a fucking westerner just from the start of ur long ass rant.
I'm not even gonna engage in linguistics side of things bc believing any language that is not germanic or romance can be named in such a way in English is plainly stupid.
But like. It doesn't matter how you name things. It really doesn't. You western substitute of anticolonialism is pathetic to look at tbh
Ur obsessed with showing allyship (wtf even is that) in a world, where u peronally directly benefit from decades of colonialism.
