I like this man

[Mich the Tester]

when was that, I'm interested in where you draw the line here

I don’t draw any line. You listed the indigenous languages of the British Isles. English came along much later than those languages and is a mix and match of Germanic and Norman dialects, brought here by immigrants/conquerors (there’s still a lot of debate about whether the Saxons were warlike conquerors or peaceful migrants or a mixture of both). English has developed into such a rich language because it’s been open to so many influences. (I’m not suggesting that the other indigenous languages are somehow poorer). You seem to want to stop those influences arriving; you are drawing the line.

[Old Greg]

English is an imported language.

I don't think so. Germanic languages similar to Friesian came over from the continent from the 5th century, but English developed here.

Remember, Celtic languages are also imported - think about the poor neo-lithic folk who were culturally displaced.

Perhaps we should demand that everyone peaks Basque or Etruscan as languages representative of the time before those nasty Indo-Europeans turned up.

[contractor79]

I don’t draw any line. You listed the indigenous languages of the British Isles. English came along much later than those languages and is a mix and match of Germanic and Norman dialects, brought here by immigrants/conquerors (there’s still a lot of debate about whether the Saxons were warlike conquerors or peaceful migrants or a mixture of both). English has developed into such a rich language because it’s been open to so many influences. (I’m not suggesting that the other indigenous languages are somehow poorer). You seem to want to stop those influences arriving; you are drawing the line.

where do you draw the line please, at what point does something become indigenous

[Mich the Tester]

I don't think so. Germanic languages similar to Friesian came over from the continent from the 5th century, but English developed here.

Remember, Celtic languages are also imported - think about the poor neo-lithic folk who were culturally displaced.

Perhaps we should demand that everyone peaks Basque or Etruscan as languages representative of the time before those nasty Indo-Europeans turned up.

You're right, but I'm pointing out in a strange way that all languages have developed under the influence of migration and the idea that one language should be frozen in time as the one and only 'indigenous' language is stupid. There are probably no real indigenous languages.

As for the Basque or Etruscan choice, I'd choose Etruscan; it's a close call as both Etruscans and Basques have good food and very enjoyable booze, but I just think Basque has too many 'k's, 'x's and 'z's to be pronouncable.

[Mich the Tester]

where do you draw the line please, at what point does something become indigenous

never

[sasguru]

where do you draw the line please, at what point does something become indigenous

Are you an immigrant? Your mastery of English seems rather poor.

[Old Greg]

You're right, but I'm pointing out in a strange way that all languages have developed under the influence of migration and the idea that one language should be frozen in time as the one and only 'indigenous' language is stupid. There are probably no real indigenous languages.

As for the Basque or Etruscan choice, I'd choose Etruscan; it's a close call as both Etruscans and Basques have good food and very enjoyable booze, but I just think Basque has too many 'k's, 'x's and 'z's to be pronouncable.

Nobody really knows much ancient Etruscan.

I'm picturing this policy in 1940.

Newly arrived Jewish refugee turns up in shop without a word of English (oh, hang on this is the Daily Mail, let's think of something else.)

Newly arrived Polish soldier having escaped from Poland, then from France, turns up in shop. Gesticulates at something. No service.

[contractor79]

never

oh really, so you'd find it quite acceptable for one group of people to immigrate en masse to some other part of the world and dismantle the indigenous culture there and replace it with theirs, I guess you have no problem with the colonisation of parts of the world by e.g. British Empire then

and you would justify that because you deny indigenous culture exists

[Old Greg]

oh really, so you'd find it quite acceptable for one group of people to immigrate en masse to some other part of the world and dismantle the indigenous culture there and replace it with theirs, I guess you have no problem with the colonisation of parts of the world by e.g. British Empire then

and you would justify that because you deny indigenous culture exists

Could you explain the logical flow of ideas in your post please?

[Rantor]

Exactly.

I get to see this quite a lot.

Personally, I get frustrated at my level of spoken dutch as I think it’s a bit rude to live somewhere and not be able to conduct routine transactions in the local language.

More importantly, there are often situations were people are precluded from speaking the non-official lingo. I actually ended up feeling sorry for my sons teacher (fluent English speaker) who had to endure my ‘nederlands als tweede taal – jaar 2’ caveman dutch at the last parents meeting but they made the rules.

Still, it could have been worse; I could have launched into French and started a major ethnic dispute.

I would add that my willingness to learn the local languages is not universal, and there are loads of English speakers who live here for years and simply refuse to learn any foreign.

My missus was getting quite comfortable with that idea and I had to spend ages persuading her that speaking English loudly wasn’t the best long term option – sooner or later you need to be able to have an argument with someone in officialdom.

BTW – blanket linguistic chauvinism highlighted by the OP is just another cretinous way of pandering to xenophobia.