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A comment on Nabokov's guide to foreigners learning Russian. Parent comment
Language is a carrier for centuries of cultural evolution. Russian language is rich with unique untranslatable slurs for neighboring nations. Why?
Language is a powerful colonization engine. Read history of any colonization. First thing colonizers do: teach colonized their language.
Once you impose your language on a person, you immediately integrate that person in your cultural domain.
I assume you just have no experience with the matter, and haven't seen this in action.
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Language is a carrier for centuries of cultural evolution. Russian language is rich with unique untranslatable slurs for neighboring nations. Why?
Language is a powerful colonization engine. Read history of any colonization. First thing colonizers do: teach colonized their language.
Once you impose your language on a person, you immediately integrate that person in your cultural domain.
I assume you just have no experience with the matter, and haven't seen this in action.