Consider, therefore, the implications of these facts for speakers of other tongues – for speakers of languages that have only recently emerged from predominantly oral to written cultures, for speakers of “dying” languages and for speakers of languages and dialects restricted to local use. The very scope of English makes it a ready instrument of empire. It bears within it the imperial history of Britain and America, which includes a highly developed discourse of justification for colonialism and domination (consider terms like “errand in the wilderness,” “new world,” “virgin land,” “manifest destiny,” “advancement” and “progress”) that can’t be eradicated simply by legislation or policy, but need to be addressed at the level of language itself – the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves, the euphemisms in which we cloak our greed, the biases that favor th point of view of the privileged…
Learning a language also sensitises us to the various filters through which history and culture come to us. That England is not God’s native language is an important piece of news that a few people haven’t quite registered yet. The church would do well to deliver the news in any number of ways…
From Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies (p.19 & p.180)