The Linguist

6 The Linguist Vol/63 No/1 thelinguist.uberflip.com NEWS & EDITORIAL The academic Michele Gazzola wrote an article in The Guardian discussing the concept of linguistic justice. He recognises that while languages such as English are highly valued and useful for communication worldwide, this brings a cost to non-native speakers in multiple ways – from the time an individual spends learning to the education budgets of nations prioritising English as the main foreign language that must be taught. The philosopher Philippe Van Parijs has even proposed a 'linguistic tax' on English- speaking countries to compensate for the costs of teaching English in other countries. Gazzola does not endorse this in his article, but raises interesting questions about the wisdom of accepting English – or any other dominant language – as entirely benign. Perhaps our young people are already more open to a more multilingual, multipolar sense of culture and language that could address these questions in the future. Are we witnessing the decline of English, as other languages become more prevalent in global popular culture, asks Philip Harding-Esch We have seen an increase in non-English music taking over the UK and US pop charts in recent years, and the trend appears to be deepening. The author Shain Shapiro made an interesting argument in The Guardian that some countries' generous investment in culture has led to worldwide commercial and cultural success, citing the K-pop phenomenon. Linking the current vogue for South American music to Colombia's 'national plan' for music in cities, he contrasted this with a lack of support for young artists in the UK. What is leading to this wider acceptance of multilingual culture? A central argument is an economic one: that an explosion of content, married to universal internet connection, is allowing the best to rise to the top. Certainly that is the argument of Charles Bramesco, again in The Guardian, marvelling at the twin triumphs – in both commercial terms and awards – for 'foreign' film and TV: "It just took a while for tastes to catch up with the internet's explosion of availability." Louisa Ballhaus for BBC Culture points to conscious efforts by Hollywood and traditional broadcasters to diversify in the wake of movements such as the #OscarsSoWhite campaign. This has begun to influence the voting panels of such awards and is matched by the ease with which regular movie-lovers can access world cinema "just on Netflix". Bramesco also mentions an intriguing new phenomenon: young people often now watch video content with subtitles "as a matter of course" – even in their own language. Last year, YouGov found that over 60% of young people turn on subtitles, in contrast with older generations, who are the exact opposite. Either way, the new ubiquity of subtitles is sweeping away what has long been seen as a barrier to English speakers' enjoyment of foreign language content. There appears to be a generational shift in how people consume media, along with a meaningful diversification of the producers of that media and those who celebrate and commission it. The 'silo' linguistic mentality appears to be weakening in the monolingual West. We see the emergence of socio- linguistic discourse in which the hegemony of English in particular, and post-colonial world languages in general, is being questioned. Is the reign of English ending? CHART TOPPERS K-pop boy band Stray Kidz (known as SKZ)

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