As a German-learner, I call bullshit on Wegner's concerns. In my personal experience of learning a new language as an adult, a big challenge is finding the right ways to say what I intend to say, with the level of nuance I want. Gender-neutral words have been essential to me feeling like I can talk about my life, community and experience…
As a German-learner, I call bullshit on Wegner's concerns. In my personal experience of learning a new language as an adult, a big challenge is finding the right ways to say what I intend to say, with the level of nuance I want. Gender-neutral words have been essential to me feeling like I can talk about my life, community and experiences. And honestly, there's parts of German that are far more confusing than "*innen". For example, "du" vs "Sie", and the nightmarish complexity of when to use one or the other, risking deeply offending someone if you choose wrongly.
Perhaps where Wegner's concern is genuine is in wanting to only accept immigrants who speak and think like he does, rather than accept that culture and language change with time.
I came here to write something similar, but you beat me to it! I have a lot of ideas how Wegner could make immigrant's lives, including our language learning, so much easier if there's genuine concern, but this is concern trolling. (Edit to add: German is the 4th language I'm learning as an adult, so I'm beyond tired, and this is still not an issue for me)
As a German-learner, I call bullshit on Wegner's concerns. In my personal experience of learning a new language as an adult, a big challenge is finding the right ways to say what I intend to say, with the level of nuance I want. Gender-neutral words have been essential to me feeling like I can talk about my life, community and experiences. And honestly, there's parts of German that are far more confusing than "*innen". For example, "du" vs "Sie", and the nightmarish complexity of when to use one or the other, risking deeply offending someone if you choose wrongly.
Perhaps where Wegner's concern is genuine is in wanting to only accept immigrants who speak and think like he does, rather than accept that culture and language change with time.
I came here to write something similar, but you beat me to it! I have a lot of ideas how Wegner could make immigrant's lives, including our language learning, so much easier if there's genuine concern, but this is concern trolling. (Edit to add: German is the 4th language I'm learning as an adult, so I'm beyond tired, and this is still not an issue for me)