Selina Wang-Discussion questions 11/29

I believe that if writers want to write in their home language, then they should definitely have the choice to do that. Why should they be kept fromwriting down and sharing their own thoughts in their mother language? Nugugi mentions how he “had not been in prison for being critical of the post-colonial system” when he wrote in English, but the second he started criticizing the flawed system in his home language, he was put into jail. I just think it’s ridiculous how he is writing about the same things, but the only difference is the language he chose to write it in. Rushdie on the other hand, argues for the counterargument, he says that writing in English is better due to “the English language’s enormous flexibility and size”. This isn’t always true because if someone isn’t that familiar with the English language, then they might not fully get their point across. Whereas, if they were to write in their home language, they would be able to write a more thorough and close description. However, I don’t necessarily think that writing in one’s home language is the only way to preserve their culture. There are many other ways, one can even write about their culture in English and spread it to more people since English is a language that most people know. Besides English I can also speak and write in Chinese. I do feel a little discouraged to write in Chinese because emy vocab knowledge is not as advanced in Chinese compared to in English.