In the past few years, I’ve become increasingly aware of various kinds of privilege I’ve had in my life. On my most recent trip, though, the one that stood out BIG AND BRIGHT is the English privilege when traveling.
For the first time, I was in Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands. I had actually been to the country when I was young with my family and our friend who is Dutch (and who speaks Dutch). This time I was on my own, with my only languages being English and Spanish.
It was a huge relief and very comforting to find announcements and signs were all in Dutch AND English. Because let me tell you, all my best guessing powers would not help me understand a lick of Dutch. And frankly, the English spoken by the Dutch is arguably better than that spoken by some Americans at home. Entire menus were translated into English and some stores or restaurants even had their main signage in English with no trace of Dutch. So it was very easy to get around in the city and explore.
When I spent an afternoon in Rotterdam, I navigated my way to Markthal, a fun amalgamation of food stalls and stands and restaurants. On my way in, I passed a Japanese couple speaking to each other in Japanese and was momentarily struck: if they didn’t speak English, they would likely end up feeling isolated and possibly very cut-off, to be in this country where the language is nothing like theirs, and unlikely to have many other Japanese speakers. And while it’s possible they spoke English and could get along easily, it’s equally possible that they didn’t speak English and would have to rely on intuition and charades to get around.
I took a deep breath, offered them my silent admiration, and sent out deep gratitude for my unearned privilege of having others in the world learn my language in order to be able to communicate with me…
Signs in English!