International Mother Language Day: Words from Southeast Asian Languages that English can't colonize 🌏

There are many things us SEAblings don’t agree on…

but we can absolutely agree on clapping back at racism (🇰🇷👀) and celebrating our beautiful languages. 🔥

Because let’s be real: 𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙪𝙨. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲, 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹.

Language has long been central to colonial policy, considered one of the fastest ways to subjugate and control so-called “territories.” In the Philippines, for instance, the Thomasites (American teachers) institutionalized English in schools in 1901 as a way to “civilize” their “little brown brothers”. Filipino children were physically punished for speaking their mother tongues.

And even today, English fluency is still treated as a ticket to opportunities, class mobility, and power…

This International Mother Language Day, we’re reclaiming space for Southeast Asian words that refuse to be flattened into English. 🌏✨

Our languages carry our local culture and histories.

Our words carry our ancestors’ memories of making sense of the world.

And some meanings? They were never meant to be translated.

💬 What’s a word in your language that English can never colonize? Drop it below. Let’s build our collective dictionary. 📚

#WeAreManushyan ∞ Equal Human Beings

#InternationalMotherLanguageDay #DecolonizeLanguage #LinguisticJustice