eatingcroutons:

useless-estoniafacts:

languageoclock:

useless-englandfacts:

It’s like okay ur Ukrainian. Speak some for me. Right now here we go amaze me.

one of my friends always brings up how she’s “half German” when I say something about German/Germany like she thinks she’s qualified to join in the conversation or that her contribution is valuable just because her mum was born in Germany but she moved to Australia when she was 7 and I have spoken to her in German and I could tell she hadn’t spoken the language for years and the friend has only been to Germany like twice I mean yes I like her she’s a nice person I don’t wanna bag her out but it makes me so ANGRY when she constantly buts in when she has no idea what she’s actually talking about……….

(I’m breaking my facts only because wtf)

What the everloving fuck? If her mum is german (eg. lived in Germany and has/had German nationality) she has more than right to call herself half-german.

There are a lot of people who are half-(insertanationality) but don’t speak the language and the reasons can be different, for example their other parent forbade to teach the language.

If they feel connected to their parents’ homeland then they can call themselves half-(insertanationality).

From my viewpoint it looks like you two who are from big countries are looking down on “lesser” countries.

For smaller countries, someone whose ancestry from is 2-3 generations back and speaks no language and knows only little bit about the country’s culture but wants to define themself as that nationality and learn more about it is welcomed with open arms.

NO ONE BUT PERSON THEMSELVES CAN DECLARE THEIR ANCESTRY.

Stop with neocolonialism.

@languageoclock​, I’m from Australia too; I grew up in Melbourne where a third of the population is foreign-born. And I’m just thinking of my friend Jenny, who moved to Australia from Taiwan when she was 8, and how fucked-up it would be to tell her she isn’t “qualified" to call herself Taiwanese.

I’m half-Estonian by descent, and have spent maybe a month in Estonia in my life. The first time I visited the country I was a teenager, and at the time I considered myself 100% Australian. 

But that was almost twenty years ago, and as an adult I’ve come to a much more nuanced appreciation of how Estonian culture is part of my family’s and my own values and identity. Two years ago I applied for and received my Estonian passport; I’m proud to call myself an Estonian citizen even though I still only know the most rudimentary phrases in Estonian.

And you know what? Every Estonian I’ve ever met – from my grandparents in Australia, to my extended family in Estonia, to my Estonian colleague at work, to the Estonians I’ve met socially in multiple countries around the world – every one of them has been thrilled that I embrace my cultural heritage, no matter how little of the language I speak. Particularly my grandmother, who spent the 50s and 60s trying make her family as Australian as possible to fit in, and now regrets that none of her grandchildren were raised speaking Estonian.

@useless-englandfacts​, as a British citizen and current UK resident I’m frankly ashamed by this kind of neocolonialist gatekeeping. Stop demanding people prove that they’re allowed to identify with their own family heritage. You don’t get to dictate whether their background matters to them.

No one has a right to decide someone else’s identity. 

It does look like the original conversation was about people assuming they can speak about issues in the country they have ancestors in, though. I know a lot of people sometimes talk over people who have had personal experience with an issue, because they assume they know better.

While the language the 2 OPs used is somewhat inflammatory, I do think that it can be insulting to talk over someone from a country’s point because you have a relative who lived there.

Still, if it turns out they were just insulting people for how they identified themselves, I take back my support.