Why is this English?

The reason I write in English although it is not my native language.

In this newsletter I describe, why I write in English and not in German, my native language. What are my thoughts on this decision and what are the advantages and disadvantages?

First, if Frederick Muhlenberg had voted differently, this newsletter would be in German. Except this is an urban legend.

The Muhlenberg legend is an urban legend in the United States and Germany. According to the legend, the single vote of Frederick Muhlenberg, the first ever Speaker of the US House of Representatives, prevented German from becoming an official language of the United States.

But why is Muhlenberg the reason I write this newsletter in English?

You may have noticed that the USA is or was the dominating country. It had a big cultural and economic influence. This is why English is the lingua franca of our days.

Was this mansplaining?

Nearly everyone on the internet understands English to some degree. If you want to reach as many people as possible you have to communicate in English. And hey my last newsletter was read by 9 people. So mission accomplished.

9 people reading a newsletter in different scenes. This is how AI imagines my 9 readers.

Since I write about global topics I want to reach a global audience. But this decision was not as clear as it may sound now.

Climate crisis, sustainability, and politics are global topics, but you can only act locally. That’s why writing in German and trying to reach my local audience would make sense.

And I thought about doing so. But I am more of a theoretical guy, I normally don’t have advice on what you can do practically. I hope my posts are thought-provoking and can help make clear, that if you care about the environment, our planet, and all human beings, you are not alone. Many people around the world think and feel the same. I do not know if I succeed in this purpose, but I hope so.

I write these newsletters in English and imagine that somewhere on this blue ball someone reads them. Being as bad at English as I am, but understands them. And then maybe this person thinks, what is Austria? And after s/he found out, s/he thinks maybe they are not so different over there. Or this guy mansplained me, I write him a mean comment.

And that’s great because it means more interaction and the algorithm will show the post to more people.

So please comment and subscribe to my newsletter and maybe one day you will be an AI-generated freak in my newsletter.

Thanks for reading.

Yours sincerely,

Ian DeBay