Babel

by R.F. Kuang

English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much on being better than the rest of the world, could not make it through an afternoon tea without borrowed goods.

it was actually quite easy to put up with any degree of social unrest, as long as one got used to looking away.

‘The British are turning my homeland into a narco-military state to pump drugs into yours. That’s how this empire connects us.’

an equal playing field for all. Only it never ended up that way, did it? What ‘free trade’ really meant was British imperial dominance, for what was free about a trade that relied on a massive build-up of naval power to secure maritime access? When mere trading companies could wage war, assess taxes, and administer civil and criminal justice?

the people who had the power to do anything about it had been placed in positions where they would profit, and the people who suffered most had no power at all.

there are a good deal of languages which are dying, you know. A great extinction event began the day Christopher Columbus set foot in the New World.

I’ve lived most of my life in a country that is deeply confused on whether I fully count as human.