Why I write in English

People choose to write in another language for different reasons. When Irishman Samuel Beckett was asked why he wrote in French and not in English, he answered: “More and more my own language appears to me like a veil that must be torn apart to get at the things behind it.”

While I will not compare myself with this literary master, my reason for writing mainly in English (and not in my native Papiamentu nor in Dutch) stems from a deep-rooted need to communicate with the world. This is why as a globalist, I pride myself on considering the whole wide world as my playground.

Many a time, while visiting or talking to foreign (key)players from all corners of the world, I’m convinced that there’s a void of scholarly and serious accounts in English about our country. Yes, the internet has plenty of information for (would-be) tourists, but aren’t we more than sand on the seashore? I started my blog precisely to fill this void. In my first article, I said that my goal was making sense of world events, especially those that directly impact our lives, pocketbooks, personal freedoms, and the environment. Statistics provided by my blogging system indicate that my articles have been read by thousands of readers from 97 countries so far.

And since I’m on the subject, I encourage more people to write in English. Especially certain press releases from Government should be translated into English. When I was State Secretary of Finance, I often sent press statements in English to the Caribbean News Network, which were often picked up by media outlets in Barbados, Jamaica, and others. If we don’t, we’ll remain stranded in information isolation.

So the group in my native Curaçao murmuring with a sense of indignation that I should write in Dutch is either missing the point or suffers from megalomania. By the way, the fourth largest group of visitors to my site is from the Netherlands. Actually, all this is very simple. If it irritates you to read my articles in English, realize that you don’t have to. There are many non-English blogs out there.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Advertisement