When only English counts, who gets left out?

August is National Language Month — a time meant to honor the diverse linguistic heritage of our nation.

- NIGHT OWL ANNA MAE YU LAMENTILLO

And yet, there is something peculiar, even contradictory, about this commemoration: the very institutions that call on us to celebrate language are often the same ones that enforce English as the standard of intelligence, education, and legitimacy. From classrooms to courtrooms, boardrooms to online platforms, one language reigns — not because it’s better, but because it’s powerful.

If Ludwig Wittgenstein were alive today, he would find this situation worth interrogating — not as a technical issue, but as a deep social contradiction. For Wittgenstein, language was not simply a tool for conveying information. It was a form of life: a living practice shaped by community, culture, and daily use. His work, especially in his later years, reminds us that meaning is not fixed by dictionaries or rules, but by how words are actually used in context. Language is not static; it is alive in the mouths and hands of those who speak it.

And yet, when only some languages are treated as valid forms of expression — particularly in formal, economic, or academic life — we do not merely silence words. We silence lives.