Lately, if you're exposed to a second language, you might have seen a trend of English words featured in other languages. I've seen a trend for words in Spanish to be replaced by their English counterparts, like "bravucon" to "bully", or people saying "drinks" instead of "tragos". If you look overseas at the naming of American programs, people are using the real, English names, even though these characters were not created in that country.
Take the case of Mexico. It's strange how the closer you get to the American border everything becomes more American-ized. Customs are lost to American ones, names, culture and even the language itself. With its movies, TV shows, and games, the US seemingly exports its culture and because the world is forced to learn English to enjoy these products, the adoption of the culture becomes easier. You might not even notice.
Why am I talking about this? In the video game Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, the main antagonist Skull Face releases a parasite that infects English speakers as he intends to wipe the language from the face of the earth. Why, you ask? Skull Face was born in Hungary, but during his youth in the midst of World War II, the country was found to be in the middle of an endless cycle of war and possession jumping from nation to nation. As a result, he was forced to adapt and to re-adapt to the rapidly changing culture and languages.
Now, of course, Skull Face is the bad guy and is pretty much insane, but I kind of understand how the english language is the like the first wave in a new type of "invasion". A language one, as well as a cultural one.
And that also got me thinking about the intentions of having English being a virus as a plot point.
Maybe, it was meant to garner different interpretations depending on where you're from or depending on what's your primary language. And that difference in how you perceived Skull Face's message would spark a flame of discussions about the "invasion" of the English language.
On a side note, there's an anime, Serial Experiments Lain, where the creator set out to make a story revolving around society's reliance on technology, hoping that the Japanese and American audiences would interpret the show differently. But, that creator was sad when he found out that both audiences concluded upon the same interpretation.
In the same vein, maybe Hidoe Kojima, the creator of MGSV, was trying out a plot point that would create a difference of opinion based solely on what role the English language has in the society of the player. I can certainly see how English can be seen as invasive. But can you?
