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It seems hypocritical to be up in arms about this, considering that we rewrote the English national anthem, God Save the Queen, as My Country 'tis of Thee.
I agree with Zaynab, that languages are fluid. I think everyone should learn other languages, but I could no more get angry at someone who finds English difficult than I could if we communicated using trigonometry, and people who weren't handy with math found it hard to study.
I got into this debate with a colleague at work who thought singing the anthem in Spanish was despicable.
"Despicable" was exactly the word that Francis Scott Key's descendant used (maybe your coworker saw the news report and was unconsciously ripping off the quote). He practically had spittle flying in his anger over this.
The national anthem and the flag are symbols. They mean nothing compared to the freedom to peaceably assemble, to petition the government for a redress of grievances, or to speak (or sing) freely.
