In all honesty? Not really.
Most of Tumblr users are western, and big western languages are the most practical choice for most pf these users to learn.
The problem with smaller or more remote languages (i.e. farther from europe) is that the people who use it are not easily reachable. You want to talk to a native speaker? Either prepare for a long, long trip, or go through many pains to find someone whom you can contact via internet. You want teaching materials? Oh boy, good luck finding them.
Furthermore, for many people, studying how a language WORKS is a secondary goal to learning how to USE it. They want to speak and read and listen and write in it, and the linguistics part is just an interest that happens to align. Or, alternatively, they could be in the langblr community because it is supportive of language learners.
To take an example near where I live, let’s assume you want to learn the Patois Évolénard. It’s an extremely lively language, so you’ll have no trouble finding speakers. As long as you’re in the Val d'Hérens, of course, and that’s the catch. The Val d'Hérens is only two or three hours by train from where I live, but that’s already too much to make learning amd practicing it practical. There are hardly any books written in it either. The only way i can practice it is by being there, and if i can only be there occasionnally, and i can hardly be immersed in the culture if i come infrequently, etc. The problems stack up, for a place that’s notoriously difficult for the integration of strangers, and cultures are kinda like that by default.
Now that was taking a language that has tons of geographical advantages for me to learn it over about any other language i could want to learn. Now imagine i want to learn igbo. Yeah, doesn’t cut it.
Big european languages have the advantage that you can find a lot of people to talk to after a five-minute stroll on instagram, and you’ve got plenty of support and resources to learn the language in question. That’s because there is a lot of people who want to learn the language, because there’s a lot of movement between the countries in europe. That makes big european languages very much easier to learn than more remote languages. It’s a practical choice.
Finally, a lot of langblrs are, like you, native speakers of an european language who can afford, through their knowledge of their own language, to help people learn it. You are more of an exception to the rule in this case, but most people would not teach one of their second or third languages with the same confidence as their native tongue.
Speaking a big language is by no means a problem, it’s a practical choice. European languages happen to be better documented for learners and there is a ready access to natives. The roads to learning those languages are well-trodden. Plus, they are part of the heritage of many users of this site.
I don’t consider the euro-centrism of languages on langblr to be a problem. They are not less worthy languages to learn than any others. While i agree that learning a more remote language make you discover a completely different culture, learning other european languages does too, in a more subtle way.
I have seen little adressed on this site the fact that european countries have differing cultures. Everything tends to be dismissed as a vast and vague ‘european culture’ for the purposes of anti-colonial discourse, but the argument squishes together a lot of things.
I have half my family in portugal, and the other half in switzerland. Everything is different between the two countries: the people, the mores, the architecture… There was this excellent book called ‘Ich Träume Deutsch Und Wache Türkisch Auf’ about a turkish expat who live in germany, and then moved back again to turkey. I recommend that you read it, it’s awesome. The two cultures are completely different, with clashing beliefs about family, patriotism, and success. I’m frequently surprised when i talk to french people, seeing how differently they think from me, who lives in the neighboring country.
Sometimes, you donlt even have to learn a new language to discover new cultures. Learning german lets you discover at least germany, switzerland, and austria, three countries with vastly different cultures. English lets you discover at least new zealand, ireland, and a lot of stuff in india.
Let’s not deny the treasure trove that is europe, including the 'big languages’, for different cultures. Most of those who don’t know african or asian cultures start by not properly knowing european ones.
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