It's a Polyglot World

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Today's giggle.  Too late to lock this barn, the horse left centuries ago.

 

The isolationism of Japan before 1945 is starting to show results in very strange places.  Not only English and Japanese, but as the article notes, German and French are insidiously creeping in.  The world is developing towards a common argot, and nothing anyone does is going to prevent it.

 

The Internet is making it easier for this to happen, eh?  Oh, and advertisers and big fiscal interests are not helping.  "smallenfreuden" is a portmanteau word containing corrupt English and German.  Ach!  What are we doing?

 

Even those linguistic purists in Quebec are not doing a very good job preserving their archaic Joual.  L'Acadamie Français, which does its best to preserve Parisian French would not recognize a phrase like "ça ne fas rein" and would replace it with "Ils n'y a pas de quoi".  Alors, c'est la même chose!

 

It is all the same meat with different gravy.  Everyone please insert your babel fish.

[Cpt Johnny 57]

Singlish (A Singaporean English Creole) is a very rich mix of English, Malay and Chinese dialects. The sentence structure is usually similar to that of Chinese.

 

For example, you can say "The weather today jin (very) hot hor. Want to go Starbucks at Orchard later? I hear people say there damn attas (high-class) one leh."

 

How would a Singaporean say the above sentence in Chinese? "今天的天气实在有够热hor。等一下要不要去Orchard喝Starbucks？听别人讲说那边damn attas one leh."

 

However, you don't ever get to hear this tongue on any of the radio stations, as the use of dialects is forbidden in all tv and radio stations. There is a local TV show called The Noose as well as a few local sitcoms which imitate the language quite closely, but does not include Chinese dialects. That's the irony of the situation: The language of the locals is outlawed on official media by the government, but the government uses it to communicate with its voters on pre-election days.

[timmie 988]

A wonderful thing are fake loan words. We say 'beamer', but actually, it is 'projector'. False friends are funny too. When we say 'raar', we don't mean 'rare', but we mean 'strange'. 'Stoel' is not a stool, but a chair. Etc.

[Cpt Johnny 57]

A wonderful thing are fake loan words. We say 'beamer', but actually, it is 'projector'. False friends are funny too. When we say 'raar', we don't mean 'rare', but we mean 'strange'. 'Stoel' is not a stool, but a chair. Etc.

Sounds like Aussie English to me. 

[Alejandro24 575]

Talking about being a polyglot world in an english forum? I'm surprised! Please don't interpret this as a prejudice.

 

Is important to keep the languages separated and trying to avoid unnecesary or excessive use of slangs from another languages. If not just look at that thing called Spanglish, just disgusting.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Don't walk into my house then. We code switch German and English.

An interesting language I have had the pleasure of coming across is Bislama, an English based creole spoken in Vanuatu. It was close enough to understand (and quite easy to read), but there were a few doozies thrown in.

[Odainsaker 2,134]

I was watching a subtitled Japanese travelogue show, and was noticing in one episode the main character was continually using the phrase "rasuto supaato" (ラストスパート) for his "last spurt" of energy now that the show had come to its climax.  I really don't know if they are aware of what all that more commonly can mean in English, and the entire translated episode devolved into an laughathon of unintended double entendres.

 

"It's as if being told to do your best in the rasuto supaato."

"Takizawa may want to release something which he had suppressed"

"Well, it really, really is the rasuto supaato."

 

Ganbatte Takizawa!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

In my extended family, you are likely to run into Franglish.  About half the members are fluent Francophones.

[Odainsaker 2,134]

Many of my extended family will speak Hawaiian Pidgin, with the paternal side of the family having immigrated to Oahu from the Philippines in the 1920s.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7X9AAeDCr4

 

Hawaii, like other largely immigrant areas, has historically had complex and controversial social divides based on language standardization.  I must admit my military-catering schools pushed American Standard English aimed for temporary resident Mainlanders, and I never really picked up the fluent pidgin of my many cousins from their local schools.  However, many people on the U.S. mainland say I have a noticeably unfamiliar accent with particularly formal grammar, which they amusingly try to resolve as either British, German, Japanese, or even Dutch.  They are always surprised when I say I was actually raised in Hawaii.  Friends of mine say they can sometimes now detect hints when I speak, but, they would never have been able to peg it down had I not first pointed out to them the existence of Hawaiian Pidgin.

 

Curiously, Hawaii's polyglot food culture follows the pattern of the polyglot language.  Gosh, where is someone like me supposed to find manapua, saimin, and malasadas here in South Central Texas?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

<snip>

 

Curiously, Hawaii's polyglot food culture follows the pattern of the polyglot language.  Gosh, where is someone like me supposed to find manapua, saimin, and malasadas here in South Central Texas?

Your best bet will be a food truck specializing in Hawaiian dishes.  Hope you find it.

[AkemiAzula 280]

I only know English. My grandfather on my father's side is Ukrainian but for various reasons I didn't spend much time with him and so didn't get to learn much.

 

I learnt most words from tv or books, so naturally you learn the more common foreign words that have found their way into English. Growing up in Australia I also learnt a number of words peculiar to that region as well, mostly slang.

 

I generally speak Queen's English. 

 

Many areas and towns in the world have their own sayings and terms which sometimes make a completely difference word. 

 

I think languages have always influenced each other. I have used the term lebensraum an awful lot...

[Cpt Johnny 57]

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[Easy Bakes 253]

A wonderful thing are fake loan words. We say 'beamer', but actually, it is 'projector'. False friends are funny too. When we say 'raar', we don't mean 'rare', but we mean 'strange'. 'Stoel' is not a stool, but a chair. Etc.

here a beamer is  a BMW.

[AkemiAzula 280]

Yeah my father called his bmw a 'beemer'

[timmie 988]

 

A wonderful thing are fake loan words. We say 'beamer', but actually, it is 'projector'. False friends are funny too. When we say 'raar', we don't mean 'rare', but we mean 'strange'. 'Stoel' is not a stool, but a chair. Etc.

here a beamer is  a BMW.

 

 

Now can you imagine if a Belgian manager needs to do a presentation for his company in the US and asks for a beamer. When he arrives at the airport, a BMW is waiting to drive him to company HQ, but no projector is present in the presentation room. Ah, language.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

The amount of English that's used in Japanese in its hilarious-sounding katakana form is stunning.  If you understand how it sounds (or how it's supposed to sound) you could ALMOST carry out a complete conversation using nothing but Japanese-ified English.  After 6 years of French through high school and college, we were scolded by our professor for using the same tactic, so be advised that it does not really work.  But almost...  Almost...

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

The amount of English that's used in Japanese in its hilarious-sounding katakana form is stunning. If you understand how it sounds (or how it's supposed to sound) you could ALMOST carry out a complete conversation using nothing but Japanese-ified English. After 6 years of French through high school and college, we were scolded by our professor for using the same tactic, so be advised that it does not really work. But almost... Almost...

I know it's a bit of a stereotype, but how difficult do Japanese find it to say l words? Curious

[TekindusT 3,809]

I've also had some experience with the "beamer" word...

 

I was rehearsing a presentation in Germany and my teacher said (in English) something about the beamer. Instead, I began thinking about beams, which have nothing to do with the device used to project the slides on the wall. For me, it's been a "projector" the whole life. Perhaps the world comes from its literal translation from Spanish or Catalan ("proyector" or "projector", respectively). This makes that an Spaniard will hardly use the word "beamer" and it will lead to funny situations.

 

On another topic, I tried to make an small introduction to Japanese language some years ago by using material from my local library; just for pure curiosity. I was quite surprised of the huge number of loan words Japanese has, for the most trivial things, like suitcases (pronounced suutsukeesu and written in katakana, if I recall well). These concepts for sure existed before WWII or any other American influence on Japan so, why just not using the original words? 

 

Most of the times, when a language adopts a loan word, it is because the foreigner word is easier to handle than the original words. For example...

 

 

A Spaniard would call this a "pin" without a problem, instead of using the traditional Spanish word "insignia". The English word is easier and faster to pronounce! I don't know how this varies in Latin America, but on Spain, the popular acceptance or rejection of a new loan word depends on this factor. Most of the times, the language academy finally accepts the word several years later it becomes of common usage.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

I remember my teacher telling me that years ago, a society was formed to stop the influence of French words upon German.

One word they successfully stopped was observieren, of which the older beobachten is preferred.

[AkemiAzula 280]

I think this is no different than 'Hoover' or 'Google' really

[Superbacon 380]

Today the Japanese have tons of words borrowed from English and other languages. It's the entire reason they have Katakana, a second version of their alphabet, Hiragana. They used to have words and kanji in their own language for nearly everything. But time, and the American occupation phased out many words from their language and simplified them into an English version that matches their phonetic structure. 

 

The word "television" for example is called テレビ (terebi), and "refrigerator" is リフラ (rifura). "Computer" is パソコン (pasokon) and "passport" is パスポート (pasupooto).

It annoys me sometimes how many words are borrowed. Honestly, it can be quite difficult to try and translate words from Katakana and try to make them sound like English. If you don't know it right away, you have to spend time thinking to yourself what it could be meaning. If you can read it, that is. It's all a memory game. 

 

But you know, the Japanese began having connections to the outside world even during the Isolationist Period. Since some ports in Japan still allowed trade and passage with Europe. Japanese culture was becoming popular in France. When the Westernization Period started, it was mostly French culture that was being adopted. Of course, the Americans had a stake in it, too, especially with the railroads. Westerners of influence started appearing in Japan. Fortunately, the Japanese managed to hold on to most of their culture. 

[Alejandro24 575]

I've also had some experience with the "beamer" word...

 

I was rehearsing a presentation in Germany and my teacher said (in English) something about the beamer. Instead, I began thinking about beams, which have nothing to do with the device used to project the slides on the wall. For me, it's been a "projector" the whole life. Perhaps the world comes from its literal translation from Spanish or Catalan ("proyector" or "projector", respectively). This makes that an Spaniard will hardly use the word "beamer" and it will lead to funny situations.

 

On another topic, I tried to make an small introduction to Japanese language some years ago by using material from my local library; just for pure curiosity. I was quite surprised of the huge number of loan words Japanese has, for the most trivial things, like suitcases (pronounced suutsukeesu and written in katakana, if I recall well). These concepts for sure existed before WWII or any other American influence on Japan so, why just not using the original words? 

 

Most of the times, when a language adopts a loan word, it is because the foreigner word is easier to handle than the original words. For example...

 

...

 

A Spaniard would call this a "pin" without a problem, instead of using the traditional Spanish word "insignia". The English word is easier and faster to pronounce! I don't know how this varies in Latin America, but on Spain, the popular acceptance or rejection of a new loan word depends on this factor. Most of the times, the language academy finally accepts the word several years later it becomes of common usage.

 

Beamer = Proyector? First time that I see that word, also we call the projectors as canyons, proyector = cañón, while a canyon is a piece of artillery or a natural formation, which are barranca. What a chaos.

 

And that's a pin TekindusT, which is oficially accepted by the RAE.

 

Even inside the languages is very interesting the variations. In the Closet Thread is an interesting mention to the age to call the young men as boys, while in my region is muchacho, in the state of Sonora is chapo; while in Argentina is a pibe and in Spain is a chaval.

 

How do you call to the chalk TekindusT, gis or tiza?

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The whole point of language is communication.  If you succeed it doesn't matter how pure the speaking is.

[Cpt Johnny 57]

.

[Superbacon 380]

 

The amount of English that's used in Japanese in its hilarious-sounding katakana form is stunning.  If you understand how it sounds (or how it's supposed to sound) you could ALMOST carry out a complete conversation using nothing but Japanese-ified English.  After 6 years of French through high school and college, we were scolded by our professor for using the same tactic, so be advised that it does not really work.  But almost...  Almost...

To me, Japlish is not weird enough. It's far too common nowadays, as it can be heard anywhere, even in remote parts of Europe (I've been there very recently). What's critically endangered is Singlish (see ). We're already outnumbered by FTs by a ratio of three to one due to government policies, and will soon become six to one (including naturalised citizens, who don't speak that language).

 

 

Japlish? Hahaha. That's new, everyone I know calls is Engrish.

[Odainsaker 2,134]

The amount of English that's used in Japanese in its hilarious-sounding katakana form is stunning.  If you understand how it sounds (or how it's supposed to sound) you could ALMOST carry out a complete conversation using nothing but Japanese-ified English.  After 6 years of French through high school and college, we were scolded by our professor for using the same tactic, so be advised that it does not really work.  But almost...  Almost...

 

This immediately make me think of this bit from the variety show "Shimura Ken no Daijoubu da" with English teacher Shimura Ken:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-fkjcAFURM

[Cpt Johnny 57]

.

[TekindusT 3,809]

Beamer = Proyector? First time that I see that word, also we call the projectors as canyons, proyector = cañón, while a canyon is a piece of artillery or a natural formation, which are barranca. What a chaos.

Exactly, this is why we are discussing on this thread!

 

And that's a pin TekindusT, which is oficially accepted by the RAE.

Yeah, that was only to use as an example. There are many others which are on the way into the RAE diccionary.

How do you call to the chalk TekindusT, gis or tiza?

Tiza, definately.

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

The inability to discern the difference between "L" and "R" is frightening, and one of my favorite co-workers shows it to his class by using the difference between rice (which is delicious) and lice (which I imagine are not delicious).  Other fun ones they cannot differentiate between due to the limitations of hiragana/katakana: "B" and "V"; "G" and "Z".  "F" and "H" are occasionally interchanged, as ふ can be FU or HU, and ほ can be HO or FO (although I rarely see FO anywhere).

 

Heh, I don't think I've ever heard anyone here refer to their 冷蔵庫 as a リフラ.  It could be a local thing here where no one uses it and it's popular to say in a trendier place like, oh, say Tokyo, or it could be that somewhere in Japan (Nagasaki, perhaps?) it's used locally, but  nowhere I've lived.

 

I'll see your Shimura Ken and raise you the Omisoka Gaki no Tsukai special Jimmy Onishi English class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aVFFlS1uQk

 

Seriously, the funniest thing I've ever seen. This isn't the whole clip, but I'm sure you can find the whole thing somewhere.

[ROFLyoshi 1,760]

Then again, the voiced and voiceless dental frictative are pretty much found only in English and Icelandic; and are difficult for foreigners.

Think the difference between THe and THistle.