[Multilingual Monday] English, English Everywhere
There's no question that English has become an international language, being used as one of the more common languages for media, business, etc. With English being so widespread, it's no surprise that English has influenced other languages throughout the world.
One of the more obvious influences can be seen in Hindi. Being part of the British empire, it's hardly a shock that English runs rampant throughout Hindi. Tthough many words in Hindi with Arabic or Sanskrit roots were actively purged from the language, but current Hindi still has a plethora of English, seen in words like कम्प्यूटर, kampyuutar, "computer"; ऎकट्रेस, aiktres, "actress"; even जेटं्स, jents, "Gents" (what you find on the bathroom door). Even सॉरी, saarii, "sorry", and एलाउड, elaauud, "allowed", have become a part of the Hindi language.
Japanese has borrowed even more English than Hindi. It's fairly common to find katakana words that were borrowed from English, such as クリア, kuria, "clear"; インターネット, intaanetto, "internet"; サイン, sain, "sign" (both the noun and the verb, as サインする, sain suru); despite the rather limited set of possible syllables no word seems to be off to being imported, including アンビリーバブル, anberiibaburu, "unbelievable", and アース, aasu, "earth" (and NOT "ass", despite how similar it sounds to the latter!). English words can have either different meanings from their original English variants -- see フロント, furonto, "front", which refers to a hotel lobby. Also words can get combined for new meanings -- see ナイス・ミドル, naisu midoru, "nice middle," referring to a nice looking middle-aged man.
How do you feel about English finding its way into the world's languages? Do you have a tale about English being imported? I'd love to hear it.
One of the more obvious influences can be seen in Hindi. Being part of the British empire, it's hardly a shock that English runs rampant throughout Hindi. Tthough many words in Hindi with Arabic or Sanskrit roots were actively purged from the language, but current Hindi still has a plethora of English, seen in words like कम्प्यूटर, kampyuutar, "computer"; ऎकट्रेस, aiktres, "actress"; even जेटं्स, jents, "Gents" (what you find on the bathroom door). Even सॉरी, saarii, "sorry", and एलाउड, elaauud, "allowed", have become a part of the Hindi language.
Japanese has borrowed even more English than Hindi. It's fairly common to find katakana words that were borrowed from English, such as クリア, kuria, "clear"; インターネット, intaanetto, "internet"; サイン, sain, "sign" (both the noun and the verb, as サインする, sain suru); despite the rather limited set of possible syllables no word seems to be off to being imported, including アンビリーバブル, anberiibaburu, "unbelievable", and アース, aasu, "earth" (and NOT "ass", despite how similar it sounds to the latter!). English words can have either different meanings from their original English variants -- see フロント, furonto, "front", which refers to a hotel lobby. Also words can get combined for new meanings -- see ナイス・ミドル, naisu midoru, "nice middle," referring to a nice looking middle-aged man.
How do you feel about English finding its way into the world's languages? Do you have a tale about English being imported? I'd love to hear it.