|
It's pretty common that, at least, in the most western countries they use alot of english words (sometimes a bit modified). Which is pretty much because of the influence of the US and also because we see english as a world language. Therefore new words/stuff doesn't get translated anymore or the translation is just not used. However this also exist in (american) english and i always love to hear americans say those - in my case german - words with this weird pronunciation. As the introduction is finished, here comes the question:
What word do you knows of your own language (for non-americans/english) or of "foreign" languages which are used in (american) english?
German words i do know which are at least sometimes used are "Kindergarten" and "Schadenfreude". Even though i don't know why exactly these words are used.
|
Korea (South)11558 Posts
the word balloons originated in Australia. English literally is a combination of words from every other language. There are a lot of Germanic and Latin words that have been put into English and has evolved in spelling/pronunciation of the years.
|
Kindergarten is used because Kind = Child in english, and Kindergarten is one grade below grade 1 in school.
Also "Gesundheit" from German is basically another way of saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes or something.
I don't remember the German meaning for it, but I'm sure it's something like... + Show Spoiler +
EDIT: My German isn't fluent, but the Kindergarten would translate into something like child care/child maintaining, which is what kindergarten is in Canada/US.
EDIT2: Unless this was already obvious and I am completely misinterpreting the OP...
|
don't a lot of people around the world use the phrase "OK" now?
|
The danish word, "ombudsmand" is used in english. And it sounds very strange when spoken in english, compared to danish.
|
Another word used in the English language is 'doppelgaenger' (or doppelganger?) taken from the German language, it also has the very same meaning. Today in class I heard the word 'Volkerwanderung' for the first time, expressing the time nomads north of the Himalaya travelled all over the world, also conquering Rome in about 750a.d. Again it is a word taken form the German language with the exact same meaning.
|
the idea you are looking for is called a "loanword"
some off the top of my head in german: bildungsroman, angst, doppelganger, gestalt...
|
51132 Posts
|
On September 16 2009 16:04 Grobyc wrote: Kindergarten is used because Kind = Child in english, and Kindergarten is one grade below grade 1 in school.
EDIT: My German isn't fluent, but the Kindergarten would translate into something like child care/child maintaining, which is what kindergarten is in Canada/US.
The literal translation would be 'children's garden'. Besides, you're not giving an explanation of why that word was integrated (which is what the OP was wondering about).
There's quite a lot of German words, indeed. Whenever there's no equivalent to the notions a word carries, it is rather incorporated than replaced by a hapless translation, I guess. Weltanschauung comes to mind, Zeitgeist, Rucksack, Schnaps, Blitz, Wunderkind, okay I've been cheating: http://spreadgermanisms.com
|
|
United States40765 Posts
Almost the entire language is Germanic or Latin in origin. Take the word Equestrian, it's unchanged from the Latin source. More interesting is which words come from where. For example lamb is Norman (Latin) in root because the Norman nobility ate lamb while mutton is Saxon because it was primarily eaten by peasants.
More recently words like pyjamas were borrowed from colonised people, in this case in India.
|
Netherlands6142 Posts
wunderkind?
Seriously tough, half the English language is French
|
On September 16 2009 16:15 Dagobert wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2009 16:04 Grobyc wrote: Kindergarten is used because Kind = Child in english, and Kindergarten is one grade below grade 1 in school.
EDIT: My German isn't fluent, but the Kindergarten would translate into something like child care/child maintaining, which is what kindergarten is in Canada/US. The literal translation would be 'children's garden'. Besides, you're not giving an explanation of why that word was integrated (which is what the OP was wondering about). There's quite a lot of German words, indeed. Whenever there's no equivalent to the notions a word carries, it is rather incorporated than replaced by a hapless translation, I guess. Weltanschauung comes to mind, Zeitgeist, Rucksack, Schnaps, Blitz, Wunderkind, okay I've been cheating: http://spreadgermanisms.com Yeah I wasn't too sure on what the OP meant specifically. You already covered it though with this sentence:
Whenever there's no equivalent to the notions a word carries, it is rather incorporated than replaced by a hapless translation, I guess. Grade 0 would just sound stupid, and since all you do really is play and crap(I.E. where the garden reference may come from, because you don't really do anything) it's just one of the words that was incorporated.
Some people, although not many, use Rucksack for backpack, which literally means "school bag" in German. I don't see why though, because a hapless translation isn't needed when there is already just plain old regular "backpack".
I've heard people use Wunderbar by pronouncing is "wonder bar" to exclaim something wonderful, which is just what it actually means in German. All they really did here though was change the pronunciation to make it sound idiotic though.
|
I don't know if this is what you're looking for but when the vikings occupied englad (790 ish) alot of words got stolen! like ugly(uggligr), husband(húsbóndi) and law(lov) - this original language is not spoken any more tho. I think the closest to it would be icelandic or Faroese
|
target croissant court
and about 10,000 other words were taken from the french.
|
Konnichiwa seems to fit the bill. Usually I hear it from a scuzzy guy trying to pick up on a random asian girl, regardless of whether she is Japanese or not.
"Domo arigatou Mr. Roboto" another one people throw about when listening to 80's music.
Baguette. Creme brulee. French toast (ok maybe not) Escargot. Mostly food words?
EDIT: Falafel. Döner. Gyros. Pad Thai. Pho.
|
There's lots of words with either Germanic or Latin root. Think of the plural of "child". Why isn't it childs? It's children because of it's Germanic root.
You can kinda guess where most words come from just by hearing them. For example "meat" would be Germanic, and "venison" (viende) would be Latin (French), but both mean similar things.
|
i don't think it counts when you're deliberately saying inserting a japanese word for the sake of saying something japanese. People use english words because it's the most apt way of saying something in their own language, and people use foreign words for the same reason.
Zeitgeist.
|
Alot of words used in english actually originate from Scandinavia. Words like window,pots and tree are directly originated from old norse language.
Its a pretty interresting subject imo.
|
english is mostly derived from Greek with much influence from Latin, French, and Germanic/Nordic languages.
|
|
|
|