English Words for "Foreign" Concepts

[wakela]

I think you'll find that in the eventual future (perhaps not too far off) the borrowing of other languages' words and phrases will become so common that English may not be recognisable as itself anymore. I predict a future in which the common language of Earth is English-based, but takes 1/4 of its vocabulary from other languages, particularly Asian ones.

I agree, that seems like a very probable future for English. It's elasticity will both help it survive and make it unrecognizable...

Check this out from the Freakonomics blog

Interesting article.

Living in Japan I've noticed that English-speaking foreigners will adopt certain Japanese words when speaking English.  The weird thing is that they are always the same words.  I just got an email from a guy who does not know me very well.  He does not know how long I've lived in Japan or how well I speak Japanese, but he used the word keitai instead of "cell phone number," just because all foreigners seem to do that, and he knew that I would understand. 

I could see computer translation and interpretation becoming becoming practical before everyone starts speaking English.  At that point it won't matter what language you speak.

[qwints]

I have a friend who's done some work on computer translation and my impression from him was that we are a long way away from a portable, real-time audio translator.

[wherethewild]

Living in Japan I've noticed that English-speaking foreigners will adopt certain Japanese words when speaking English.  The weird thing is that they are always the same words.  I just got an email from a guy who does not know me very well.  He does not know how long I've lived in Japan or how well I speak Japanese, but he used the word keitai instead of "cell phone number," just because all foreigners seem to do that, and he knew that I would understand. 

It's the same here, also with the word for mobile phone (Handy in German. Yes they adopted and English word. Worse there is a phone shop here with the logo of a phone wearing a baseball cap called Handycapped. I kid you not). It's generally the commonly used words which you need to learn to get by with non-English speakers but then you are so used to them that with other expats you slip them into your own language. I like that my expat friends and I speak Dinglish and no-one gives a hoot which actual language it is, but it does mean that my pure English is reasonably corrupted and I do make typically German grammatical errors occasionally in my mother tongue.

[Russell Nash]

Living in Japan I've noticed that English-speaking foreigners will adopt certain Japanese words when speaking English.  The weird thing is that they are always the same words.  I just got an email from a guy who does not know me very well.  He does not know how long I've lived in Japan or how well I speak Japanese, but he used the word keitai instead of "cell phone number," just because all foreigners seem to do that, and he knew that I would understand. 

It's the same here, also with the word for mobile phone (Handy in German. Yes they adopted and English word. Worse there is a phone shop here with the logo of a phone wearing a baseball cap called Handycapped. I kid you not). It's generally the commonly used words which you need to learn to get by with non-English speakers but then you are so used to them that with other expats you slip them into your own language. I like that my expat friends and I speak Dinglish and no-one gives a hoot which actual language it is, but it does mean that my pure English is reasonably corrupted and I do make typically German grammatical errors occasionally in my mother tongue.

This is why the pure-English speakers or pure-German speakers have trouble when we have our poker games.  Wherethewild slid right in though.

[wintermute]

There's an ad that's been running here that has a Mom talk to her daughter and the daughter speaks in nothing but text abbreviations.

It goes something like:
Mom:  Bethany (or whatever) who are you texting all the time?
Grl: wu? (what's up)
Mom who are you texting all the time?
Grl: idk, my bff Jill?

It had subtitles so we could understand.  The ending is funny to.  I found it on Utube

Hehe. I found this the other day:

[Tango Alpha Delta]

http://www.rinkworks.com/words/funwords.shtml

Did you know that "spanghew" means "to cause a frog or toad to fly up in the air"?

Well now you do.

Well, that makes it easier to tell my friends what my hobbies are.

Spanghew is what I'm pointing at when I say it. 

[Tango Alpha Delta]

nichevo - it can't be helped

Inevitable?

"Ничего" means "nothing", literally.  It's typical Russian fatalism that leads them to use the "it can't be helped" idiom.  Kind of like our "whatever"... the real meaning is an attitude, and depends on the context for an accurate translation.

I think it was addressed a couple of different ways in the thread (and man, what a thread to miss out on!) but I don't think the slippery nature of linguist shifting is either "good" or "bad".  I think it's fun.  Obviously, I'm a big fan of puns and wordplay, and there are always interesting insights to be gained by looking for secondary meanings of words in the things people say or write.  It's especially prevalent in writing - when people speak, they are usually using stock phrases and idioms to get their point across.  Skilled writers will intentionally shape their words so that connotation and denotation work together to get the job done.

I went to go find links that would demonstrate my point, but they all had to do with profanity... so I'll have some entertaining things to read about for a few days!  (If you watch my del.icio.us bookmarks, I might tag some of the better ones.)

[Planish]

People say "quantum leap" when they mean a big jump or change, but really the word refers to a tiny jump of an electron in a random direction. 

If anything, doesn't it also mean the smallest possible leap? So, it would mean the opposite of what the speaker intended.
 

I could see a word like n00b being used as a general insult and not a comment on inexperience. 

But .. that won't happen until light-years from now, right? 

[stePH]

People say "quantum leap" when they mean a big jump or change, but really the word refers to a tiny jump of an electron in a random direction.

If anything, doesn't it also mean the smallest possible leap? So, it would mean the opposite of what the speaker intended.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_leap

In the vernacular, the term quantum leap has come to mean an abrupt change or "step change", especially an advance or augmentation. The term dates back to early-to-mid-20th century, coinciding with the discoveries of quantum mechanics. The popular and scientific terms are similar in that both describe a change that happens all at once (revolutionary), rather than gradually over time (evolutionary), but the two uses are different when it comes to the magnitude of the change or advance in question.

[Planish]

Regarding the effects of technology, I could see our written language becoming infused with l33tspeak once the young whippersnappers who are growing up in chat rooms come of age. 

erm... no... i dont think so... Having grown up with all this, I can assure you it is not used that often.  Its beaten into our heads in school to write correctly, and we (most of us, to be exact) know when to write normally and when it is okay to use 13375p34k.  P1U5 13375p34k !5 h4r|) 70 Un|)3r574n|)... ! W01|) h473 70 r34|) !7 f0r 7h!5 10nG!!!1!!!!!1111!!!!!!1111!!1111111!!!!!!

p34r my 1337 h4x

I'm so old.  Does that really translate into something?

You could look it up at http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/ 

[Heradel]

Regarding the effects of technology, I could see our written language becoming infused with l33tspeak once the young whippersnappers who are growing up in chat rooms come of age. 

erm... no... i dont think so... Having grown up with all this, I can assure you it is not used that often.  Its beaten into our heads in school to write correctly, and we (most of us, to be exact) know when to write normally and when it is okay to use 13375p34k.  P1U5 13375p34k !5 h4r|) 70 Un|)3r574n|)... ! W01|) h473 70 r34|) !7 f0r 7h!5 10nG!!!1!!!!!1111!!!!!!1111!!1111111!!!!!!

p34r my 1337 h4x

I'm so old.  Does that really translate into something?

You could look it up at http://www.google.com/intl/xx-hacker/ 

"Plus leetspeak is hard to understand... I would hate to read it for this long!!!!!!!!!"

/youngin