True. Languages have always loaned words from each other, it's a natural development. But how often do you meet people who's first language is English who can barely make it through a sentence without using a foreign word? And I'm not talking about words assimilated into English hundreds of years ago or words that has no equalent in English like pizza or samurai?
(American) English has the advantage of Hollywood films and pop music. I think it is an irrational language full of unpredictable spellings, but non-native speakers tell me its really easy to learn because the films and music are so ubiquitous. so @Number24 the onus is on you to export more films and music!
Sir MilesThe Wrong Side Of The WardrobePosts: 27,746Chief of Staff
Very interesting conversation. I have always been interested in etymology and I love learning the origins of words and phrases. I must confess that I do find it sad when I hear the French say "le weekend" or Italians say "business" amongst many, many examples, but I love discovering all the non-English words that we take for granted as English, like bungalow. loot, wanderlust etc.
All of that said, are you N24, aware of any Norwegian words that have made their way into Englishdom? Fjord comes to mind. Telemark. Is slalom Norwegian? How about Kraken?
Ski, ombudsman, gravlax (gravlaks), smorgasbord (smørgårdbord), hygge, hytte, slalom are words that has come from Norwegian in fairly recent times., It's sometimes hard to say if a word comes from Danish or Norwegian. Kraken comes from Norwegian too.
There are also older words from viking times used in English: score, sky, steak, they, window, hey. There are also Norse words going via French into English, such as "equip" coming from "skipa". Here is a more comprehensive list of Norse words that made their way into English: List of English words of Old Norse origin - Wikipedia
But the Norse words have been in the English languag for so long no-one thinks of them as Norwegian or Scandinavian anymore. And if anyone thinks "See, a lot of Norwegian words are used in English too!", ask yourself how many times have you listened to an English speaking person and wondered why he/she uses do many Norwegain words? That happens to me often. Sometimes I have to translate to my father when Norwegain are speaking because they're using Englsih words for no reason.
Absolutely. I hate anything dubbed to the point that I may not even bother to watch it at all. The exception is tuning in for a few minutes just to hear if the dubbing actor sounds even remotely like the original actor...especially fun when the original actor is someone famous.
Comments
True. Languages have always loaned words from each other, it's a natural development. But how often do you meet people who's first language is English who can barely make it through a sentence without using a foreign word? And I'm not talking about words assimilated into English hundreds of years ago or words that has no equalent in English like pizza or samurai?
(American) English has the advantage of Hollywood films and pop music. I think it is an irrational language full of unpredictable spellings, but non-native speakers tell me its really easy to learn because the films and music are so ubiquitous. so @Number24 the onus is on you to export more films and music!
That just means spoken English has been assimilating foreign words for FAR longer…as I said, it’s not unique - or new 🤣
Very interesting conversation. I have always been interested in etymology and I love learning the origins of words and phrases. I must confess that I do find it sad when I hear the French say "le weekend" or Italians say "business" amongst many, many examples, but I love discovering all the non-English words that we take for granted as English, like bungalow. loot, wanderlust etc.
All of that said, are you N24, aware of any Norwegian words that have made their way into Englishdom? Fjord comes to mind. Telemark. Is slalom Norwegian? How about Kraken?
Far longer than what or who?
Far longer as in time…
Ski, ombudsman, gravlax (gravlaks), smorgasbord (smørgårdbord), hygge, hytte, slalom are words that has come from Norwegian in fairly recent times., It's sometimes hard to say if a word comes from Danish or Norwegian. Kraken comes from Norwegian too.
There are also older words from viking times used in English: score, sky, steak, they, window, hey. There are also Norse words going via French into English, such as "equip" coming from "skipa". Here is a more comprehensive list of Norse words that made their way into English: List of English words of Old Norse origin - Wikipedia
But the Norse words have been in the English languag for so long no-one thinks of them as Norwegian or Scandinavian anymore. And if anyone thinks "See, a lot of Norwegian words are used in English too!", ask yourself how many times have you listened to an English speaking person and wondered why he/she uses do many Norwegain words? That happens to me often. Sometimes I have to translate to my father when Norwegain are speaking because they're using Englsih words for no reason.
I think Nordic Noir and Norwegian/Scandinavian TV series are making the world aware of Norwegain/Scandinavian words far more than a-ha ever did. 😁
I would never have guessed ombudsman and I hadn't even thought of Old Norse and the marks it made on English.
Skål, Number 24.
Skål! 😁
(For those who don't know, Skål is a Welsh word that the Vikings adopted in the year 832! 😎)
Subtitles is the way to go. Even if one doesn't understand a word you get a sense of the sound of the language and the performance of the actor.
Absolutely. I hate anything dubbed to the point that I may not even bother to watch it at all. The exception is tuning in for a few minutes just to hear if the dubbing actor sounds even remotely like the original actor...especially fun when the original actor is someone famous.
Absolutely. Hearing "Arnold Schwartzenegger" speaking Turkish or "Scarlett Johansson" speaking Czech is hillarious!
I find the Italian voice actors generally quite good.
They get a lot of practice. Here only chilrdren's movies get dubbed, so dubbing work is rare.