Comment by _3u10 5 days ago
I've always wondered how all this mickey branded stuff exists since I got here, especially with major brands.
Do you have any insight into why so many signs are in English? I can understand maybe foreign brands, but local mom and pop stores have giant signs like "50% Off. #partytime" especially businesses where no one speaks english.
> That "casual English" is somewhat part of the language of the new generation.
It's a near global lingua franca and the Internet has only accelerated that.
I wonder how long it will be until English just sort of becomes first language in non-native English speaking countries with the current trajectory and momentum of English-first Llama.
Shame it couldn't be a more cohesive spoken language.
It won’t happen except in the imagination of mono-lingual-future dreamers on HN (popular idea here for some reason).
Well, speaking in different languages facilitates different modes of thinking which results in different thoughts. Some thoughts are easier to have in one language than another. It takes all sorts to make a world and multiple languages means a broader mental space to explore ideas.
People against that tend to lean totalitarian. People for a monoculture, that is. That is an inherently limiting philosophy which can only die out as it narrows the 'acceptable ideas' list over time.
Eh it'll probably be the de-facto public/professional/transactional register and people will speak another language at home.
It's completely different thing: Ireland was a province loosing its language to metropoly. FWIW English wasn't even accepted as global lingua franca back then.
I have observed in dozens of countries that the youngest generation now speaks English quite fluently in most of the world. Boomers might know only a few phrases, many millennials can speak well enough, but quite a lot of teenagers now are speaking fluently, using slang and making jokes.
Dutch is so close to English that at times it is almost a dialect of English. "Ik zag de boot zinken." / "I saw the boat sink."
The rest of the world can't watch English TV with subtitles for a few months/years and come away with a passing understanding of English. It's a much steeper cliff.
The technical term is diglossia and it's much more common when the two languages are closely related. Latin being the written standard when the spoken language had evolved into Old French or Old Spanish is another classic example.
My mom was a German / English technical translator in the US. At one point she said those Germans need to decide, English or German. I guess the French from time to time make French words for those with English roots.
Though the German word for cell phone, “handy” is pretty great.
Speaking of - I'm organising a coffee morning for HN readers here in Helsinki. Get in touch (email in my profile) if you want to come along
The same thing with job titles happens in France, too.
Also, back when tech meetups were more common, you would often have where the title and description were in English, and the talks in French.
Not only tech... I live close to the French border. My wife asked me to go to some criminal dinner event thing in France, and all the leaflets and the website were English. Great! Checking out the details, a small remark in a table with the dates and such catches my eye "Language: French". Well, maybe that's the French date,... Nope, that's for all scheduled events. Kthxbye. At least we were not surprised on site, because my French c'est no bene.
> Do you have any insight into why so many signs are in English? I can understand maybe foreign brands, but local mom and pop stores have giant signs like "50% Off. #partytime" especially businesses where no one speaks english.
That "casual English" is somewhat part of the language of the new generation. They're more like catchwords, because people don't really speak the language. People, especially young urban folks, use it to appear "cool".