Lively language mixtures
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When the British left India in 1947, Indian English developed. It mixes American and British English with vernacular words and syntax, and literal translations of phrases. The website Samosapedia describes itself as “the definitive guide to South Asian lingo” and invites users to “catalog and celebrate the rich, diverse and ever-evolving landscape of this region’s shared vernacular”. For example a chaddi buddy (lit: underwear friend) is someone you’ve known since childhood; kabab mein haddi (lit: a bone in the kebab) is a third wheel with better imagery; an enthu cutlet (lit: an enthusiastic mincemeat croquette) is an overly earnest soul. |
Another example of a mongrel language is Spanglish, which refers to the blend of Spanish and English. The Hispanic population of the United States and the British population in Argentina use varieties of this linguistic blend and sometimes, the creole spoken in Spanish holiday resorts which are exposed to both English and Spanish is called Spanglish. For example parquear is a mixture of the English “to park” and the Spanish “estacionar”; carpeta is “folder” in standard Spanish but it is used with the meaning of “carpet” instead of the Spanish ‘alfombra’; actualmente, means “currently,” in Spanish and is used (incorrectly) instead of the words ‘de echo,’ taking on the English meaning, “actually”.
Chinglish is a similar linguistic phenomenon. Some Chinese may be offended to be labelled as speaking it, but according to our blogpost on the 8 Latest Cultural Behaviour in Hong Kong, the use of Chinglish is inevitable since most 80’s born Hong Kong Chinese now prefer to add the “Chinese interjections” at the end of an English sentence. This occurs in Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese too: i.e. “Let’s do it” becomes “Let’s do it la!”;”OK” becomes “OK la!”.
Language is constantly evolving as society and cultures integrate and diversify. For translations that need to adopt the latest cultural characteristics of our time, choose a professional translation service: ask SanTranslate.
Esperanto: does it really represent its speakers?
Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language and its tidy roots and suffixes are well suited to playing scrabble: for those of a certain mindset, playing in Esperanto is even more compelling. A recent game in London featured words like acajeto (a little bit of dirt) and artamehoj (echoes of the love of art).
“A language isn’t something you learn so much as something you join,” says Arika Okrent, author of a book on artificial argots. A language is in fact closely related to a person’s culture. The vocabulary and semantics of Esperanto are derived from European languages, so both the grammar and the ‘international’ vocabulary are difficult for many Asians, among others, and gives an unfair advantage to speakers of European languages.”
Esperanto has failed its founder’s aim to create a politically neutral language that would foster peace and international understanding between people. This is probably due to the fact that Esperanto doesn’t represent a specific ethnic culture, so nobody in particular has a strong interest in using it.
It seems then, cultural awareness and regional knowledge must still play a major role in communication across languages. Fortunately, experts can be found – to communicate effectively and translate properly you can rely on SanTranslate, your professional language service.