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About the last sentence: as for Italian, actually it's one of the openest language towards English since we adopted several terms without Italianyzing (maybe the pronounce varies sometimes), unlike French or Finnish which introduce their own terms (like Ordinateur for "Computer").
And I'm ever grateful for this. This Finnicizing policy has hampered severely the influx of English (or other languages) words taking over. Some have became acceptable synonyms in the end, like legitiimi (legitimate) or kandidaatti (candidate), while others haven't, like paragraafi (paragraph) when the correct is only the Finnish word pykälä. And it didn't take long now in the twitter age that a Finnish word for hashtag was formed; aihesana (lit. topic word). Some words have become acceptable by mutilation as they are used regularly, like ratsia (razzia) and paparazzi (paparazzo/a) from Italian.
And the Finnish word for computer is tietokone.
A bit off-topic maybe, but I thought you could be interested.
Yes, it's great to be able to travel and speak to other people, without having to know every single language. And it makes doing business with other countries so much easier. Especially when we're dealing with people who don't know our language, and we don't know theirs.
On the other hand, I feel it hampers with the uniqueness of many languages. E.g. with adopting words from English, like explained in the previous posts.
I find that one of the reasons why Europe is so fascinating is that, while it is not the largest continent, there are so many differences and variations. Different cultures, histories, cuisines, habits, styles of communication, living, etc. And also, so many different languages and dialects. Usage of English language is not the only factor that harms this uniqueness, but it certainly also doesn't do much good to this.
Personally, I'm more concerned with how German-German idioms are spreading to Austria and how the Viennese dialect is wandering westwards *shiver* That's what is messing around with our language at the moment...
Now that English is the unofficial common language among Europeans who speak different languages (say if a Spaniard and a Pole want to speak, they usually go to English), I'm wondering how many Europeans feel about it? Particularly say the French and the Germans? French in particular was the unofficial language of diplomacy in Europe (when did English overtake it) and if history had gone differently French might have been the unofficial global lingua franca. The British Empire and the US combined seem to have successful entrenched English as the language of trade, politics, science, media for a long time now.
Is there some jealousy/resentment? Or do most not really care too much? I heard in some countries young people are even speaking English among themselves, is there a lot of fear that some might even start speaking English instead of say Dutch or German or Swedish? Do some young people sort of admire English or see it as superior/cool? I heard in Norway there was anger at advertisements in English.
It seems Southern Europeans are less open to English though, especially in Italy and Spain.
I think that is nonsense. I have lived in various European countries and people speak their own languages 99% of the time.
Many do speak English and other languages as second languages, for international situations, but that's it. In marketing they use some English terms, but frankly, that automatically kind of stains the product being advertised as those are empty buzzwords. I don't give money to companies that are not patriotic enough to do their ads in the local language.
Admire? I don't think so at all. To the contrary even, English is considered a simple tool, but non-native speakers do not use it where words need to convey subtle details and differences.
Really, must be because a lot of the products are manufactured in America.
true, but i think it has more to do with the international environment in the petro chemical industries in Europe. Lots of companies overhere are Brittish or American. I think even 75% of the companies in the Port of Rotterdam and also Antwerpen are foreign and lots of them Brittish or American.
My gues is that alltough the metric system is the most used, the imperial system will never completely go away. It's to much embedded in the industries.
Actually, there are not many products that are made in the US and sold over here, to the contrary.
The inch is not an import from Britain or the US, it is an ancient unit of measurement (of Roman origin if I remember correctly) that was once used in all of Europe, which is why there are old names for it in all languages, like polegada in Portuguese (the syllable pol is the rest of the Latin word pollex for thumb; one inch was the width of the human thumb) and Zoll in German.
It has simply been replaced in most of the world by the more modern and rational metric system by now. The only reason why some pipes are still measured in inches is that pipes are used to connect stuff in a kind of network, so it is very difficult to replace a part of the network with a system using different widths. Similar thing with screws etc. Those holes and screwdrivers are omnipresent, thus the inch is like a self-preserving unit.
Actually, there are not many products that are made in the US and sold over here, to the contrary.
The inch is not an import from Britain or the US, it is an ancient unit of measurement (of Roman origin if I remember correctly) that was once used in all of Europe, which is why there are old names for it in all languages, like polegada in Portuguese (the syllable pol is the rest of the Latin word pollex for thumb; one inch was the width of the human thumb) and Zoll in German.
It has simply been replaced in most of the world by the more modern and rational metric system by now. The only reason why some pipes are still measured in inches is that pipes are used to connect stuff in a kind of network, so it is very difficult to replace a part of the network with a system using different widths. Similar thing with screws etc. Those holes and screwdrivers are omnipresent, thus the inch is like a self-preserving unit.
I don't think so. Parts of networks can easily be replaced with metric pipes. Lots of stuff on the market these days. I've done it a lot myself back in the day for underground piping. It's just that the english system is internationally accepted as the one way to do it in the petro- chemical construction. Just as the English language is the language that's used for international communication in most parts of the Europe, and the World.
For this reason we also still get half of the contracts and scopes of work in Englisch alltough they were made by a dutch guy most of the time.
I don't think so. Parts of networks can easily be replaced with metric pipes. Lots of stuff on the market these days. I've done it a lot myself back in the day for underground piping. It's just that the english system is internationally accepted as the one way to do it in the petro- chemical construction. Just as the English language is the language that's used for international communication in most parts of the Europe, and the World.
For this reason we also still get half of the contracts and scopes of work in Englisch alltough they were made by a dutch guy most of the time.
Because they are old standard dimensions, used for lots of existing plants and pipes, and associated flow meters etc. That has nothing to do with Britain or the US. The inch is a Mediterranean unit, anyway.
It is like with electrical plugs and connectors. We have 1/4 inch plugs and what not, simply because there are already countless devices out there using those plugs and connectors.
And not only the application side matters, also the manufacturing side. A lot of pipe-making machines are set up to produce inch-based diameters.
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