语言与文风2016bbc.com
那些看起来像英语、其实并不是英语的外来词
The foreign words that seem like English, but aren't
导读
这篇 BBC 文化版文章讨论了各语言中那些看起来像英语、实则含义不同的“假英语词”(pseudo-anglicisms)，比如德语的 Handy(手机)、法语的 brushing(吹发造型)。对写作者而言，它提醒我们：借词一旦进入另一种语言，就会脱离原义独立演化，写作时不能想当然地以为读者和你理解一致。
可以直接用的写作要点
- 01
借词进入一门语言后会脱离原义独立演化，写作涉及跨语言词汇时务必核实其在目标语境中的实际含义。
- 02
看似“英语化”的表达往往是本地语言创造力的体现，可作为刻画人物语言习惯的生动素材。
- 03
语言规范机构的态度(规定主义 vs 描写主义)会影响一个词的“正确性”，写作时需了解目标读者接受哪种规范。
HN 评论精选
语言规范上描写主义才是主流，对借词的保守态度往往与政治保守倾向相关。
文章提到的“德语协会”是一个规定主义色彩浓厚的保守组织，但很少有德国人知道它的存在，其观点也绝非主流。实际上德国人普遍把杜登词典视为权威，而杜登采取描写主义立场，顺应语言变化而非阻止它。作者还观察到：对借词意见强烈的人往往在政治上也偏保守，对语言用法的抱怨类型可以大致反映其政治倾向——抱怨撇号用错是“温和的语法纳粹”，抱怨办公室滥用英语借词是“热血语法纳粹”，抱怨 Elektronik 词义不对就升级成真正的纳粹了。
pluma查看英文原文
The article mentions the "Association for the German Language", which seems to refer to the prescriptivist "Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache". It's important to understand that few Germans are even aware it exists and its conservative views are extremely unpopular and non-standard. Even the Council for German Orthography which regulates German orthography as taught in schools only has two Association representatives in its total of 18 German council members. In practice Germans generally regard the Duden (the equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary) as the ultimate authority on German orthography and vocabulary. And the Duden generally takes a descriptivist approach, adapting to language change rather than trying to halt it. Additionally, there seems to be a strong correlation between Germans with strong opinions about loan words and Germans with strong opinions about immigrants (or more recently the loss of "occidental identity" via "Überfremdung"). There are of course people who feel strongly about language who aren't also nazis in the more literal sense but the kind of complaints people have about language use often gives you a relatively safe indicator of their political views: Complaining about wrong apostrophe use: moderate grammar nazi Complaining about excessive use of English loan words in office culture: red-blooded grammar nazi Complaining about "Elektronik" not meaning "electronics": moderate actual nazi Complaining about "Handy" or "Portemonnaie": red-blooded actual nazi
Anglish 项目展示了“纯化英语”作为一种语言游戏的可能性。
推荐一个有趣的项目 Anglish：致力于让英语摆脱所有非日耳曼语源的借词，在没有现成词时使用古英语甚至借鉴德语、荷兰语造新词。它并非激进运动，更像一种有趣的语言挑战。
spraak查看英文原文
Hopefully someone interested will read this comment, since it might be buried at the bottom: there is a fun project called Anglish that works to make the English language free from any non-Germanic loan words, using old(er) English and even made up words inspired by German, Dutch etc when no others exist. It's not, as far as I can see, a militant effort, but more fun and an inspiring linguistic challenge. Check it out: http://anglish.wikia.com/wiki/Main_leaf
假英语词的典型例子：德国人以为在用英语词，英语世界却完全不用。
德语把手机叫 Handy，我的德国朋友说“我们就是用英语词啊”，可我从没见过哪个英语母语者管手机叫 handy。
skykooler查看英文原文
Reminds me of "handy", the German word for "cell phone". My German friend said "we just use the English word for that." I have yet to find an English speaker who calls a mobile phone a "handy".
法语和西语中的假英语词例子，说明借词常被赋予全新含义甚至本地语法。
我最喜欢的法语例子是 footing——“je vais faire du footing”不是“我来付账”，而是“我去慢跑”。法国这类词特别多，比如干洗店叫 pressing。智利人则整天说 catchai'（“你听懂了吗？”），相当于英语的 y'know，他们还会变位：说“我没听懂”就是 No catcho。
radarsat1查看英文原文
Oh I love these. My favourite french one is "footing." No, "je vais faire du footing" doesn't mean, "I'm footing the bill," it means, "I'm going for a jog." There's a ton of examples in France for some reason. Brushing as in the article, but also "pressing" for the dry cleaner. In Chile they say all the time, "catchai'?", meaning "did you catch what I said?" Equivalent of "y'know?" It took me a while to realize that they conjugate it too.. To say, "I didn't understand," they'll say, "No catcho." Beautiful ;)
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