English Language

Basically we are given a source ( here being Antoine de Cortin, The Rules of Civility) and have to asses how language has changed since it was published (Around 1600).

Basically I have no idea how to start or what to even pick out from the old text. Its really stressing me out not being able to see anything in the text to analyse.

Please help ;-;.

I'm writing an essay for this class about Beowulf. For one of my points I want to focus on how the author uses language techniques to amplify Beowulf's heroic qualities. I want to keep the examples all within one episode (either Grendel, Grendel's mother, or the dragon). Any examples anyone can find within the text? Thanks.

Or is LOL simply an English thing

The best example of this I can think of is when someone who is from France comes to America and speaks English, but with a French accent. People usually think it’s cool or unique. However, if it were reversed and an American went to France and spoke French in an American accent, what would people think? Or what if it’s from a totally different region, what if someone from Japan went to France and spoke French with their regular accent, what would people think?

In my case it is French. I studied it for two years in high-school and gave it up once it was not mandatory because I could not find any use for the language at that moment. I came back to it a few months ago and I hope to improve my skills in the language as much as I can.

What about you?

I don't know if this will change anything (especially because of the kind of company Valve is) but it's just really interesting to see.
 
EDIT: Link https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welcome-to-Steam

The problem

There is indisputable political and historical propaganda in resources printed in the US, intended for non-native English speakers. This propaganda is clearly intended to support conservative ideology. Some of it is a direct pipeline to white supremacy.

Here are a few examples from just one TOEFL guide, Bruce Stirling's, "Speaking and Writing Strategies for the TOEFL IBT" (Los Angeles, CA: Nova Press, 2009).

The American Civil War

Here’s an excerpt from a reading passage about the American Civil War.

>The Civil War started when the South withdrew from the Union. The South accused the federal government of being a dictatorship intent on denying the southern states the right to set their own laws, particularly in regard to the right to own slaves.

Although this says the idea of the federal government being dictatorial over states’ rights was an accusation by the South, nothing in the entire reading passage ever contradicts or even qualifies this accusation, leaving the impression that the charge is justified. Additionally, although it mentions the issue of slavery, it places this right at the end of the sentence, as simply one example of states’ rights being contested.

This paragraph reinforces the false historical narrative of a war of Northern Aggression over the issue of states’ rights, [1] a narrative which started during the Civil War period, [2] and persists to this day. [3] There is no mention in the entire reading passage, of the historical record of Southern spokesmen insisting the motivation for secession was the preservation of slavery. [4]

Robert E. Lee

Here’s an excerpt from a reading passage about Robert E. Lee, who fought on the side of the South in the American Civil War.

>Of all the generals in the American Civil War, one stands above all the rest: Robert E. Lee. Lee defeated the Union army and established his reputation as a general equal to Napoleon. Time and again, Lee defeated the much larger Union Army. At war’s end, many in the North wanted Lee hung for treason. However, Lee never stood trial. Lincoln wanted reconciliation not revenge.

This is only an excerpt from several paragraphs describing Lee in an extremely positive light, praising his military skill and representing him as an honorable man fighting courageously for his state.

The last few sentences have obviously been written with the objective of clearing Lee of any hint of culpability for being on the wrong side of history (a

I have been noticing there are a lot of shows on Netflix dubbed in English, with the voice actors just not being on par, and the show could actually be good if it weren’t for the awful voiceovers. Like can people not read captions that much that they feel they need to do this?!!

Get rid of English dubbing over other languages! Just leave the show as is, and use a caption as a translation! Pleaseeeeee

For example, in german the movie "Die Hard" is called "Stirb Langsam" which translates to "Die Slowly"

My (27M) fiancee's (25F) parents primarily speak Spanish as their English is not perfect. We had a bit of a snag at dinner to tell our parents that we are expecting (yay) and, provided the world doesn't burn anymore by then, are getting married in the spring (double yay). Her folks are Catholic and weren't exactly thrilled that we are pregnant before marriage but became semi-okay with it once we told them our plans. For context, we've been together since college and our parents have met briefly but never had a sit-down dinner together. Whenever they have spoken, there is always a fair bit of translation involved as her dad speaks ok English, but her mom's is very limited. I would gauge my fluency in Spanish as upper intermediate.

We were cleaning up and her mom asked me if we had given any thought to baby names. I responded to her that we really like the name Alejandro. My mom said "English please, Jackson. It's rude." She hasn't called me Jackson since I was a kid. It's always Jax so I knew she was offended. Her dad apologizes and said that his wife had only asked about baby names. My mom said "Oh! Wouldn't Charles (her late father's name) be lovely if it's a boy?"

I began to change the subject and my partner says to her parents, in Spanish, that we are definitively going with Alejandro for a boy. My mom asks me what she said and before I can respond, my partner tells my mom that we've actually decided on Alejandro. My mom makes a face to which I respond it's the Spanish version of Alexander. My mom asks "Then what is wrong with Alexander?" and suggests Charles as a middle name. Fiancee's Dad says "Carlos" with a smug grin on his face.

Finally, my dad swoops in and suggests that we watch a movie (for which I could not be more thankful). Am I the asshole?

Edit: wrong word choice. To clarify, up to that point my partner and her dad had been doing most of the translating.

I can always identify (older) German because they end their questions with “or”, e.g. “Do you plan to have lunch at the office, or...?”, “Are you going home, or...?”

Pluralising acronyms is contentious enough in english - I found this stackexchange post about english whilst trying to answer this question.

Hey guys! Im just curious and interested what the best way to say fuck is in your native tongue. I've tried google translating but it doesn't seem like the direct translation is that accurate. My ethnicity is Chinese and fuck translates to '他媽的' (ta ma de) on google - which more or less means 'god dammit.' A more accurate translation would be ‘幹' (gan). Interested in hearing your guys replies!

edit:

LIST COMPILED FROM BELOW By the way - my favourite from this list is definitely Argentina - “La concha de la lora” - (the parrot’s pussy)

List of Fucks:

Afrikaans - Fok - (fuck) or vok - (fuck)

Arab - نيك (nik) - (fuck)

Argentina - “La puta madre” - (The whore of a mother) or “La concha de la lora” - (the parrot’s pussy)

Chinese - 我操 (wo cao) - “fuck” or 幹(gan) - “fuck”

Czech - “kurva” - (whore)

Danish - "Helvede” - (hell) or “Fanden” - (satan) or “kraftedeme” - (may cancer eat me)

Dutch - “kanker" - (cancer) or “kut” - (pussy)

French -“Putain” - (whore) or "Merde" (shit)

German - “Scheiße” - (shit) or "verfickte Scheiße” - (fucking shit)

Greek - “γαμώτο” - (fuck it) or “γαμώ” - (to fuck)

Indonesian - “NGENTOT” - (fuck) or "KONTOL” - (penis)

Italian - “cazzo” - (dick)

Japanese - "ヤバい"(yabai) - many meanings ie, when you’re late, in a bad mood and would swear or “ファック" (fakku) - (fuck)

Korean - “씨발”(sibal) - (fuck)

Norwegian - “faen” short for "fanden” - (the devil)

Polish - “kurwa” - (whore)

Portuguese - “Foder” - (fuck) or “porra” - (jizz) or “caralho" (dick) or "puta que pariu" (the whore that gave birth to you)

Romanian - “Dracu” - (fuck) or “Futu-“ (fuck) ?

Russian - “блять”(blyat) - (whore) or “блядь”(blyad) - (whore)

Slovak - "piča” - (vagina) or "kurva" (whore)

Spanish - “Joder” - (fuck)

Sweden - “fan” - (devil ) or “helvete” - (hell) or “knulla” - (fuck)

Tagalog/Filipino - Puta/ Putang ina/ 'tang ina mo

Turkish - "sik” - (fuck)

It makes my day.

Like above, is it the most diverse? If not which language / languages are more diverse?

Example:

German: Waschbär = raccoon

Literally = Wash bear

What are some examples of this sort of thing in English that English speakers don't realize but it's funny to you?