lunes, 25 de febrero de 2019

Keeping languages separate




I have few ideas, but I hold fast on to them, like the one about keeping languages separate: Spanish here, English there. It is a very basic concept, nothing to write home about really, but extremely important if we are serious and respectful towards languages.
People in the banking, show, movie, fashion, tourism industries are very adept at mixing languages. They spray their Spanish with English terms which, most of the time, they do not truly understand. Their Spanish grammar is very British and we can hear them say: Estoy yendo for voy. Está viniendo en bicicleta instead of viene en bicicleta. Unfortunately these people’s English leaves a great deal to be desired also. And finally we are going to have a genereation of people who will speak a hybrid language, an odd mixture of syntax, idioms, grammar from two or even three languages.
Languages, like gasoline and driving, do not mix.
La gente dipea, del verbo to dip, gracias a los anuncios. La gente yustit, just eat… pero mejor será que no les hagamos propaganda. Que con su pan se lo coman.
Nosotros mantendremos los idiomas a raya, aunque nos cueste un esfuerzo. Mejor consultar un diccionario que decir lo primero que se nos venga a la cabeza.

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