←back to thread

Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

(www.cnn.com)
231 points rntn | 9 comments | 02 Apr 23 17:19 UTC | HN request time: 1.768s | source | bottom
Show context
ghusto ◴[02 Apr 23 19:01 UTC] No.35413937[source]▶
On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy?

On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No offence meant to the Americans here, but I detest the exportation of American culture to Europe. I don't mean music and films, but rather the way of thinking about the world. I suspect this is where things like these proposals are coming from; it's the pendulum swing reaching too far before it settles in the middle.

replies(32): >>35414043 #>>35414075 #>>35414127 #>>35414167 #>>35414291 #>>35414385 #>>35414431 #>>35414591 #>>35414663 #>>35415031 #>>35415085 #>>35415093 #>>35415238 #>>35415252 #>>35415290 #>>35415487 #>>35415830 #>>35416551 #>>35416584 #>>35416958 #>>35417161 #>>35417310 #>>35417602 #>>35417643 #>>35418726 #>>35418735 #>>35418854 #>>35419182 #>>35419235 #>>35419782 #>>35419908 #>>35421649 #
Quarrelsome ◴[02 Apr 23 19:48 UTC] No.35414385[source]▶
I don't think its necessarily about the culture itself here, its merely a cheap populist tactic to rabble-rouse among a nation that has a rich history and struggles to handle the fact that its present isn't at that zenith. France do a lot of this sort of thing too.

I would argue that belittling cultural preservation demonstrates deep Anglo-centric bias. While its fine for lulz, I worry that you're being sincere. Try asking _anyone_ who doesn't have English as their first language in a serious context how they feel about their language and you'll struggle to find someone without a genuine fondness for it.

On paper there is absolutely nothing wrong with cultures seeking to preserve the use of their own language, however it is fair for us to argue that restrictive and punitive measures such as this are not helpful.

Bear in mind one day English will no longer be the lingua franca as demonstrated by the word for lingua franca. ;). Would English then be a "relic" to you?

replies(11): >>35415214 #>>35415408 #>>35416246 #>>35416749 #>>35418768 #>>35419743 #>>35420208 #>>35420515 #>>35420625 #>>35421655 #>>35441939 #
1. throw_a_grenade ◴[02 Apr 23 21:07 UTC] No.35415214[source]▶
> Try asking _anyone_ who doesn't have English as their first language in a serious context how they feel about their language and you'll struggle to find someone without a genuine fondness for it.

Well. My first language is Polish, and there are some of us who call it "superpowers". If you go to a conference, you can be quite sure no-one understands you apart from your friend who you are talking to, and possibly that one passer by, who is also Polish or Ukrainian.

That is, unless we start to curse. Then we are probably well understood.

replies(5): >>35415276 #>>35415768 #>>35415828 #>>35416123 #>>35416488 #
2. stavros ◴[02 Apr 23 21:13 UTC] No.35415276[source]▶
Greek here, nobody understands us, period. It isn't anywhere close to anything else.
replies(1): >>35437452 #
3. Swizec ◴[02 Apr 23 22:06 UTC] No.35415768[source]▶
As a Slovenian … I don’t have this superpower because I’m usually the only Slovenian there. There was a conference in NYC once where at least 10 people tried to introduce me to the one other Slovenian there, it was pretty funny.

Slovenia being small, we had already met years ago at a local meetup or something.

4. Veliladon ◴[02 Apr 23 22:12 UTC] No.35415828[source]▶
Polandball means we all know what "kurwa" means.
5. bobthepanda ◴[02 Apr 23 22:50 UTC] No.35416123[source]▶
There’s a bit in the American TV series Fresh Off The Boat where the parents start shouting very normal sentences in Chinese so that it looks like a fake heated argument, and the salesman offers them a discount to get them to stop scaring the customers.
6. WalterBright ◴[02 Apr 23 23:25 UTC] No.35416488[source]▶
> If you go to a conference, you can be quite sure no-one understands you apart from your friend who you are talking to

I'd be careful about that. I've overheard others making nasty remarks thinking I wouldn't know what they were saying. Seinfeld had a pretty funny episode about that.

I've watched Polish movies. It doesn't take long before one gets the hang of what others are saying.

7. BiteCode_dev ◴[04 Apr 23 10:25 UTC] No.35437452[source]▶
I usually can grab a few things from tone alone for a lot of languages.

But I got a new greek buddy recently, and when she talks on the phone, my ears cannot lock on anything.

Edit: completely unrelated, but I saw your username on lobster on a dead man switch thread (I use Shamir’s Secret for treasure hunts to I thought the DMS idea was cool). Do you happen to have invites? I started to write again, and wanted to post something but I don't have any account.

replies(1): >>35437603 #
8. stavros ◴[04 Apr 23 10:48 UTC] No.35437603{3}[source]▶
Yeah, it's so far from other languages that you probably can't make out any of the words at all.

I think I have some invites, can you email me about it?

replies(1): >>35438573 #
9. BiteCode_dev ◴[04 Apr 23 12:32 UTC] No.35438573{4}[source]▶
Just did.

Cheers.