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Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

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Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#401
post #95

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 of…

Agreed. I think people are missing the in point that the bill is to make Italian the focus that it is the primary language and that English has hijacked it in many ways.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot gun violance. The statistics for that are insane compared to any other country

No, they aren't. Gun violence in America doesn't look that bad compared to places like northern Mexico, El Salvador, Brazil, Sudan, etc. Compared to rich nations, however, it looks downright awful.

Sorry yes I should have been more specific, I did mean compared to rich nations.

When me and my wife where choosing where to live, given we were planning to have kids, the idea of school shootings really scared us, so we had to pass on the U.S. entirely.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#403
post #399

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I remember visiting a shopping mall in Stuttgart. From the parking garage, to the building architecture, to the layout, to the businesses, to the advertising signs, you could not tell you were in a country other than the US. It was kinda sad.

If I enter a shopping mall in my country I expect it to be American the same way I expect a McDonald’s to be American. I mean, the very concept is foreign.

Fun fact, the word "mall" comes from the Italian "pallamaglio"

[0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-history-of...

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#404

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The phrase lingua Franca is a great example of why English is the most international language in the world. It’s because of its ability to absorb from different languages. That phrase is as English as the word tomato today.

English is the most international language because of war, expansion and domination. It could be any other language whose "countries" won.

The major currency is USD... Most English speaking countries are of British origin... Non-English speaking countries trade with the largest partner(s), which are of English origins...

I don't think it's the features of the language that are at play here.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#405
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it was shocking here in Stockholm when there were BLM protests in 2020. It's like people are more involved in US politics than their national politics.

Maybe racism isn't just a US thing

Racism is global problem. Killing black people by white police is a US specific problem. I feel weird to see BLM outside of US, rather than other anti-racism campaign.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#406
post #201

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> Americans are usually not aware of the extent of american cultural imperialism Which of the 35 American countries are you referring to? ;)

The most important one is a safe bet.

Of course. Just pointing out how OP was not aware to what extent their choice words was product of that same imperialism.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#407

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Oddly, I do not consider HN to be an „American forum“ at all. I think of it rather as a global community of nerds of all shades and colors, using the language that is used most widely in technology/engineering/science.

I mean that is a large part of what HN is, but not exclusively. As a non-american I frequently see posts that are obviously only on the front page because most people on this site are from Silicon Valley or USA in general. Some examples: - San Francisco housing crisis: This has been a frequent topic of discussion on HN but I don't think many people outside of San Francisco, let alone outside of USA care a lot about t…

SVB news is worth listed on top because here's operated by venture capital

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody is forcing you to watch them nor comment on this American forum.

Actually, they did, and this is the reason why people are commenting on this 'American' forum: In my country, immediately after the last US backed coup, the new 'democratic' government literally ditched French and German for foreign language education from all education institutions and pushed English in every level of education. As a result, I, like millions of youth in my generation, had to learn English as a forei…

Just curious where you were lived

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#409
post #370

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In South America, thanks to Netflix we have far more European content than before. Still less than from US but at least it's there to chose.

What kind of shows do you get/ have watched down there because i know some shows are very regional in terms of licensing

Dark, Rita, The Rain, Tabula Rasa, Casa de Papel, Atiye, Borgen to name a few. A lot from Spain, Denmark and Turkey.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#410
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't consider it a problem, language alone is an extremely superficial indicator of culture - see my other comment. But japan is a good example- maybe that's what you're driving at - because the language is full of english loan words. That's a big part of what the katakana characters are for - fitting predominantly English words into the japanese syllables. トイレ ミーティング ダンス パーティ フライドポテト Etc. As you say, it doesn't i…

I worked on the Metal Gear Solid from PS1 to PC. This was back in 2000, and my first real gamedev job. Fresh from Bulgaria, haven't played any consoles, and just using a WordStar program I've exracted all japanese comments from the source code, "translated" them - well word by word I think with the WordStar (I don't recall the exact name) then put them back. Some things were just too funny... At the point where the g…

Wow, what an experience that must have been! One of the golden era moments of gaming. Must have been cool to be a part of it!
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