(no subject)

[randomness]

I'm reposting this post from the Economist's Johnson blog for bloodstones, who explained code-switching to me a while back, and digitalemur, who more recently asked me to translate Gemütlichkeit.

Mixing languages: Que es ese code-switching?

An excerpt:

"There is no reason to say Weltanschauung for "worldview", unless you just don't get enough chances to type two u's in succession and have tired of writing about vacuums."

The comments are worth a glance, too.

Comments

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

My sister, who was born in Germany, was in kindergarten in the US, and had the following exchange:

*teacher shows a picture of a cow* *all the students say, "It's a cow!"*

*teacher shows a picture of a house* *all the students say, "It's a house!"*

*teacher shows a picture of a helicopter* *all the students say, "It's a helicopter!" Except my sister*

*my sister says, "It's a hubschrauber!"* because my folks thought that was a nifty word. And that's what we all learned that that was what those were. Even me, and I was born in the US.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Hah! That's excellent.