Please only the British and Americans answer. See below. Please read carefully then answer.?

Question

The americans say "I am GOING TO GO there"
meaning he is going there soon or in the nearest future. But the British don't speak that way. They simply simply say "I am going there"

And of late I am learning Spanish and there also I see this "GOING TO" effect. They say "Voy a decirle"....meaning "I am going to tell him" (the exact word by word translation)

Now my question is whether the americans adopted this "GOING TO" effect from the Spanish or the Spanish adopted this from the americans?

Plz be serious. Linguists are most welcome.

Answer 1

OK I'm not American and I'm only a paper Brit, but I am a native English speaker (from Canada) and an English teacher. I think in fact you will find very few people actually saying "I'm going to go there" neutrally. They will use it to stress that it is indeed their plan, despite something--whatever--a lack of money or motivation, for example. So you might hear "I am going to go to the grocery store--I just have to answer this one last question" but you won't hear "I'm going to go on vacation next week" unless there's a "even if I get fired for not coming in to work".

The use of "going to" to indicate future developed between the 13th and 17th centuries (obviously in England)--originally it was only used to mean "going somewhere, in order to do something" but gradually came to mean "planning to do something". French has the same thing, and was also an influence on English at that time, so it may be the source, but I don't think Spanish is.

Answer 2

First, a comment on your spanish. I understand "Voy a decirle" as "I go to tell him/etc", Here the use of 'ir' is in the present tense, first person.
As the english 'am going' is talking about the future, you might better use "yo iré" = I will go.

I think a more exact translation into spanish would be using the gerund 'ing', or irregular present participle.
Estoy yendo = I am going....,
or
Estoy yendo a ir alli.
after adding 'to go there'

My point is, no educated native spanish speaker would talk/write like i have done this here, they would do as you wrote - Voy a....

The use of 'going' and 'to go' in one sentance gives redundancy, and increases length. In both spanish, and imperial english (british), when spoken properly, the redundancy is removed, and clarity is better. Both british and spanish use 'going to' when a destination is specified.

So, i don't think the 'going to' effect is adopted from either british or spanish, it is just a result of poor language usage. I also don't think it is restricted to americans alone, as there are many brits and latinos with poor language skills too!

[p.s. i'm on USA soil as i write this]

Answer 3

There are different verb tenses depending on the context. Most Romance languages (French, Spanish, Italian, etc.) utilize the "going to go" format in one particular tense, but as language has changed over time, the usage has become more relaxed and people have found the "going to" part to be a little redundant, even though it's not quite grammatically correct, traditionally speaking. When you bring the English language into the mix, and its various forms, you have to remember that English has roots in the Romance language, but it's not actually a Romance language. It borrows from many cultures and many languages, hence the fact that there are often more exceptions than examples when it comes to English grammar rules. So in answer to your question, the English language more than likely borrowed it from the Romance languages, though it's not always clear how to use the tenses correctly.

Answer 4

both ar correct. I myself have a tendency to use I am going there more often than I am going to go there. for instance, i am going to the mall, i am going home. foreign languages that are Language for English speakers are based upon British English forms. The rest of the world uses the British English forms when they speak English. It is easier to learn that way. American English is harder to learn than British English because of all the twists that we put on it. American English speakers can fairly easily understand British English and some of us are even well versed in it. I myself have no trouble differentiating between the two or using the two. Seeing as how Britain is the oldest English speaking country and how much territory they have covered over the years, it only makes sense that British English is the Enligsh learning standard.

In the example that you give, it is proper to say I am going to go to... because going to states that you are performing an action and go is stating that action that you are performing. I have no idea where this came from as far as adopting it from another language.

Answer 5

There have already been several good answers to your question (see especially Alpine Alli's answer). The American use of "going to" as future is NOT from Spanish. It is a completely English construction. This use of motion verbs as tense markers is extremely common in the world's languages and develops often from motion verb to tense. Take, for example, Shoshoni, where the suffix -kkwan means "do while moving away from", thus "hipikkwan" means "drink while going away", but it also means "happened completely", thus "hipikkwan" can also mean "drank it all up". We can also compare the future suffix -tu'ih in Shoshoni with the postposition -tun meaning "towards", thus "hunuttun" means "towards the canyon", but "hipitu'ih" means "will drink" or "going to drink". "going to" is not the only motion verb in English that has developed a tense function. Check out the older "it came to pass" for "it happened". This is so common around the world that there is absolutely no need for postulating an origin in borrowing.

Answer 6

The North Americans got there base language from The british, but we kept in close touch with our central and southern American neighbors who spoke mostly spanish or Portuguese therefore Base language is english with a spanish flavor. I'm no Linguist but I know my seperate herritage. My mom's Irish, Scottish, and French Canadian, but they are like 3rd generation american so my moms family is clueless to their herritage. My dad on the other hand is Puerto Rican, but it's a whole mix of things, He's about 50 % Boricua {Carribiean Native American} French, Dutch, and Spainaird

But I have my 2 different parents so I'm only 25% Native American and 75 % European descent, but I have really strong Native American Genes Cuz my eyes are Light brown and my hair is medium brown (With natural blonde highlights) and my skin is white in the winter and tan in the summer. But the Spainish and Portugese got to the America's before the british, therefore when they got their the origional british settlers picked up spainish grammar!!

Debbie 16

Answer 7

I say (respectfully) neither adopted "going to" from the other. I'm sorry, but I don't think there is a direct connection between American English and Spanish when it comes to this phrase.

Americans sometimes say, "I am going there." "I am going to go there," is more specific, though. "I am going there," could be a present action (It would make more sense.), not just a future action. If they wanted to be clear about when they were going, they would say something like, "I am going now," or, "I am going on the 15th."

Also, I think that just like the Americans, the British would say, "I am going to tell him," instead of "I am going tell him," without the word "to."

Answer 8

Americans most likely either adopted it from the spanish language or it was adopted as a way to seperate American english from Imperial English.

Answer 9

No, you're confused, the sttements have two different meanings. I am going to go there means I am about to start going somewhere, and that is in the future. I am going there means that you are already going somewhere, and that is in the present. The future version can sometimes be contracted so it is identical to the present version, and the brits do do that, but it's the americans who have it in the correct form, and it hasn;t been taken from another language, it just hasn't been contracted.

Answer 10

Don't agree. Both UK and US speakers have the same usage. "I am going there" means literally now (actually on my way or about to start moving, while "I am going to go there" means I intend to go there in the future. Going to is simply the way to express future or intentional (as in French aller also). Possibly some people (UK and US) drop the first going for fear of repetition with the verb to go, but it is incorrect.